The Dasht-e-Leili mass grave case is garnering increased media attention, after more than seven years of investigation and advocacy by Physicians for Human Rights. A large part of the credit for the media coverage goes to early and significant coverage and analysis by blogs, many of whom are named below as part of this media round-up.

The significant new information in the case is that, according to The New York Times, the Bush Administration impeded at least three federal probes into alleged war crimes and that recent analysis of satellite images by the American Association for the Advancement of Science indicates evidence-tampering at the site where bodies are suspected to be buried in a mass grave.

In response—and on the same weekend that The New York Times revealed what its reporter James Risen has since characterized on “Democracy Now!” as the Bush Administration’s cover-up—President Obama has ordered his national security team to collect all the facts about the Dasht-e-Leili case and report back to him.

This past weekend, Afghan warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum made a public statement denouncing front-page coverage by The New York Times as well as an August 2002 cover story on the case by Newsweek Magazine. Dostum in turn was refuted by spokespeople from Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights.

Since The New York Times published its dramatic investigation of a cover-up by the Bush Administration and a photo of the mass grave discovered in 2002 by Physicians for Human Rights on its front page, there has been a torrent of news stories.

Four New York Times Pieces in One Week

Four times in one week, The New York times highlighted the Dasht-e-Leili mass grave case, in pieces republished by the International Herald Tribune:

• A front-page piece by Pulitzer Prize-winner James Risen on July 11 (”US Said to Have Averted Inquiry into ‘01 Afghan Killings“), quoting Physicians for Human Rights throughout and featuring a page 1 photo of the mass grave credited to Physicians for Human Rights and made public for the first time;
• A July 13 front-page news analysis by Scott Shane (”Obama Faces a New Push to Look Back“);
• A July 14 editorial citing Physicians for Human Rights (”The Truth about Dasht-i-Leili“); and
• A July 18 follow-up piece by Richard Oppel (”Afghan Warlord Denies Links to ’01 Killings“).

Three Editorials in One Day

On July 14, three editorials on the Dasht-e-Leili case ran simultaneously in the pages of The New York Times, the Boston Globe (”Truth about Unsavory Allies“), and the San Francisco Chronicle (”Dirty Secrets“). Air America’s Thom Hartmann also penned an editorial (”Time to restore accountability“).

Other major print coverage includes news stories published by Harper’s Magazine (”The Ghosts of Dasht-e-Leili“), the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Miami Herald. The New Yorker also highlighted the case on July 13 (”Close Read: New Crimes for Old“).

The Eyes of the World and the Ear of the President

The interview of President Obama by CNN’s Anderson Cooper—in which Obama responded to Physicians for Human Rights’ call for action on the Afghan mass grave case by ordering his national security team to gather all the facts and report back to him—was the top story on CNN.com for Sunday evening, July 12, and was also a top story on Google News and an AOL Top News story. CNN promoted the clip of Obama’s response (”Obama orders review of alleged Afghan mass grave,” July 12) numerous times over three days before airing the full interview in two parts on the evenings of July 13 and 14.

More than 70 TV News Broadcasts

More than 70 TV news broadcasts have mentioned the Afghan mass grave case. Broadcast coverage to date includes ABC News, CNN, BBC (”The Afghan ship-container massacre” and “Obama ‘examining Afghan killings’“), Fox News Channel, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America, Sky News Australia, and Al Jazeera. Pacifica broadcast an hour-long segment of its nationally-syndicated “Democracy Now!” on July 13 with host Amy Goodman interviewing PHR Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin and James Risen of The New York Times.

On July 13, ABC White House Correspondent Jake Tapper featured the Dasht-e-Leili case in his bellwether blog (”President Obama orders national security team to review 2001 Afghanistan massacre“), and even posted Physicians for Human Rights’ video, War Crimes and the White House: The Bush Administration’s Cover-Up of the Dasht-e-Leili Massacre.

The Hub—a global platform for human rights media and action, created by Witness—also featured PHR’s video on its front page as its Editor’s Pick.

Major Wire Stories

Physicians for Human Rights spokespeople were quoted in wire stories by CNN Wire, Agence France-Presse (AFP) (”Obama orders probe of killings in Afghanistan“), Associated Press (AP), Global Post (”Hero on horseback or mass murderer?“, Inter Press Service (”DOJ urged to probe why Bush White House blocked Afghan massacre investigation“), Thai News Service, and Pajwhok Afghan News.

PHR is also named in major international wire stories in Italian, Spanish, German, and French.

Prominent Online Coverage

Blog coverage includes three posts that topped the Recommended List on Daily Kos on three successive days (”Bush Admin. covered up Afghan massacre“), plus prominent coverage on The Agonist (”Bush Admin covered up war crimes in Afghanistan“), FireDogLake (”Obama on the Afghan massacre“), The Huffington Post (”War crimes in Afghanistan, Or: What you don’t learn in science class“), Balkinization (”Bush Administration covered up war crimes by Afghani allies“), Bitch Ph.D. (”Bush Administration strangled investigations of mass murder in Afghanistan“), Circling the Lion’s Den (”Will the truth about Dostum’s massacre finally come out?“), and Hullabaloo (”Even in War“).

Other major online coverage includes New York Times-Online, Forbes-Online, The Guardian-Online, Fox News.com, MSNBC-Online, ABC News-Online, USA Today-Online, Washington Post-Online, Washington Times-Online, and France 24-Online.

In the 9 days following the July 11, 2009 front-page New York Times piece, at least 380 news stories mentioned Physicians for Human Rights’ forensic work and advocacy on the mass grave in Dasht-e-Leili, Afghanistan, according to the Vocus PR database. This does not count the hundreds of wire stories reprinted in newspapers and web sites across the globe.

What’s New in The New York Times?

Significant new information about possible war crimes and a reported cover-up by the Bush Administration—as well as a commitment by President Obama to get to the bottom of it all—has come out in the Dasht-e-Leili investigation in the past nine days. For example, in its follow-up piece dated July 18, The Times notes:

In a column on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Web site, General Dostum wrote that the Northern Alliance had investigated and determined that there was no “intentional massacre” of prisoners of war.

“I had given very clear orders for all of our troops in the Northern United Front to treat prisoners well,” General Dostum wrote. He added: “The massacre of prisoners of war to the extent that has been claimed is against the principles of intelligence gathering and security. From a military point of view, it is unimaginable.”

The column drew sharp criticism from human rights groups who have investigated the mass deaths. Physicians for Human Rights, the Boston group that in 2002 discovered the site of the mass grave where the prisoners’ bodies were said to have been buried, accused General Dostum of trying to distract from the “substantial documentation” of the mass deaths.

The group described “clear indications of evidence tampering” at the mass grave site and said that at least four witnesses had been killed, tortured, or had disappeared. The group called for a full investigation into both the mass deaths and evidence the Bush administration squelched efforts to investigate the episode.

The Times article emphasized that accounts of the killings had been previously reported. The mass deaths occurred in November 2001, after thousands of Taliban fighters surrendered to General Dostum’s forces in Kunduz and were transported to a prison run by his forces near Shibarghan.

Survivors and witnesses later told The Times and Newsweek that prisoners were stuffed into closed metal shipping containers and suffocated, or were killed when guards shot into the containers.

The focus of The Times article was new revelations that even though officials from the F.B.I., the State Department, the Red Cross and human rights groups sought an investigation, Bush administration officials discouraged the inquiry because General Dostum worked closely with the C.I.A. and American Special Operations forces and was a member of Mr. Karzai’s American-backed government.

This is just the media round-up to date. Thank you again to all of Physicians for Human Rights’ supporters for helping us make this leading-edge work possible.

(Cross-posted on Health Rights Advocate and Daily Kos)

Filed in news coverage and tagged: abc news , abdul rashid dostum , agence france press , agnoist , amnesty international , Anderson Cooper , aol top news , associated press , balkinization , barack obama , BBC , bitch phd , boston globe , circling the lion's den , CNN , daily kos , dasht-e-leili , democracy now , east africa , firedoglake , forbes online , fox news , france 24 online , global post , google news , guardian online , hamid karzai , harper's magazine , huffington post , hullabaloo , inter press service , jake tapper , miami herald , msnbc online , New York Times , new yorker , newsweek magazine , northern alliance , pajwhok afghan news , radio free europe , radio liberty , san francisco chronicle , thai news service , the hub , thom hartman , usa today online , voice of america , wall street journal , washington post , washington times online , witness

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