'I dream only of having my hand again' (from nov 2001)

some UK rag ... the times ^ | 11 1 2001 | anthony loyd

[dennisw]

Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001370005-2001380262,00.html

KARIMULLAH is an Afghan who does not want to relate his war story. In a lan= d where everyone is quick to tell their tale, his silence makes him unique.= =20

He stood alone in the narrow midday shadows of the hospital courtyard when = I saw him yesterday, a mix of glittering fury and blank despair. He had hob= bled into the Red Crosss orthopaedic centre in Golbahar on Saturday.=20

Even among the other amputees, his injuries stood out. Mines can take off b= oth legs and both arms, or the limbs of one side, or, more often, just a si= ngle leg or foot. Karimullah's injuries, however, had a different cause. Wh= en, reluctantly, he had finished accounting for the loss of his left foot a= nd right hand there was nothing to do but leave the man to his blade-eyed s= tare.=20

The son of Tajik parents, now 26 years old, he fled Kabul when the Taleban = arrived in 1996. Moving north to a village in Northern Alliance territory w= ith his wife and two children, he found work in a vineyard. But he lost his= job and home to a Taleban advance in 1998. He joined the Mujahidin.=20

A shell hit his post on the Samali Plain in 1999. It killed four of his com= rades. Karimullah escaped to a Pashtun village whose inhabitants handed him= over to the Taleban. Tried by a "military tribunal" in Kabul, after tortur= e he was sent to the city's Pulecharkhi jail for having served with the All= iance.=20

"I had been there 12 weeks when three Talebs came into my cell," he said. "= They called my name out and said I was to be released." Baffled but relieve= d, Karimullah was led to a Datsun pick-up.=20

"They began driving me to the Ghazi stadium," Karimullah said. "I was silen= t at the beginning, but as we neared it I asked, 'What is this? What of my = release?' They told me, 'Wait you will be released'."=20

The Datsun drove into the centre of the stadium. Karimullah recalls thousan= ds of faces staring at him in silence from the stands, and between 10 and 1= 4 mullahs on chairs in a line in the middle of the field. He was pulled fro= m the truck and told to lie spreadeagled on the grass.=20

"The mullahs didn't even ask my name or speak to the crowd. Seven doctors a= pproached me. They wore grey uniforms, surgical masks and gloves. I could s= ee one was crying. They injected me. After five minutes my body was numb th= ough I was still conscious. Then they put clamps on my hand and foot and be= gan to cut them off with special saws. There was no pain but I could see wh= at they were doing."=20

I asked him if he stared at the sky. He told me he was transfixed by the si= ght of his foot being removed.=20

"There was a sigh and murmur from the crowd when they finished. It had take= n about five minutes. Taleban guards threw me into the back of the pick-up.= One was crying too. Nothing was said. Even now I am unaware why I was chos= en for amputation".=20

He was taken to Kabul's Wazir Akbar Khan hospital. After a week eight of hi= s former prison guards visited him. They brought him apples and 600,000 afg= hanis (=A310).=20

"They apologised. They told me they had not known what would happen. I thre= w the money and apples back at them. I screamed that they had told me I wou= ld be released and instead had taken my foot and hand for nothing. They lef= t."=20

On the tenth day he was discharged. A taxi took him to his parents' home. T= hey had no idea what had happened to him.=20

Karimullah's eight-year-old sister, Razia, answered the taxi-driver's knock= on the door. She burst into tears when she saw her brother sprawled in the= back of the cab. Worse was to follow. "My mother had been ill for some tim= e so was very weak. When she saw me, she collapsed. She regained consciousn= ess for a few hours, but then had a heart attack and died.=20

"I thought the worst day of my life had been in the stadium. Coming home wa= s worse. Her name was Masherin. She was 42."=20

He became a beggar, his mutilation carrying with it the stigma and shame of= the punishment normally meted out to a thief.=20

Then, a few weeks ago, a cousin, a Mujahidin commander, got a message throu= gh the lines offering him help. Borrowing a spare prosthetic leg from a min= e victim in Kabul, Karimullah limped northwards for days, crossing the fron= t with other refugees.The Red Cross is preparing a prosthetic leg for him, = but some scars cannot be repaired.=20

"I am finished. I have no future," Karimullah said. "I have had everything = taken from me by the Taleban. Before they came to Kabul I was a student in = the tenth grade, an educated man with some chances before me.=20

"Someone told me a rich Pashtun had committed a crime and paid the corrupt = mullahs to use a prisoner of war for public amputation instead of himself. = I don't know if it's true. But I hate them.=20

"I dream only of having my hand again so I could carry a gun and go to the = front line and kill and kill. I'd kill them all, every Taleb and every mull= ah."

[dennisw]

http://daveparsons.org/War/I%20dream%20only%20of%20having%20my%20hand%20again.htm

[4mycountry]

Without the ='s :

---

KARIMULLAH is an Afghan who does not want to relate his war story. In a land where everyone is quick to tell their tale, his silence makes him unique.

He stood alone in the narrow midday shadows of the hospital courtyard when I saw him yesterday, a mix of glittering fury and blank despair. He had hobbled into the Red Crosss orthopaedic centre in Golbahar on Saturday.

Even among the other amputees, his injuries stood out. Mines can take off both legs and both arms, or the limbs of one side, or, more often, just a single leg or foot. Karimullah's injuries, however, had a different cause. When, reluctantly, he had finished accounting for the loss of his left foot and right hand there was nothing to do but leave the man to his blade-eyed stare.

The son of Tajik parents, now 26 years old, he fled Kabul when the Taleban arrived in 1996. Moving north to a village in Northern Alliance territory with his wife and two children, he found work in a vineyard. But he lost his job and home to a Taleban advance in 1998. He joined the Mujahidin.

A shell hit his post on the Samali Plain in 1999. It killed four of his comrades. Karimullah escaped to a Pashtun village whose inhabitants handed him over to the Taleban. Tried by a "military tribunal" in Kabul, after torture he was sent to the city's Pulecharkhi jail for having served with the Alliance.

"I had been there 12 weeks when three Talebs came into my cell," he said. "They called my name out and said I was to be released." Baffled but relieved, Karimullah was led to a Datsun pick-up.

"They began driving me to the Ghazi stadium," Karimullah said. "I was silent at the beginning, but as we neared it I asked, 'What is this? What of my release?' They told me, 'Wait you will be released'."

The Datsun drove into the centre of the stadium. Karimullah recalls thousands of faces staring at him in silence from the stands, and between 10 and 14 mullahs on chairs in a line in the middle of the field. He was pulled from the truck and told to lie spreadeagled on the grass.

"The mullahs didn't even ask my name or speak to the crowd. Seven doctors approached me. They wore grey uniforms, surgical masks and gloves. I could see one was crying. They injected me. After five minutes my body was numb though I was still conscious. Then they put clamps on my hand and foot and began to cut them off with special saws. There was no pain but I could see what they were doing."

I asked him if he stared at the sky. He told me he was transfixed by the sight of his foot being removed.

"There was a sigh and murmur from the crowd when they finished. It had taken about five minutes. Taleban guards threw me into the back of the pick-up. One was crying too. Nothing was said. Even now I am unaware why I was chosen for amputation".

He was taken to Kabul's Wazir Akbar Khan hospital. After a week eight of his former prison guards visited him. They brought him apples and 600,000 afghanis.

"They apologised. They told me they had not known what would happen. I threw the money and apples back at them. I screamed that they had told me I would be released and instead had taken my foot and hand for nothing. They left."

On the tenth day he was discharged. A taxi took him to his parents' home. They had no idea what had happened to him.

Karimullah's eight-year-old sister, Razia, answered the taxi-driver's knock on the door. She burst into tears when she saw her brother sprawled in the back of the cab. Worse was to follow. "My mother had been ill for some time so was very weak. When she saw me, she collapsed. She regained consciousness for a few hours, but then had a heart attack and died.

"I thought the worst day of my life had been in the stadium. Coming home was worse. Her name was Masherin. She was 42."

He became a beggar, his mutilation carrying with it the stigma and shame of the punishment normally meted out to a thief.

Then, a few weeks ago, a cousin, a Mujahidin commander, got a message through the lines offering him help. Borrowing a spare prosthetic leg from a mine victim in Kabul, Karimullah limped northwards for days, crossing the front with other refugees.The Red Cross is preparing a prosthetic leg for him, but some scars cannot be repaired.

"I am finished. I have no future," Karimullah said. "I have had everything taken from me by the Taleban. Before they came to Kabul I was a student in the tenth grade, an educated man with some chances before me.

"Someone told me a rich Pashtun had committed a crime and paid the corrupt mullahs to use a prisoner of war for public amputation instead of himself. I don't know if it's true. But I hate them.

"I dream only of having my hand again so I could carry a gun and go to the front line and kill and kill. I'd kill them all, every Taleb and every mullah."

[Prodigal Son]

That's absolutely horrifying. And yet some still question whether evil is a legitimate concept...

[Criminal Number 18F]

Dennis,

This which he describes is not unusual behaviour for the Taliban. We found a number of bodies, men and women, murdered in a cave some two years before when the TB held our area. We found one TB mullah holding five guys in an illegal dungeon. He was using them as slave labour.

One of them had been beaten, and had gotten an eye infection. By the time we sprang him the eye was swollen to grapefruit size, running with stinking pus, blind forever. His crime? A relative of his supposedly owed the mullah money.

We heard more stories of rape and murder than we could write down. We sent one creep to Gitmo after 25 people swore statements against him, charging him with over 200 murders, and a staggering amount of theft and rape. This guy was the mullah's right hand man! When we bagged him, his family and friends demonstrated at our camp, and produced sworn statements that he had done no such thing. Two months letter he sent a letter, confessing to all and asking his family to make specific amends. "I did kill Abdul Ahmad, in order to take his truck, it's the blue one, please give it back to his family."

Imagine that: absolute power corrupts Muslims the same way it corrupts Christians, Communists, Nazis, and people of any other system of belief. The Taliban are a perfect illustration of what happens when extremism takes governmental form.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Criminal Number 18F]

In his letter, he said that his guilt, and reading the Koran, which is the only book he's allowed, got to him. For what that's worth.

Some might think he was beaten up or something; I don't. Since some MPs are on trial for an abuse incident, it seems unlikely that the prisoners are being abused. However, the guilt trip might have been laid on him by a good interrogator. That is definitely how the Saudis do it, and the Jordanians, who handle some of the Arab-speaking creeps.

This guys was a regular local Afghan who let a little power go to his head, as many have done (and still do, unfortunately).

When we put him on the helicopter, with a bag over his head and his particulars and our capture report in an envelope duct-taped to his hide, that was the last contact we had with the gentleman. (The MPs at Bagram lost the capture report, and accused us of not sending one, which was fairly routine for them. That's why we started taping them to the suspects so that the MPs had to peel off a half mile of green ducttape before losing the report).

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F