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Prison Revolt Inquiry Ruled Out By Straw
Friday, November 30, 2001
(11:10 GMT)
The BBC

The revolt took three days to suppress.Photo Credit: The Associated Press.

"Of course it's been the case that some of the forces on the ground have not followed the Geneva Convention, but that above all has been in respect of the Taleban."

An inquiry into the crushing of a revolt by Taleban prisoners at a fortress in northern Afghanistan, which left no survivors, has been ruled out by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Northern Alliance troops, backed by US and British forces, suppressed the uprising at the Qala-e-Jhangi fort, near Mazar-e-Sharif, on Tuesday after three days of fighting.

Calls for an inquiry by human rights watchdog Amnesty International were joined on Thursday by MEP Glenys Kinnock, wife of the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock.

But Mr Straw was adamant such a move was unnecessary and impossible.

"The idea that at this moment you can have a judicial inquiry in the difficult circumstances of Mazar-e-Sharif is frankly not on," the foreign secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
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"We have to have an inquiry in order to ensure there is some kind of accountability," Glenys Kinnock, wife of the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, said. "We want to know what caused the prisoners' revolt, such as it was, and we want to have an inquiry about whether the military response was proportionate."

Her concerns are understood, and an inquiry would definitely be correct, but she’ll just have to be patient. The full investigation into what is going on today in Afghanistan will likely not reach any real conclusion for a couple decades.

As for why the prisoners revolted, they are soldiers, and it is every soldiers duty to confound the enemy at every opportunity, and to escape whenever possible. It is also their duty to come to the aid of fellow soldiers. Not that I hold the al Qaida as having these traits, but it is a justification for their revolt.

Reality:
The al Qaida are admitted, and demonstrated, fanatics. They are suicidal and demand dying while fighting for their cause -- the transition of the planet to fanatical Islam. They insisted on being killed in action, and we obliged them.

Dan