Lejay, Afghanistan

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Lejay, Afghanistan is a small village where an ambush of an American convoy took place on February 10, 2003.^[1]^[2] The Americans rounded up dozens of prisoners. By one account the Americans rounded up 70 Afghans. Another account said they rounded up 40 Afghans. The Americans selected from among the men they rounded up. Most of the men were released.

According to the evidence produced at the Combatant Status Review Tribunals some of the men who weren't released went through, at the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, they selected the men whose clothes appeared to have blood or gunpowder stains on them, or who were wearing army surplus jackets, or who appeared to have suffered temporary hearing impairment from firing weapons.

1 Press reports of the military action in the neighborhood of Lejay
- 1.1 Inconsistent reports of the scale of the US operations
2 Allegations, testimony and status of the Lejay villagers
3 References

[edit] Press reports of the military action in the neighborhood of Lejay

Coalition forces conducted an aerial campaign against the neighborhood of Lejay.^[3] Haji Pir Mohammad, the deputy governor of Helmand, led a six-man investigative team to the region, to investigate villager's reports of a massive American aerial bombardment.^[4] Pir Mohammad reported that he had seen 17 Afghan casualties, but he couldn't state whether the casualties were Afghan civilians, or enemy fighters, wearing civilian clothes.

Reuters interviewed Afghan official Haji Mohammad Wali, by phone, from Lashkargah, Helmand's capital. According to his account the civilian casualties were mainly women and children.

Reuters quoted a villager from the region who recounted seeing a home that had been demolished by the bombing, killing eight members of the family that had lived there.

Colonel Roger King, a US military spokesman, told reporters that the US Special Forces hunting the ambushers believed they were hunting between thirty and one hundred fighters. He informed reporters that American troops had found ammunition casings and empty rocket tubes. He called the reports of civilian casualties "unsupported". He stated that the US aerial bombardment had been confined to caves, and the ridgeline east and west of Lejay.

According to King: "Battle damage assessment conducted in support of operation Eagle Fury has not indicated any non-combatant casualties to date,"

[edit] Inconsistent reports of the scale of the US operations

Press reports of the scale of the bombardment King reported were inconsistent.

On February 12 2003 the New York Times quoted King as acknowledging coalition focrces dropping almost 20 2,000 pound bombs.^[5]
On February 12 2003 the Sydney Morning Herald quoted King acknowledging "Close air support was requested, and coalition F-16s dropped five 500-pound bombs."^[6]
On February 13, 2003 Reuters quoted King acknowledging that the US had dropped a single 2,000 pound bomb, and fired ten 105mm cannon rounds from an AC130 aerial gunship.^[4]
On February 13, 2003 The Guardian reported that the region had been subjected to an eight hour bombardment, from a mixed force of B1 and B52 bombers.^[7]
On February 14, 2003 the BBC quoted King acknowledging that the coalition had dropped four 500 pound bombs.^[8]

[edit] Allegations, testimony and status of the Lejay villagers

name

notes

allegations and testimony

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Baridad

Abdul Bagi called on Baridad's testifimony at his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[1]
On December 16, 2006

the New York Times reported: "Another returning Afghan, Haji Baridad, who said he did not know his age, spent five years in Guantánamo. He appeared disturbed and kept complaining that an Afghan translator took his money — 3,600 Pakistani rupees, or about $62 — when he was detained."^[9]^[10]^[11]

**CSRT Transcript**
allegations	testimony
Alleged to have temporary hearing loss from using heavy weapons.	Testified he had a congenital hearing loss
Alleged to have operated a Taliban intelligence collection network.	Testified he was a penniless, illiterate farmer who didn't even own his own land. He farmed a portion of Kushky Yar's land.

**ARB Transcript**
allegations	testimony
Alleged to have ties to Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin ^[sic].	Testified he was grateful to the Americans for giving him wheat when his family was hungry.
Alleged to live in an area where the Taliban tapped income from the illicit opium trade.	Acknowledged that he and his neighbors had grown limited amounts of opium during the "Taliban's kingship" ^[sic], but they quit when Hamid Karzai became king ^[sic].
Alleged to have once glimpsed Abdul Wahid, from a distance, years ago, in a neighboring village.	Acknowledged glimpsing Wahid, but he didn't meet him.
"Capture data" allegedly indicated he was captured in a taxi.	Claimed he was captured sunning himself on a bench outside his home.