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Gee, who would you believe - the US soldiers who admitted a mistake, or 34 men with cuts and bruises and a consistent story? We're not always 100% good guys.
By John Ward Anderson, Washington Post Foreign Service
HAUZIMATED, Afghanistan, March 25 -- When U.S. tanks and helicopters surrounded a walled compound in this tiny desert outpost on March 17 and arrested more than 30 men suspected of belonging to the al Qaeda network, the Pentagon depicted the operation as a good example of how U.S. forces would finish rooting out terrorists from Afghanistan.
But last week, after four days of imprisonment, all of the suspects were released. U.S. officials had discovered that the compound was a security post manned not by al Qaeda or Taliban forces, but by fighters from the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance hired by the government of Kandahar to help control crime.
( more details )
Fighters Recount Unanswered Pleas, Beatings -- and an Apology on Their Release
By John Ward Anderson, Washington Post Foreign Service
HAUZIMATED, Afghanistan, March 25 -- When U.S. tanks and helicopters surrounded a walled compound in this tiny desert outpost on March 17 and arrested more than 30 men suspected of belonging to the al Qaeda network, the Pentagon depicted the operation as a good example of how U.S. forces would finish rooting out terrorists from Afghanistan.
But last week, after four days of imprisonment, all of the suspects were released. U.S. officials had discovered that the compound was a security post manned not by al Qaeda or Taliban forces, but by fighters from the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance hired by the government of Kandahar to help control crime.
( more details )