NEWS RELEASE
2015-09-22-01
STATEMENT FROM COMMANDER, RESOLUTE SUPPORT AND UNITED STATES FORCES-AFGHANISTAN
KABUL, Afghanistan (Sept. 22, 2015) – Statement from Gen. John F. Campbell, Commander, Resolute Support and United States Forces - Afghanistan:
Recent media reports citing alleged cases from 2010, 2011, and 2012, have claimed that in the past a command policy existed within the Afghan theater of operations that U.S. forces were to ignore suspicions of sexual abuse committed by Afghans against children. I personally have served multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan and am absolutely confident that no such theater policy has ever existed here, and certainly, no such policy has existed throughout my tenure as commander.
Consistent with clear U.S. Department of Defense policy on the issue of sexual assault, trafficking of persons, and similar matters, I expect all personnel to treat others with respect and dignity. I further expect that any suspicions of sexual abuse will be immediately reported to the chain of command, regardless of who the alleged perpetrators or victims are. The chain of command will take appropriate action under applicable law, as well as DoD and service regulations. If the abuse involves Afghans, a report shall be forwarded to me through operations channels, copied to the Staff Judge Advocate, so that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan can be advised and requested to take action. I have personally spoken with President Ghani on this issue and he made it clear to me that the Afghan government will not tolerate the abuse of its children, or any of its people, and will thoroughly investigate all allegations and administer justice appropriately.
I want to make absolutely clear that any sexual abuse or similar mistreatment of others, no matter the alleged perpetrator or victim, is completely unacceptable, and reprehensible.
My expectations also apply to non-U.S. personnel assigned to the Resolute Support mission, consistent with their national policies and regulations.
Comments
Pederasty among the Pathans was noted by the scribes who followed Alexander’s army more than 2000 years ago. No doubt the Macedonian’s own taste for pederasty drew the attention of the scribes chronicling the exploits of their army as it fought numerous campaigns across AF & PAK.
Some historians suggest a drunken dispute in Samarkand (Uzbekistan) in 329 BC over a ‘ paidos’ provoked Alexander into slaying Cleitus the Black, who had saved Alexander’s life at the Battle of the Granicus River (Turkey) in 334 BC.
For centuries the NWFP was a favourite posting for British Officers; most of whom were drawn from the English upper classes. One of the purported reasons for the frontier being a coveted posting was the proliferation of rent boys to be had amongst the Pathan tribes. In the words of the English sage E M Forster :
‘Goats for necessity, women for survival and boys are for pleasure.’
During the war against the Soviets the Afghan proverb ‘When crows fly over Kandahar they use only one wing - the other wing is used to cover their ass’ inspired the jest that the Soviet PFM -1 Anti-personnel ‘Butterfly’ mine was invented in Kandahar, as it too flew with only one wing .
This region has been infamous for thousands of years for the elite’s pederastic inclinations. After 14 years I seriously doubt anyone who was remotely connected to the US military was unaware of this depraved custom.
Some NGOs used the apparent acceptance of pederasty amongst the elite as an incentive to attract foreign expertise to what was a ‘hardship’ posting.
Even under a benign form of Islamic Law this sexual behaviour is punishable by death . Under Sharia, a mere suggestion could very likely have the perpetrator ( and the victim I’m afraid to say) being slaughtered before they got anywhere near a court-room.
So what?
When attempting to drive a sliver of truthfulness thru the whole Jihad hubris and hypocrisy that most Fruitcake, Jihadi, Mujahid, Mullahs attempt to cloak their less than honourable intentions, I found drawing attention to their acceptance of pederasty and the wide-spread proliferation of opium farming - both capital offenses under Sharia - had the desired effect of deflating even the most sanctimonious and bombastic asshole.
Without exception not a single individual denied their understanding that in accordance with the Koran the individual indulging in this behaviour must be beheaded.
In my experience if you confronted this behaviour head on ( with your shiny copy of the Koran in one hand and your heavily armed team behind you) it bolstered your credentials no end. The perpetrators being shamed by the infidel worked wonders for your standing in the eyes of the Afghans.
The mistake many make is thinking this behaviour is something born out of religious faith. The Crusader camp are great ones for jumping on that bandwagon but somehow fail to reconcile the contradiction between Christian ideology and pederasty of many Christian clergyman across the globe.
Grinding poverty, destruction of the extended family, child homelessness etc are the hunting ground for paedophiles in AF and PAK – as is the case in Thailand, Brazil India, Australia, Europe and the US. And for centuries – if not millennia – Afghanistan has been the poorest and most war-torn country on the planet.
The fact that US personnel feel pressure from the chain of command to ignore International Law, Islamic Law, Afghan Law, US Martial Law and the US Constitution speaks volumes for level of esteem our troops hold for their leaders.
The question is who’s cultural sensitivity, rule of law or moral code where our military leaders aiming to appease? Was strict remedial guidance not enforced under the perchance that the children actually welcomed the abuse and therefore we should not interfere in the happy union?
The Taliban are worse and as such their shrill proclamations of divine inspiration are even more damnably hollow. But surely that comes as no surprise – or does it? However unlike the criminal element within the ANSF who use a more ‘civilized’ approach to pederasty with gifts, food, money, shelter etc., the Talibs inflict these crimes a the point of a gun – usually after they’ve kicked in your family’s front door.
The Wahhabi weapon of choice is copious amounts of money, but unlike the locally grown paedophile they have an additional ‘fondness’. The Wahhabi impose themselves upon female children as well. In my experience this added deviation was the primary reason why all Arabs were loathed by both Pakistanis and Afghans.
IMHO we don’t have a lack of understanding of God, we have a lack of understanding of UW .
For some strange reason we recognize criminals executing UW for nefarious motives in the Ukraine but elsewhere when the Good, the Bad and the Ugly declare themselves God inspired the nature of the conflict, and more importantly the intentions of those driving it, ghost straight thru us.
It was not always thus.
When Japanese fascists cited a bastardized form of Shintoism to mask their imperialist intentions we were not distracted in the slightest. In fact it invigorated our response.
The same applied when German fascists intoned Nationalist Socialism and Ariosophy Occultism as the promise of a thousand year Reich for Aryans.
For 30 years Soviet ideology proclaimed their ‘Internationalist Duty’ was to unite the oppressed workers of the world against capitalist tyranny. We had no hesitation in smacking that BS out of the park.
Apparently the presence of a criminal element within the battle ecosystem has come as a complete surprise to CentCom and a newsflash has been despatched. It would appear the gentle souls at CentCom had believed the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse only ride with the bad guys.
I don’t buy the notion that the good General hasn’t read any of the 2300 years of recorded history pertaining to the TO.
If General Campbell had said that US military personnel should no longer feel threatened by their own toxic chain of command if they report active paedophiles within their Order of Battle – that definitely would be something for the history books.
RC
So now what happens to Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland? He is the Special Forces soldier being kicked out of the Army for roughing up an Afghan Local Policeman who raped little boys. More importantly, what has happened to the U.S. Military to sink so low in its morals and ethics that child rapists are protected by the U.S. leadership but U.S. soldiers fighting for the moral high ground are punished? SECDEF Carter has a lot of explaining to do. This is outright embarrassing for the U.S. overall. Not a good start for the new SECDEF.
In simple grunt terms this is a load of crap, and the General's comments are simply more B.S. Instead of doing the right thing, which is protecting our men who acted in defense of U.S. values to protect a child from a rapist, our Army hangs them out to dry. The Army is losing its ethical base, and that ethical base defines us as professionals more than any other characteristic. We should respect foreign cultures up to a point, but abusing a child, especially raping a child is far past the point of deserving respect. If we're putting two SF soldiers out because they did the right thing, that is a powerful statement about what we have become.
Soldiers and Marines represent American values and ideas whether at home or deployed overseas. While they must respect foreign cultures, they ultimately must maintain allegiance to our core principles. Our national military strategy states that we should:
- Have respect for universal values at home and around the world.
- Our national security interests include the preservation and extension of universal values.
- That we must prepare our Service members to fight under conditions of complexity and persistent danger, conditions that demand courage, toughness, adaptability, and endurance as well as an abiding commitment to our Nation’s values and professional military ethic.
- One of the six attributes we must emphasize for joint leaders is for them to make ethical decisions based on the shared values of the Profession of Arms
Clearly the decision to kick two Green Berets out of the Army for taking the moral high ground is a travesty. It makes the words above hollow, and the words in many other key documents that define who we are as a people hollow. Instead of focusing on protecting those who made ethical decisions in a combat zone in the heat of the moment, the bureaucrats (both military and civilian) are circling the wagons to protect their bad decision.
Americans need to write their Congressmen, and put pressure on them until this decision is over turned. We don't send our men and women overseas to protect or just ignore child rapists. Furthermore, reporting the rapist to the culprit's own chain of command, a chain of command that all too often condones the behavior, is not an ethical decision. It is the illusion of taking action.