Killing Time

Sadly, another human mutilation story unfolds in the war on terror, this time in Afghanistan.

Just a few days ago, the shocking video of two 101st Airborne soldiers was released by Al Qaeda terrorists and now is widely available on the Internet. The video documents the savage treatment of American troops at the hands of Islamic terrorists — complete with mutilation, torture, and beheading.

Now, an even more shocking event is being reported. This time the participants were not just men but women and children in Afganistan.

AFGHAN soldiers serving with coalition forces were mutilated and killed by a mob that included women and children, a British officer said yesterday. Major Dougie Mckay, second-in-command of 7 Para Royal Horse Artillery, said that the men were killed near a British base along with two French soldiers. The incident had horrifying parallels with Rudyard Kipling’s poem The Young British Soldier, written more than a century ago.

The mutilated soldiers were among Afghan forces escorting a French unit a few miles from the British base at Tangye. One French vehicle took a wrong turn and came into “heavy combat” with Taleban fighters. Two French special forces soldiers and 14 Afghan escorts were killed.

Major Mckay is part of the Operation, Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) training Afghan troops. He said: “Whether they were killed by rocket-propelled grenades or small-arms fire before or after they were mutilated we may never find out. They were very badly mutilated. They had their ears, noses and genitals cut off. Women and, allegedly, children were taking part.”

The interesting facet of this story is the lack of horror or comment from the usual gang of human rights organizations who routinely attack the U.S. government for alleged human rights abuses.