In an editorial entitled "Ignoring Sexual Abuse in Afghanistan," The New York Times says of Afghan officers molesting boys on American bases:
"The Pentagon’s indulgent, even complicit, attitude toward pedophiles among the Afghan militias that it funded and trained is indefensible, at odds with American values and with international laws Washington has taken the lead in promoting.
Pervasive sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan. It is especially pronounced among armed commanders who control rural regions and hold sway over the population there. The practice is known as bacha bazi, or boy play; powerful Afghan men often surround themselves with young teenagers as a mark of social status.
By instructing American soldiers and Marines not to interfere, even if the incidents occurred on American bases, the Pentagon has chosen — reprehensibly — to sacrifice vulnerable children in order to maintain good relations with the Afghan police and militias it needs to fight the Taliban."
But how is this latest Obama administration scandal different from -
- Efforts by the Obama administration to ignore atrocities perpetrated by Bashar al-Assad in Syria (Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, March 27, 2011: "There’s a different leader in Syria now. Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer.").
- Efforts by the Obama administration to ignore the resurgence of al-Qaeda (President Obama, January 7, 2014: "I think the analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant.)
- Efforts to manipulate intel to support the Obama administration's effort to downplay the danger of the Islamic State.
- Efforts by the Obama administration to ignore human rights abuses in Iran so as to facilitate the signing (actually, the non-signing) of Obama's legacy-creating nuclear deal with Khamenei.
Sickening.
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