New York, March 12 (RHC)-- Two Afghan prisoners held in US custody reportedly died after being chained up, kicked and beaten by US soldiers. According to this morning's edition of The New York Times, US Army criminal investigative reports show that the prisoners were tortured to death in 2002 -- nearly a year before the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq became public knowledge.

The newspaper reports that one soldier, Pfc. Willie V. Brand, was charged with manslaughter in a closed hearing last month in Texas in connection with one of the deaths in Afghanistan. The soldier, who acknowledged striking a detainee named Dilawar 37 times, was accused of killing him after maiming him over a five-day period by "destroying his leg muscle tissue with repeated unlawful knee strikes." The Army report, citing a medical examiner, said that the attacks on Dilawar were so severe that "even if he had survived, both legs would have had to be amputated."

The Army reports cited "credible information" that four military interrogators assaulted Dilawar and another Afghan prisoner with "kicks to the groin and legs, shoving or slamming him into walls/table, forcing the detainee to maintain painful, contorted body positions during interrogation and forcing water into his mouth until he could not breathe."

US military officials in Afghanistan initially said the deaths of the two Afghans in an isolation cell in December 2002 were from natural causes. But, The New York Times reports that after an investigation, the Army acknowledged the deaths were homicides.

Commentary:
More of those Christian values we hear so much about no doubt. Anyone who voted for Bush is equally responsible for the war crimes committed by him, his military and his CIA.