Is that something so contradictory to the world view expressed over and over on this board produces not one iota of introspection. Not one iota of feeling that, perhaps, there might be another view of the world. Just, if the Nobel Committee did this, they were wrong.

When Barack Obama announced he would end torture and close Guantánamo, the ICRC delegation was adamant, regardless of the remaining fight to get the prison closed, regardless of all the other things that needed to be done to follow through: No country in the history of the Geneva Conventions had ever done that.

The Glenn Greenwalds of the world will talk about an occupation in Afghanistan, even though he's a lawyer and knows perfectly well that there are international customary and statutory definitions for occupation, and the U.S. in Afghanistan does not qualify, and the newspapers will endlessly report on Pakistani disgruntlement with the Kerry-Lugar bill (originally the Biden bill). But look at this comment on Teeth Maestro yesterday. The subject matter is an Indian tech organization sponsored by Infosys having invited a Pakistani delegation to their trade conference:

Comment by Aamir Mughal on October 8, 2009 @ 4:34 pm

Dear Dr Awab,

Did you ask Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani for even discussing this on your blog, since they have again assumed the position to Interpret National Security??

Corps commanders express concern over Kerry-Lugar

By Iftikhar A. Khan Thursday, 08 Oct, 2009

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/army-top-brass-examines-us-aid-bill-05-sal-01

The army’s objections mainly related to the clauses about the country’s nuclear programme, suggestions of Pakistan’s support for cross-border militancy and civilian government’s role in military promotions and appointments.

Clearly, the situation might be other than it may seem.

Introspection. It's what causes great thinking.

On approximately December 7, Mr. Lindh was transferred by air to Camp Rhino south of Kandahar. During the flight, he was blindfolded and bound with plastic cuffs so tight that his hands turned blue. Soldiers transporting him threatened him with death and torture.

Upon arrival at Camp Rhino, Mr. Lindh's clothes were cut off him, his hands and feet were again shackled, and he was bound tightly with duct tape to a stretcher. Still blindfolded, completely naked, he was then placed in a metal shipping container. Press photographs of that container are attached as Ex. C.

Despite the extreme cold of Afghanistan nights in December, there was no heat source, lighting or insulation in the container. After some time, one blanket was placed over Mr. Lindh and another was put under the stretcher. Because of the extreme cold, the position in which he was bound, and the pain from the tightness of his shackles and his untreated wounds, Mr. Lindh slept little if at all during that period of time.

These conditions remained essentially the same for the following two to three days. At that point, still blindfolded, Mr. Lindh was taken in a state of complete exhaustion from the shipping container to a tent. When his blindfold was removed, he was greeted by an FBI agent who was facing him. When Mr. Lindh asked for a lawyer, he was told that there were no lawyers there. Mr. Lindh believed that the only way to escape the torture of his current circumstance was to do whatever the agent wanted. It as at this point that Mr. Lindh allegedly voluntarily waived of his right to remain silent and his right to counsel and answered questions by the FBI interrogator. After being interrogated by the agent, the conditions of Mr. Lindh's captivity did gradually begin to improve, and on approximately December 14, he was taken from Camp Rhino to the USS PELELIU. Only then did he receive needed medical attention, including surgery for his wounds. (my bold)

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/lindhplea.htm

Yeah, that was John Walker Lindh, the excerpt is from his lawyer's court filing in a request that he be released pending trial. He'd previously been in a container in Qala-i-Janghi under control of General Dostum, and similarly shackled and exposed to the cold. There are other versions, one is that there were shots fired into the container killing people near the walls, in order to threaten those, like Lindh who were near the center.

Only troubles here: Camp Rhino was considerably separated from General Dostum's realm in the surrounds of Mazar-e-Sharif, it being south of the city of Kandahar. And, as far as the nakedness, shackles, threats, and the general, shall we say, ambiance, this is way, way before any torture memoes were written or presidents ordered a suspension of the Geneva Conventions.

So whose idea were those containers, and those strangely SERE reminiscent treatments? General Dostum? What, was he on the radio to the Marines south of Kandahar, in Taliban territory? Didn't he just arrive in the country a few months before from Uzbekistan? And wasn't his usual modus operandus to just use brutal tortures like chasing people with tanks in a courtyard? After all, he eventually buries people alive.

I think the U.S. did more than be present.

There's lots more on this guy's treatment. Pretty damned early for all the deprivation torture and loud sound and all that.

http://tinyurl.com/mkfm46

And his treatment is precisely contemporaneous with the mass graves that PHR is digging up. I think we need to work from the hypothesis that the U.S. was more than just an ally or observer. As PHR asserts over and over, those Taliban surrendered to Dostum and to U.S. operatives. U.S. operatives accepted them into captivity and were responsible for their subsequent treatment.