(NaturalNews) If you haven't heard of the US-funded Dawood Military Hospital in Afghanistan you aren't alone. The "Auschwitz-type" conditions, as one lawmaker put it, were allegedly covered up by top US military commanders to put a better face on the Afghan war, which has caused a tremendous controversy among political officials. With testimony before a House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee this week, a warning to US officials was given to make clear that Americans are not getting the full picture about how the war in Afghanistan is going.
Jason Chaffetz (R) of Utah who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform's Subcommittee on National Security says that the medical care of patients at the hospital includes "some of the most horrific, horrendous things I've ever seen. Allowing surgery to go on without anesthetics, gangrene, open wounds that aren't being dressed." Furthermore, it is said that staffers in the hospital demanded bribes to treat patients, which included the Afghan soldiers who were fighting with US troops. If the staff did not receive payment they refused to treat patients.
Chaffetz also charged that "there was an effort to not allow the inspector general to get in there because the generals and others on the ground really wanted a positive story coming out of Afghanistan, rather than solving the problem."
What is more astonishing is the visible frustration by Lt. Gen. Caldwell, who made efforts to conceal what was going on in the hospital rather than launch an investigation. The inspector general for the training command at the time, Col. Mark Fassi, stated to the subcommittee that the Lt. Gen. said "How could we make that request with the election coming?"
Currently the US
military is conducting investigations against Caldwell. Caldwell was not invited to testify at the hearings.
In February there was an article in a military journal that brought forth a statement from Lt. Col. Daniel Davis arguing that the war in Afghanistan is not going well. With the lack of evidence and transparency of actual
conditions overseas, it is becoming difficult for US citizens and lawmakers to "decide if the risk to blood and treasure is worth it."
Davis also charged that the reports from US military officials regularly varies from that of other countries, and that these reports are "solely intended to influence American and European public opinion ahead of the withdrawal. I'm hardly the only one who has noted the discrepancy between official statements and the truth on the ground."
Although pentagon officials say that conditions have gotten better since these hearings, Col. Schuyler Geller says that may not be the case at all.
The caregivers who committed "unspeakable" acts still "walk the halls of the hospital," he said, "unrepentant, unscathed, and unprosecuted."
Sources for this article include:http://www.csmonitor.comhttp://www.huffingtonpost.comhttp://www.france24.comAbout the author:Ben enjoys writing about the
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