-Caveat Lector- http://www.msnbc.com/news/627086.asp
Report: U.S. paid villagers over raid Rumsfeld: U.S. investigating; he says he has no knowledge of payments Three men walk away from a grave site near the town of Uruzgan, where villagers claim that U.S. special forces wrongly killed at least 18 men. MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS Feb. 4 -- Afghan officials say the United States has conceded that a deadly raid in a southern Afghan village two weeks ago was a mistake and that families of those killed had been given compensation -- in $100 bills -- according to a report broadcast Monday. U.S. FORCES have returned to investigate claims that they killed the wrong people in the raid, and they should apologize on the spot if the claims prove true, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Monday. U.S. soldiers have gone to the area in Uruzgan province where special forces killed 15 or 16 people and arrested 27 in a nighttime raid two weeks ago, Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news conference. Rumsfeld admitted for the first time that it was possible that a U.S. military assault on two compounds Jan. 24 resulted in their "unfortunately killing or wounding some individuals who might have been friendly." According to a report broadcast Monday by NPR News, however, senior Afghan officials said that the United States had already expressed regret over the raid at Uruzgan and had even paid the victims' families $1,000 each in U.S. cash. Responding to a question, Rumsfeld said he had no information about reports of such apologies or payments. "I do know that U.S. soldiers have gone back into the area, I believe with Afghans, to try to determine the facts," he said. "I would hope that if, in the course of that, they discover that somebody was in fact killed who should not have been killed ... that American forces would express apologies. I can't say that I know that, but I would hope they would." PENTAGON ABOUT-FACE After days of insisting they had struck the right people, Pentagon officials said last week that they would investigate the incident. The interim Afghan government led by Hamid Karzai said it also was investigating. Rumsfeld said he recalled Karzai's telling someone in the U.S. military that "in the event that it turns out that people were in fact killed who were friendly to the interim government, that would be unfortunate, and it would be helpful if some way could be found to compensate them." The Pentagon has insisted that U.S. special forces attacked a legitimate military target in the raid on an ammunition dump that intelligence analysts believed al-Qaida or Taliban forces were using. But some Afghans said Taliban renegades were handing over weapons to Karzai's government at the site. They said that some pro-Karzai figures were killed and that others, including a police chief, his deputy and members of a district council, were among those arrested. COMMAND POST MOVING TO BAHRAIN Meanwhile, the top Marine Corps general for Central Asia and the Persian Gulf is moving his command post from Hawaii to Bahrain in another sign that the U.S. anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan and elsewhere won't be over any time soon. Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston moved to Bahrain in mid-January on Rumsfeld's orders, said his spokesman in Hawaii, Lt. Col. Pat Sivigny. Hailston, who oversees the Marines' operations in both the Central and Pacific commands, joins Central Command chiefs for the Air Force and the Army, who moved to the region in recent months, and the Navy's 5th Fleet, which already had a base there. The Navy component of Central Command is headquartered in Bahrain, the Air Force's is in Saudi Arabia and the Army's is in Kuwait. Also, some Marines who had been deployed to the Afghan campaign have moved to the coast of Africa for a three-week joint exercise with Kenyan forces, Pentagon officials said Monday. More than 2,000 Marines began the amphibious exercise Sunday. Officials said it had been planned for months and was not a sign that military action was planned soon in neighboring Somalia, where officials fear al-Qaida terrorists from Afghanistan could seek refuge. FACTIONAL FIGHTING Also Monday, efforts to quell Afghanistan's worst factional fighting since the fall of the Taliban had mixed results. Under supervision of the United Nations, opposing forces in the north agreed to work toward a demilitarization but, in the east, government mediators reportedly failed to push two warring tribes into a peace deal and ordered both sides to send delegations to Kabul for more talks. In the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, two factions agreed to set up a security commission to demilitarize under the supervision of the United Nations. Several days of clashes there last week killed more than 40 people. Mohammad Sardar Saeedi, of the Hezb-i-Wahdat party, said Uzbek warlord general Abdul Rashid Dostum and his rival ethnic Tajik commander, Ustad Atta Mohammad, had decided to hand control of the city to a security commission led by Hezb-i-Wahdat. Both Dostum and Mohammad are part of the U.N.-brokered interim government in Kabul. The commission will deploy 200 fighters from each group as police to maintain security and law and order in the aftermath of three days of the fighting on the outskirts of the city between forces under Dostum and Atta, Saeedi said. [dotblack.gif] [37][lnk_story.gif] NBC: Karzai up against warlord rivalries [dotblack.gif] "There is no problem anymore. A cease-fire has been enforced," Saeedi said. Mazar-e-Sharif was the scene of bitter factional fighting for several years before the hard-line Taliban seized control in 1998 and brought relative security. The United States dislodged the Taliban under the weight of heavy airstrikes and Northern Alliance ground forces following the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States, which Washington blames on [38]Osama bin Laden and his [39]al-Qaida network, which had been sheltered by the Taliban for years. Representatives of the Northern Alliance now comprise the bulk of the interim administration. As part of the deal struck on Sunday, all heavy machine guns, tanks and armored personnel carriers will be withdrawn from Mazar-e-Sharif under the supervision of a U.N observer who will be involved in regular mediation, Saeedi said. "The formation of the commission is welcomed by the people who were really concerned about the recent fighting," he said. NBC's Tom Aspell, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om