Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission released its assessment of an American aerial attack in the western province of Farah on May 4, saying American forces demonstrated "a disproportionate use of force" that might have killed up to 97 civilians, most of them children.
That number is lower than the Afghan government's figure of 140 civilians killed but higher than the American military assessment of 20 to 30 civilian deaths in an attack it said singled out Taliban fighters.
In its statement on the American aerial attack in Farah, the human rights commission said that in addition to 11 adult male civilians who were killed, "available records suggest that 21 were women and 65 were children, 31 of whom were girls and 34 boys."
Abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has worsened sharply since President Barack Obama took office as prison guards "get their kicks in" before the camp is closed, according to a lawyer who represents detainees.
IRF teams in effect operate at Guantánamo as an extrajudicial terror squad that has regularly brutalized prisoners outside of the interrogation room, gang beating them, forcing their heads into toilets, breaking bones, gouging their eyes, squeezing their testicles, urinating on a prisoner's head, banging their heads on concrete floors and hog-tying them -- sometimes leaving prisoners tied in excruciating positions for hours on end.
Despite President Barack Obama's publicized pledge to close the prison camp and end torture -- and analysis from human rights lawyers who call these forces' actions illegal -- IRFs remain very much active at Guantánamo.
And that's why Obama won't prosecute Bush and his friends for war crimes...
Because Obama and his friends are committing exactly the same crimes!
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