Wikileaks Reveals U.S. Tax Dollars Fund Child Sex Slavery in Afghanistan

[Khayembii Communique]

Wikileaks Reveals U.S. Tax Dollars Fund Child Sex Slavery in Afghanistan

The now infamous Wikileaks recently released a cable from Afghanistan revealing U.S. government contractor DynCorp threw a party for Afghan security recruits featuring trafficked boys as the entertainment. Bacha bazi is the Afghan tradition of "boy play" where young boys are dressed up in women's clothing, forced to dance for leering men, and then sold for sex to the highest bidder. Apparently this is the sort of "entertainment" funded by your tax dollars when DynCorp is in charge of security in Afghanistan.

DynCorp is a government contractor which has been providing training for Afghan security and police forces for several years. Though the company is about as transparent as a lead-coated rock, most reports claim over 95% of their budget comes from U.S. taxpayers. That's the same budget that Dycorp used to pay for a party in Kunduz Province for some Afghan police trainees. The entertainment for the evening was bacha bazi boys, whose pimps were paid so the boys would sing and dance for the recruits and then be raped by them afterward. That's your tax dollars at work -- fighting terrorism and extremism in Afghnistan by trafficking little boys for sex with cops-in-training.


In fact, the evidence linking DynCorp to bacha bazi was so damning, Afghan Minister of the Interior Hanif Atmar tried to quash the story. Upon hearing a journalist was investigating DynCorp and the U.S. government's funding of the sex trafficking of young boys in Afghanistan, Atmar warned any publication of the story would "endanger lives," and requested the U.S. suppress the story. Atmar admitted he had arrested eleven Afghans nationals as "facilitators" of the bacha bazi party. But he was only charging them with "purchasing a service from a child," which is illegal under Sharia law and the civil code. And in this case "services" is not used as a euphemism for sex; so far, no one is being held accountable for the young boys whose rapes were paid for by the U.S. taxpayers.


As if this story couldn't get any more outrageous, Atmar went on to say that if news of the incident got out, he was "worried about the image of foreign mentors". In other words, why should something as piddling as the humiliation, objectification, sale, and rape of some children tarnish the good name of DynCorp and all the work (read: money) they're doing in Afghanistan? After all, bacha bazi is growing in popularity in Afghanistan, especially in areas like Kunduz. Why shouldn't U.S. government contractors be able to win local favor by pimping young boys?


Of course, this isn't the first time DynCorp has used U.S. tax dollars to support sex trafficking. In Bosnia in 1999, Kathryn Bolkovac was fired from the company after blowing the whistle on DynCorp's staffers pimping out girls as young as 12 from Eastern European countries. DynCorp settled a lawsuit involving Bolkovac, and her story was recently featured in The Whistleblower, where she was portrayed by Rachel Weiss. It's a happy ending for one DynCorp whistle blower, but will there be a Bolkovac in Afghanistan?


It's time American taxpayers demanded a zero tolerance policy on our money being used to support child sex trafficking overseas. Tell the UN Mission to Afghanistan the time has come to crack down on those who buy and sell boys in bacha bazi, whether they're Afghans or U.S. government contractors, security personnel or citizens. No one should be able to traffic children so sex and get away with it, and that includes repeat offender DynCorp. We have a right to demand our tax dollars go to fight trafficking, not support it. And we have a right to demand the U.S. government and their contractors be held accountable for exploiting the boys of Afghanistan.

Source



This one speaks for itself.

EDIT: Might wanna move this to the Breaking News - Blogs forum.

 

[Catz Part Deux]

I posted an article about Bacha Bazi a while back in the religion section. It received almost zero recognition.

I would like to read the actual cable, in this case. Have you seen it, Khayembi? It wasn't linked in the article you sourced.

 

[Khayembii Communique]

I think this is it?

US embassy cables: Afghan government asks US to quash 'dancing boys' scandal | World news | guardian.co.uk

 

[Catz Part Deux]

From the actual cable...

Amb[assador] Mussomeli opened that the incident deeply upset us and we took strong steps in response. An investigation is on-going, disciplinary actions were taken against DynCorp leaders in Afghanistan, we are also aware of proposals for new procedures, such as stationing a military officer at RTCs, that have been introduced for consideration. (Note: Placing military officers to oversee contractor operations at RTCs is not legally possible under the currentDynCorp contract.) Beyond remedial actions taken, we still hope the matter will not be blown out of proportion, an outcome which would not be good for either the U.S. or Afghanistan. A widely-anticipated newspaper article on the Kunduz scandal has not appeared but, if there is too much noise that may prompt the journalist to publish.

In reading this cable, I see a few things that conflict with your initial article.

1) I see a U.S. government entity that has discovered the wrongdoing and pursued an investigation.
2) I see that punitive/disciplinary steps were taken against the contractor.
3) I see nowhere that U.S. officials took action to squash the story (though they agreed that publication would be embarrassing for all involved).

It's interesting that your initial source says, "so far, no one is being held accountable for the young boys whose rapes were paid for by the U.S. taxpayers."

But that's not true, according to the actual cable. It appears that the U.S. Government took steps to hold DYNCORP accountable and punitive measures were taken.

This is one thing I like about Wikileaks. It provides an interested reader with an opportunity to go to the source, and determine if the news story has accurately recounted what happened.

In this case, your news story shows obvious bias and is not accurate. Interesting, don't you think?

 

[Khayembii Communique]

Good post. I agree. The reason I think this article is interesting though is because it's further proof of the hollowness of the "endangering lives" excuse. This is an example where that objection is blatantly false and is used simply as a means of covering up the offense.

 

[Catz Part Deux]

Good post. I agree. The reason I think this article is interesting though is because it's further proof of the hollowness of the "endangering lives" excuse. This is an example where that objection is blatantly false and is used simply as a means of covering up the offense.

GOOD POINT. This whole "endangering lives" b.s. needs to stop. This cable makes it clear that the only person who was really "endangered" was the corrupt afghani official who was looking at losing his job for being an incompetent shill. This is exactly why so many documents need to NOT be classified.

 

[Khayembii Communique]

"Secret diplomacy is a necessary tool for a propertied minority which is compelled to deceive the majority in order to subject it to its interests... The abolition of secret diplomacy is the primary condition for an honest, popular, truly democratic foreign policy... The workers’ and peasants’ Government abolishes secret diplomacy and its intrigues, codes, and lies. We have nothing to hide."

-Trotsky, WW1

Lenin and Trotsky on Wikileaks

 

[Catz Part Deux]

We have nothing to hide."

-Trotsky, WW1

In point of fact, Trotsky and Lenin had plenty to hide, but such is the value of these kinds of situations...dirty laundry needs to be aired occasionally...and in democracies, it needs to be aired more frequently.

 

[Kal'Stang]

From the actual cable...



In reading this cable, I see a few things that conflict with your initial article.

1) I see a U.S. government entity that has discovered the wrongdoing and pursued an investigation.
2) I see that punitive/disciplinary steps were taken against the contractor.
3) I see nowhere that U.S. officials took action to squash the story (though they agreed that publication would be embarrassing for all involved).

It's interesting that your initial source says, "so far, no one is being held accountable for the young boys whose rapes were paid for by the U.S. taxpayers."

But that's not true, according to the actual cable. It appears that the U.S. Government took steps to hold DYNCORP accountable and punitive measures were taken.

This is one thing I like about Wikileaks. It provides an interested reader with an opportunity to go to the source, and determine if the news story has accurately recounted what happened.

In this case, your news story shows obvious bias and is not accurate. Interesting, don't you think?

Personally I think that the only "punitive/disciplinary" action that should have been taken was to boot DYNECorps completely.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

Personally I think that the only "punitive/disciplinary" action that should have been taken was to boot DYNECorps completely.

Not boot, but hold criminally responsible

 

[TheGirlNextDoor]

Moderator's Warning:

Moved to Breaking News - Blogs

 

[Kal'Stang]

Not boot, but hold criminally responsible

That would definately be nice. Unfortenately it is not within our jurisdiction.