Wikileaks cables show Texas company "helped pimp little boys to stoned Afghan cops"

[punjabiplaya]

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/07/report-wikileaks-cab.html

In the Houston Press, an extensive blog post untangling an alarming story from the state department cables: "another horrific taxpayer-funded sex scandal for DynCorp, the private security contractor tasked with training the Afghan police," and apparent proof that the company procured male children for bacha bazi ("boy-play") parties.

The story boils down to this: this company, headquartered in DC with Texas offices, helped pimp out little boys as sex slaves to stoned cops in Afghanistan:

For Pashtuns in the South of Afghanistan, there is no shame in having a little boy lover; on the contrary, it is a matter of pride. Those who can afford the most attractive boy are the players in their world, the OG's of places like Kandahar and Khost. On the Frontline video, ridiculously macho warrior guys brag about their young boyfriends utterly without shame.

So perhaps in the evil world of Realpolitik, in which there is apparently no moral compass US private contractors won't smash to smithereens, it made sense for DynCorp to drug up some Pashtun police recruits and turn them loose on a bunch of little boys. But according to the leaked document, Atmar, the Afghani interior minister, was terrified this story would catch a reporter's ear.

He urged the US State Department to shut down a reporter he heard was snooping around, and was horrified that a rumored videotape of the party might surface. He predicted that any story about the party would "endanger lives." He said that his government had arrested two Afghan police and nine Afghan civilians on charges of "purchasing a service from a child" in connection with the party, but that he was worried about the image of their "foreign mentors," by which he apparently meant DynCorp. American diplomats told him to chill. They apparently had a better handle on our media than Atmar, because when a report of the party finally did emerge, it was neutered to the point of near-falsehood.

Feel free to repost this thread once you have added your own commentary to the OP.
-Schadenfroh (AT Mod)

 

[HomerJS]

I'm undecided on my opinion of Wikileaks but as more stories like this surface, it may be a good thing in the long run

 

[hal2kilo]

I'm undecided on my opinion of Wikileaks but as more stories like this surface, it may be a good thing in the long run

In certain Afgan cultures, women are only for procreation, young boys are where it's at.

Yea, we need to stay there longer and get more of our people killed.

 

[Nebor]

I don't see any actual proof that DynCorp paid for underage male prostitutes.

This is a problem with the Afghan culture. Traveling to remote Army and Police training sites around the country, it was not unusual to hear what sounded like fights, and loud parties coming from the Afghan sections of the camps. The fights, it was was explained to me, were rapes in progress. The parties, as I saw first hand one night, were improvised strip clubs with boomboxes and runways\stages made of tables of desks on which boys danced and exposed themselves to the older men.

DynCorp is the parent company of what is essentially the entire civilian training force for the Afghan Security Forces. Every one of their employees I worked with was a total professional, they were all retired O-6 or higher veterans. They pay their people very, very well. Overall though, I got the impression that work was intentionally destroyed and duplicated in a never-ending cycle of make-work. I witnessed DynCorp instructors teaching illiterate Afghans very technical subjects (fire direction) via powerpoint slideshows with no pictures. I also saw what were obviously staged classroom performances for my benefit. When I brought these issues up to their manager, he told me to get fucked, and take it up with higher.

My point being, DynCorp is overall a positive influence and a helpful ally in getting the ANSF on their feet. And even if they're not, they're too big and too well connected to fuck with.

 

[Zebo]

Edited for homophobic comments just realized this was rape.

 

[JSt0rm]

My point being, DynCorp is overall a positive influence and a helpful ally in getting the ANSF on their feet. And even if they're not, they're too big and too well connected to fuck with.

apologist found. Go forth you little Nazi. Let the eagles soar!


This is revolting information and criminal charges should be brought against this company. Let them have their day in court.

 

[Throckmorton]

So why can't Wikileaks ONLY do good leaks like this?

 

[Infohawk]

So why can't Wikileaks ONLY do good leaks like this?

Because they're not a quality outfit.

 

[Infohawk]

In certain Afgan cultures, women are only for procreation, young boys are where it's at.

This is a big part of it. Apparently this is part of the culture in Afghanistan (who would have thought!). Still no reason a contractor should be involved.

 

[bigpimpatl]

Frontline actually did a great piece about Bacha Bazi, it's really insightful if you want to know the history and practice of it. Needless to say it is disturbing.

 

[SamurAchzar]

apologist found. Go forth you little Nazi. Let the eagles soar!


This is revolting information and criminal charges should be brought against this company. Let them have their day in court.

As always, when Muslims fuck each other up (literally, this time) - blame their Western overlords. Pathetic.

 

[Kadarin]

Wow, Afghan culture is pretty fucked up. (As is, of course, pretty much the entire Islamic world, for various reasons.)

Hopefully this will get publicized. I'm not holding my breath though, because the powers that be behind the media are instead directing their vitriol against Wikileaks itself for some reason.

 

[JSt0rm]

As always, when Muslims fuck each other up (literally, this time) - blame their Western overlords. Pathetic.

huh?

A corporation that is based in the united states bought little boys and let grown men fuck them. Thats what we are talking about here.

Israel has the right to exist. We aren't talking about that.

 

[between]

So why can't Wikileaks ONLY do good leaks like this?

so then who gets to decide which leaks are "Good" and which are Bad? if governments had their way, nothing would be leaked.

 

[Throckmorton]

so then who gets to decide which leaks are "Good" and which are Bad? if governments had their way, nothing would be leaked.

Common sense. If you're revealing the identities of people so that the Taliban kill them, it's bad.

 

[NoWhereM]

Frank Ball, former chief of police in Brainerd Minnesota claims to have been in charge of training police in Afganistan for DynCorp for a period of 15 months. http://www.startribune.com/local/68...7EaPc:iLP8iUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs

I mention this because I met with Ball while he was chief of police in Brainerd regarding criminal conduct by Brainerd police officers, Crow Wing County social workers, and others working in the child welfare industry regarding crimes committed against children, including sexual offenses, and the effort by his department and Crow Wing County Social Services to cover up those crimes.

I've already purchased the domain MinnesotaChildRacket.com where I intend to post the information I still have, though I intend to redact any information which would identify the victims.

I guess my point is that the idea of Frank Ball being associated with sexual crimes against children doesn't really surprise me.

 

[between]

I've already purchased the domain MinnesotaChildRacket.com where I intend to post the information I still have

what you're doing sounds noble, my only suggestion would be you should be very careful about the accusations you make, maybe even run things past a lawyer first (are their defamation/ libel laws in the USA)?

 

[NoWhereM]

what you're doing sounds noble, my only suggestion would be you should be very careful about the accusations you make, maybe even run things past a lawyer first (are their defamation/ libel laws in the USA)?

Yes, there absolutely are libel and defamation laws in the USA.

I don't believe either would apply when and if I ever get the information uploaded. I have documents which support the accusations I intend to make. I even ran the information in one case past an FBI agent stationed in St. Cloud, MN, and he stated that the documents I described support an accusation of kidnapping. He refused to investigate, however, because the person who actually grabbed the 12 year old child was a Brainerd police officer.

I do intend to transfer some tape recordings I've made to digital files and make YouTube videos with them. Under the strict letter of the law those recordings were illegal at the time I made them, I wore a wire into a government building and recorded telephone conversations, but I believe I can make a color of law argument that my actions constituted a criminal investigation and therefore should fall under the law enforcement exception in Minnesota's wiretapping law.

Regardless I want to get them out there and when my health allows I will get it done. I believe it is important enough to take the risk. For example one of the sexual assaults that were covered up involved a young boy being held down, stripped, and a tube of toothpaste being squeezed into his rectum by a group of older boys. Crow Wing County Social Services, the Brainerd Police Department, and the Minnesota Department of Corrections declared that this did not constitute a sexual assault because "their investigation" determined that the toothpaste was squeezed on his rectum and not in his rectum. I should note that none of them ever interviewed the victim and relied only on the internal investigation done by the juvenile residential facility housing the child to reach that conclusion.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

The truth is that the above is common place in juvenile detention centers, the zimbarto experiment was simply people doing what people do when they are given that kind of situation.

As for the lack of good Love-based ethics among the Afghan people... well there is a reason they live in a hell hole; I think we are bigots for trying to change them sociologically when we should simply accept their diverse culture for the value it can bring to the world*.

further:

NWMan is making things up; He is intent on infecting your computer with the NATAS virus. (jj)

*this value is giving our boys ample target practice.

 

[Vette73]

Common sense. If you're revealing the identities of people so that the Taliban kill them, it's bad.

How many have been directly killed from wikileaks information?

 

[xj0hnx]

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/07/report-wikileaks-cab.html

blog post

apparent proof

The story boils down to this

So the "leak" is really just a blog entry, that doesn't show any proof, and just condenses a probably very convoluted story down into a simple sensationalistic headline? Whoa

 

[Lanyap]

In certain Afgan cultures, women are only for procreation, young boys are where it's at.

They consider women "dirty" and boys/men "clean" related to having sex.

 

[Lanyap]

blog post

apparent proof

The story boils down to this

So the "leak" is really just a blog entry, that doesn't show any proof, and just condenses a probably very convoluted story down into a simple sensationalistic headline? Whoa

Here's the cable. It appears action was being taken concerning the incident and they were discussing damage control.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/213720

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Common sense. If you're revealing the identities of people so that the Taliban kill them, it's bad.

Good thing that hasn't happened.

Link

But a senior NATO official in Kabul told CNN that there has not been a single case of Afghans needing protection or to be moved because of the leak.

And it's also a good thing that Wikileaks has worked with both newspaper companies and tried to get the US Government to help with it's redaction (the US refused to help redact the info, I guess would rather go for the PR value of people dying instead of minimizing the problem)

WikiLeaks has posted to its website only 960 of the 251,297 diplomatic cables it has. Almost every one of these cables was first published by one of its newspaper partners which are disclosing them (The Guardian, the NYT, El Pais, Le Monde, Der Speigel, etc.). Moreover, the cables posted by WikiLeaks were not only first published by these newspapers, but contain the redactions applied by those papers to protect innocent people and otherwise minimize harm.

Link

That letter, written by DoD Legal Counsel Jeh Charles Johnson to WikiLeak's counsel, Timothy Matusheski, explicitly recounts -- contrary to the emphatic denials in Newsweek -- that WikiLeaks' lawyer had contacted the Pentagon and requested help in the "harm minimization" process. The DoD, however, is explicitly refusing to offer any help whatsoever

 

[Infohawk]

Good thing that hasn't happened.

Who's going to admit if it had or does happen? Wikileaks doesn't want to be blamed for deaths and the US government doesn't want to jeopardize its recruitment by admitting that its spies get killed.