Article

2015-09-21 Afghanistan

U.S. Soldiers Told to Ignore Sexual Abuse of Boys by Afghan Allies

[NYT] KABUL, Afghanistan -- In his last phone call home, Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr. told his father what was troubling him: From his bunk in southern Afghanistan, he could hear Afghan police officers sexually abusing boys they had brought to the base.

"At night we can hear them screaming, but we're not allowed to do anything about it," the Marine's father, Gregory Buckley Sr., recalled his son telling him before he was shot to death at the base in 2012. He urged his son to tell his superiors. "My son said that his officers told him to look the other way because it's their culture."

Rampant sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan, particularly among armed commanders who dominate much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is called bacha bazi, literally "boy play," and American soldiers and Marines have been instructed not to intervene -- in some cases, not even when their Afghan allies have abused boys on military bases, according to interviews and court records.
Spit.

Posted by Besoeker 2015-09-21 13:10|| || Front Page|| [8 views ] Top

#1 Good thing these Afghan boy play abusers weren't Catholic priests or conservatives; they'd really be in trouble.

Posted by JohnQC 2015-09-21 13:45|| 2015-09-21 13:45|| Front Page Top

#2 Because the left has made it a sin to chastise any culture other than our own, we are forced to allow this to happen.

Rather think it is about time to purge progressives from our native shores before sending our forces out to rebuild other nations.

Posted by DarthVader 2015-09-21 14:00|| 2015-09-21 14:00|| Front Page Top

#3 Events like this one could serve a major PTSD trigger for any GIs who, under orders, became unwilling collaborators in these crimes, and one of the most severe triggers imaginable.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2015-09-21 14:17|| 2015-09-21 14:17|| Front Page Top

#4 I don't read the NYT so someone enlighten me: was there an editorial today demanding that the Obama administration fix this?

Posted by Steve White 2015-09-21 15:35|| 2015-09-21 15:35|| Front Page Top

#5 This country has lost its way when it allows behavior on our bases. How far our so-called moral compass spins aimlessly.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2015-09-21 15:48|| 2015-09-21 15:48|| Front Page Top

#6 Coming soon to a base inside the United States. After all we should never question another's preferences....

Posted by CrazyFool 2015-09-21 15:51|| 2015-09-21 15:51|| Front Page Top

#7 This is a mindset I will never be able to wrap my mind around (like defense attorneys trying to spring the devil himself). In my pea brain, insane, illegal for chrissake, orders are not to be followed. I would never have lasted in the military. Sigh.

Posted by JHH 2015-09-21 16:15|| 2015-09-21 16:15|| Front Page Top

#8 This sort of thing may be one of the contributors to veteran suicides.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2015-09-21 16:27|| 2015-09-21 16:27|| Front Page Top

#9 Um, it looks like they are not all necessarily ignoring it, but not doing so can be a real career-killer: Army kicking out decorated Green Beret who stood up for Afghan rape victim

Posted by Vast Right Wing Conspiracy 2015-09-21 17:05|| 2015-09-21 17:05|| Front Page Top

#10 It occurs to me that the idea of "their culture" didn't seem to be much of a concern when it cam to building schools for Afghan girls.

Posted by Rex Mundi 2015-09-21 17:06|| 2015-09-21 17:06|| Front Page Top

#11 The "their culture" caveat, could it also be in passive use elsewhere, say in crime ridden urban America ?

Posted by Besoeker 2015-09-21 17:40|| 2015-09-21 17:40|| Front Page Top

#12 You know the rot is concentrated in the top when the people telling them to ignore this stuff isn't immediately prosecuted under the USMJ for what is essentially covering criminal behavior, conduct unbecoming and whatever else applies.

Posted by Silentbrick 2015-09-21 18:03|| 2015-09-21 18:03|| Front Page Top

#13 One of the things that allowed the Taliban to come to power was the tolerance by the Soviet-supported government of this kind of behaviour. For a while, as I recall, the Taliban successfully forbade taking boys and growing opium, though by the end they were as bad as those they'd replaced.

Posted by trailing wife 2015-09-21 18:18|| 2015-09-21 18:18|| Front Page Top

#14 Wouldn't an order to 'ignore' this criminal behavior be an illegal (not to mention immoral) order?

Posted by CrazyFool 2015-09-21 18:42|| 2015-09-21 18:42|| Front Page Top

#15 Someone remind me again - why are we in Afghanistan? Who are we "saving" Afghanistan for? For one flavor or another of lunatic, boy-raping Muslims? Fork that. Build a 20-meter wall around the entire country, put signs on the outside saying "Hell on Earth" - and leave the Orcs inside to destroy themselves.

The best thing we could have done 30 years ago would have been to encourage the Soviet Union to stay in Afghanistan - for 100 years. Let them wallow in that cesspit of moral depravity for few generations - meanwhile, bleeding their Army white.

It's just like Iraq - we should have just kept selling arms to both Iraq and Iran - and let those two flavors of Muslim barbarians grind each other into pink mist for decades to come.

Posted by Lone Ranger 2015-09-21 20:56|| 2015-09-21 20:56|| Front Page Top

#16 In UCMJ, you could consider Child raping as human trafficking,kidnapping. If it occurred on your Military Base, the "Culture" of UCMJ would be to hold you accountable for the wanton lack of welfare for your own Troops seeing as the locals were the ones victimized by your prioritization.

Maybe I have said too much
Maybe I said too little.

It's an Illegal order, what you are fighting against - not with.

Posted by newc 2015-09-21 23:06|| 2015-09-21 23:06|| Front Page Top

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