EvanL
05-15-2004, 02:08 PM
commandos: Related to mission in afghanistan. Man died after raid by U.S. special forces and Canadian Joint Task Force 2
David Pugliese
CanWest News Service
Saturday, May 15, 2004
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A 70-year-old Afghan man killed after a raid by Canadian and U.S. commandos died in American custody when he was struck in the head by a rifle butt, according to a Canadian Forces report.
Haji Bajet died at a U.S. base shortly after the May 24, 2002, raid by Canada's Joint Task Force 2 and U.S. special forces on the village of Band Taimore, about 80 kilometres northwest of Kandahar. Another Afghan man was shot during the raid and a 3-year-old girl died when she fell down a 12-metre deep well during the confusion of the nighttime commando strike.
But Canadian military officials say that JTF2 soldiers had left the village before the girl died and the Afghan man was wounded. In addition, Bajet had been taken into custody by American forces during the raid.
"No Afghans were harmed by the Canadian portion of that raid," said navy Lt. Kent Penney, a spokesperson for the military's counter-terrorism and special operations branch.
"The number of incidents have been brought up, some alleged, some proven, (but) in no way were Canadians involved in those instances. They either happened in separate parts of where the raid took place, apart from where Canadians were, or Canadians had already departed the area."
On Thursday, London-based Human Rights Watch called for investigations into the Band Taimore raid as well as numerous other incidents in which Afghans allege they have been mistreated at the hands of U.S. soldiers. The human rights agency wants the Pentagon to release details about the deaths of three Afghans while in American custody. Two of those have been classified by U.S. military pathologists as homicides. The third is still under investigation.
U.S. officials acknowledge they are looking into the cases of 25 Iraqi and Afghan detainees who have died in American custody since December 2002. Most of the deaths - some from natural causes, others unexplained or classified as homicides - have happened in Iraq.
The killing of Bajet is not among those deaths being investigated. In a previous interview, a Pentagon spokesperson said U.S. forces acted professionally during that raid.
The death of Bajet, Band Taimore's village elder and its representative to the loya jirga, or Afghan grand council, was reported in a JTF2 dispatch on May 28. "An elderly father died while in custody at the (U.S. base) reportedly from a butt stroke to the head, which has caused much grief/anger in the village," according to a situation report filed by the unit from its Kandahar base.
In a June 14, 2002, report forwarded by the Foreign Affairs Department to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Canadian military officials said Afghans detained by JTF2 were only in Canadian hands for a few hours before being turned over to U.S. officials. "The detainees were in apparent good health on capture and their condition had not changed when they were handed over to U.S. authorities on arrival in Kandahar on 24 May 02," it said.
The report was compiled after the Red Cross began asking for information about people taken into custody by Canadian troops.
An earlier JTF2 mission, in which the commandos took three prisoners, sparked a debate in the House of Commons over the issue of turning individuals over to the U.S. Some MPs voiced concern about the U.S. position that the Geneva Convention did not apply to such combatants, although the Pentagon stated they would be properly treated.
In a letter a month before the Band Taimore raid, then-defence minister Art Eggleton informed the Red Cross the Canadian government was concerned about the treatment of detainees it transferred to the U.S. and he assured the agency the prisoners would be treated humanely and in a manner consistent with the Geneva Conventions.
In a report explaining JTF2's actions, military officials stated that with the exception of two warning shots that were fired after a short struggle with a villager, the Canadian commandos were able to control all the detainees with a minimal amount of force. "Women and children in both compounds were untouched (the normal drill) and were not bound," the report stated.
In report in March, Human Rights Watch warned that special forces in Afghanistan were using too much force in their missions, many of them directed at innocent civilians.
It noted that the United Nations also raised concerns about the activities of special operations troops, in particular U.S. commandos, in Afghanistan. "One U.N. official who collected complaints about U.S. operations in 2002 said many of the complaints concerned the 'use of cowboy-like excessive force' against residents 'who generally turn out to be law abiding citizens,' " according to the Human Rights Watch report.
Ottawa Citizen
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2004
David Pugliese
CanWest News Service
Saturday, May 15, 2004
ADVERTISEMENT
A 70-year-old Afghan man killed after a raid by Canadian and U.S. commandos died in American custody when he was struck in the head by a rifle butt, according to a Canadian Forces report.
Haji Bajet died at a U.S. base shortly after the May 24, 2002, raid by Canada's Joint Task Force 2 and U.S. special forces on the village of Band Taimore, about 80 kilometres northwest of Kandahar. Another Afghan man was shot during the raid and a 3-year-old girl died when she fell down a 12-metre deep well during the confusion of the nighttime commando strike.
But Canadian military officials say that JTF2 soldiers had left the village before the girl died and the Afghan man was wounded. In addition, Bajet had been taken into custody by American forces during the raid.
"No Afghans were harmed by the Canadian portion of that raid," said navy Lt. Kent Penney, a spokesperson for the military's counter-terrorism and special operations branch.
"The number of incidents have been brought up, some alleged, some proven, (but) in no way were Canadians involved in those instances. They either happened in separate parts of where the raid took place, apart from where Canadians were, or Canadians had already departed the area."
On Thursday, London-based Human Rights Watch called for investigations into the Band Taimore raid as well as numerous other incidents in which Afghans allege they have been mistreated at the hands of U.S. soldiers. The human rights agency wants the Pentagon to release details about the deaths of three Afghans while in American custody. Two of those have been classified by U.S. military pathologists as homicides. The third is still under investigation.
U.S. officials acknowledge they are looking into the cases of 25 Iraqi and Afghan detainees who have died in American custody since December 2002. Most of the deaths - some from natural causes, others unexplained or classified as homicides - have happened in Iraq.
The killing of Bajet is not among those deaths being investigated. In a previous interview, a Pentagon spokesperson said U.S. forces acted professionally during that raid.
The death of Bajet, Band Taimore's village elder and its representative to the loya jirga, or Afghan grand council, was reported in a JTF2 dispatch on May 28. "An elderly father died while in custody at the (U.S. base) reportedly from a butt stroke to the head, which has caused much grief/anger in the village," according to a situation report filed by the unit from its Kandahar base.
In a June 14, 2002, report forwarded by the Foreign Affairs Department to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Canadian military officials said Afghans detained by JTF2 were only in Canadian hands for a few hours before being turned over to U.S. officials. "The detainees were in apparent good health on capture and their condition had not changed when they were handed over to U.S. authorities on arrival in Kandahar on 24 May 02," it said.
The report was compiled after the Red Cross began asking for information about people taken into custody by Canadian troops.
An earlier JTF2 mission, in which the commandos took three prisoners, sparked a debate in the House of Commons over the issue of turning individuals over to the U.S. Some MPs voiced concern about the U.S. position that the Geneva Convention did not apply to such combatants, although the Pentagon stated they would be properly treated.
In a letter a month before the Band Taimore raid, then-defence minister Art Eggleton informed the Red Cross the Canadian government was concerned about the treatment of detainees it transferred to the U.S. and he assured the agency the prisoners would be treated humanely and in a manner consistent with the Geneva Conventions.
In a report explaining JTF2's actions, military officials stated that with the exception of two warning shots that were fired after a short struggle with a villager, the Canadian commandos were able to control all the detainees with a minimal amount of force. "Women and children in both compounds were untouched (the normal drill) and were not bound," the report stated.
In report in March, Human Rights Watch warned that special forces in Afghanistan were using too much force in their missions, many of them directed at innocent civilians.
It noted that the United Nations also raised concerns about the activities of special operations troops, in particular U.S. commandos, in Afghanistan. "One U.N. official who collected complaints about U.S. operations in 2002 said many of the complaints concerned the 'use of cowboy-like excessive force' against residents 'who generally turn out to be law abiding citizens,' " according to the Human Rights Watch report.
Ottawa Citizen
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2004