The Pentagon has confirmed a controversial report that American troops are being forced to stand idle while allies of US forces rape children.
The Washington Free Beacon confirmed the rape reports with a Pentagon source Monday night but the same source denied that troops are being told to ignore it.
Former Special Forces Captain Dan Quinn, who stopped a child rapist in Afghanistan. (Courtesy NY Times)
“This is an abhorrent practice, and we are deeply concerned about it,” the official told the Free Beacon. “This form of sexual exploitation of children is a violation of Afghanistan’s laws and international obligations.
“There is no policy in place that directs any U.S. military or government personnel overseas to ignore human rights abuses,” the official said. “On the contrary, we monitor such atrocities closely and have continually stood up for those who have suffered exploitation and denial of basic human freedoms.”
However, a report yesterday in the New York Times and contents of a Congressional inquiry show that troops have been told to ignore sexual abuse of young boys and even punished soldiers who stepped in to stop abuse.
“The reason we were here is because we heard the terrible things the Taliban were doing to people, how they were taking away human rights,” Dan Quinn, a former Special Forces captain who beat up an American-backed militia commander, told the New York Times. The Afghani commander had been keeping a boy chained to his bed as a sex slave. “But we were putting people into power who would do things that were worse than the Taliban did — that was something village elders voiced to me.”
The Army removed Captain Quinn from his command after he stopped the assault on the boy and immediately removed him from Afghanistan. Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland, who assisted Cap. Quinn in stopping the child rape, is now facing an involuntary discharge from the Army despite an exemplary service record. Martland even received the Bronze Star with Valor for rushing into a Taliban ambush and helping fellow soldiers who were being attacked. Wayne Hall, an Army spokesman, refused to comment on the case citing privacy issues.
(The Afghani commander involved in the incident, Abdul Rahman, died two years ago in a Taliban assault. His family denies he was a pedophile.)
Congressman Hunter’s letter to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. Click to enlarge.
Congressman Duncan Hunter of California is bringing the matter to the attention of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, sending a letter demanding he take action to keep Sgt. Martland on active duty.
“It’s sad to think that a child rapist is put above one of our elite military operators. Sergeant Martland was left with no other choice but to intervene in a bad situation. … The Army should stand up for what’s right and should not side with a corrupt Afghan police officer,” Hunter told Fox News.
Another Representative is calling on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to step in and assist Martland.
“I urge you to immediately reverse the Pentagon’s shameful policy of punishing soldiers who try to stop the sexual abuse of children in Afghanistan,”Rep. Vern Buchanan wrote in a letter to Gen. Martin Dempsey, saying current Army directions constitute “a chilling policy that told American soldiers to look the other way when Afghan allies sexually abused young boys, sometimes on military bases.”
“American soldiers serving our nation in the Army and Marines in Afghanistan have been told to stand down when encountering child sexual abuse perpetrated by local allies,” Buchanan writes, citing the New York Times. “Protecting child predators is abhorrent and inconsistent with our values as a nation. I call on you to end this shameful policy immediately.”
A photo of slain American soldier George Buckley, Jr. (courtesy NY Times)
The father of Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr., a soldier slain in Afghanistan who reported child sexual abuse, claims the inactivity of American troops is viewed as enabling the abusers by local Afghanis and many of the abused children feel the Marines are complicit in the abuse.
“As far as the young boys are concerned, the Marines are allowing it to happen and so they’re guilty by association,” Gregory Buckley Sr. told the Times. “They don’t know our Marines are sick to their stomachs.”
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