Now, the one-time commando leader is assuming direct control of Special Forces in Afghanistan because civilians are continuing to die in large numbers as a result of U.S.-led assaults. In 2009, nearly 600 Afghans died at the hands of coalition forces, according to the United Nations. The incidents included the killing of eight high school students, a 12-year-old shepherd boy, an Afghan police commander, a government prosecutor, two of their pregnant wives and a teenage daughter. Again, McChrystal has vowed to make limiting civilian casualties “paramount.”

 

Some critics have questioned whether McChrystal is really the right person for the job. Before arriving in Afghanistan, he oversaw, as head of Special Ops, the secret detention center in Baghdad, Iraq, known as Camp Nama, where insurgents were tortured by American personnel. McChrystal told lawmakers during his confirmation hearings that he does not support the use of harsh interrogation techniques and tried to stop it, but Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) quietly questioned whether the general was telling the truth.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Laughable: Top Military Official Who Oversaw Detainee Torture Now In Charge Of Reducing Afghanistan Civilian Casualties (by Dave Lindorff, Public Record)

U.S. Is Reining In Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan (by Richard Oppel Jr. and Rod Norland, New York Times)

Did McChrystal Distort His Involvement in Torture? (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

New Afghan Commander Oversaw Torture Program (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)