Last Friday, the House Appropriations Committee voted to include a provision lifting the ban on federal funding for needle exchange programs. The appropriations bill with this provision will appear before the entire House this week, and the Senate will likely vote on the bill next week.This is a major opportunity to end the decades-long ban—we need your help to make this happen.One-fifth of the 1.2 million Americans with HIV are injection drug users, according to a 2009 CDC report. Seventeen organizations, including the Centers for Disease Control, National Institutes of Health, Institute of Medicine, and the World Health Organization, have assessed syringe exchange and concluded that they reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS without increasing drug use. A 2008 journal article reported 75% reduction in HIV transmission rates among injection drug users in New York City after a syringe exchange program was put in place.In addition to reducing the spread of HIV, syringe exchange programs link an at-risk population with medical and social services. According to the CDC, a national study found that 86% of syringe exchange programs refer participants to addiction treatment services. These programs also often provide access to services such as HIV testing, education on topics like hepatitis and safe sex practices, and TB screening.Outside of sub-Saharan Africa, almost one-third of all new HIV infections are related to drug injection, according to an Open Society Institute report. In many countries, including Vietnam, Russia, Georgia, and China, injection drug use is the primary means of HIV transmission. The US is the largest funder of HIV/AIDS programs internationally, yet, to date, the domestic ban on syringe exchange funding has been applied to international programs. The US does not support syringe exchange, even in countries where a majority of new infections are due to injection drug use.This month, we have? an opportunity to take action to ensure that vital domestic and international syringe exchange programs receive federal funding. Call your member of Congress today and ask him or her to prevent restrictions on syringe exchange funding from being added to the appropriations bill. A sample call script is below. The House votes on this Wednesday, July 22nd, so call today. The Senate will vote on this likely next week–we'll keep you posted so you can call again!For more information on syringe exchange, please see the Trust for America's Health issue brief on reducing HIV and hepatitis spread in the US (PDF).Instructions and Script for Calls:

• Call 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your representative.
• Introduce yourself as a member of Physicians for Human Rights and a constituent of your Representative.
• Sample call script:"As a [health professional/medical student/concerned citizen], evidence and human rights based HIV prevention policy is an important issue for me. The evidence has shown that needle exchange programs are a proven prevention strategy for HIV and Hepatitis, do not increase drug use, and provide a conduit to primary health care for hard to reach populations. Clean needles save lives."Can I count on Representative _____ to support the removal the ban on federal funding for needle exchange and prevent any restrictions to needle exchange programs when it comes to vote through the Appropriations Bill?"

• After calling your representative, send an email to Sarah Kalloch at skalloch [at] phrusa [dot] org and tell her how the call went.

Look for more PHR updates and action alerts as the appropriations bill moves through the House and Senate.Clean needles save lives!

The Honduran army has been ordered to arrest Luther Castillo, MD, a Honduran physician and advocate for the health of the rural poor of Honduras. If Dr. Castillo resists arrest, the army has orders to shoot him.Although Honduran authorities first ordered his arrest in early July, Dr. Castillo remains free and continues to treat patients around the Honduran capital, according to Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC). MEDICC recently spoke with Dr. Castillo and reported that he is forced to move around constantly and sleep in a different location each night to guard against arrest.Despite his own hardship, Dr. Castillo's primary concern is for the rural poor of Honduras, whose health is at risk because of declining government support for hospitals and the threat of physician arrest.

These are the poorest of the poor, the invisible poor. They are the real victims of the coup,

Dr. Castillo told MEDICC.Call the State Department today to urge Secretary Clinton to ensure Dr. Castillo's safety. Help guarantee the well-being of Dr. Castillo, his colleagues and countless Honduran patients.

Call to Action

We can no longer afford to waste time. With PEPFAR, we have made significant progress in global HIV prevention and treatment in heavily AIDS-burdened nations. Yet, we still live in a world where, for every 2 individuals treated for HIV, 5 more become infected. Federally-funded needle exchange programs will help curb HIV transmission in the injecting drug user community and reduce the risk of new infections among everyone.Thankfully, Chairman Obey took a major stride in support of this rights- and science-based prevention method last week.Yet, Representative Tiahrt and his cohorts will try to reintroduce the ban language into the spending bill, perhaps as soon as Friday, July 17.Who will get through to the opposition? Who will tell them that we need to break from politics as usual?We each must do our part to ensure Chairman Obey’s efforts are not in vain. We have an unprecedented opportunity to persuade our legislators to vote for long overdue change.Call members of the Appropriations Committee at 202-224-3121 TODAY. Call:

1. Committee Members: Ask them to support Chairman Obey’s efforts and request that they vote against any amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill that would reinstate the federal ban or put further restrictions on syringe exchange. Conclude with Clean Needles Save Lives!
2. Chairman Obey: Thank him for his commitment to ending the 20-year prohibition on this vital, science-based harm-reduction method.

Issue Overview

Last Friday, House Appropriations Committee Chair David Obey (D-WI), took the first — and courageous — step toward ending the 20-year ban on federal funding of needle exchange.For two decades now, a culture war has taken place, one pitting science against ideology and public health against politics. This prohibition has done nothing but impede efforts to address the global HIV/AIDS crisis.In its markup of the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill, the Subcommittee removed the ban on federal funding of needle exchange programs (NEPs). Lifting the ban provides greater options for States and local jurisdictions that require new and effective tools to prevent the spread of HIV. The ban equips those on the front lines to decide if, how, and where they want to implement syringe access and disposal services.Since the domestic policy is applied to U.S. foreign assistance, removing the ban also has a tremendous positive impact on harm-reduction efforts beyond our borders. This is particularly important in curbing the HIV/AIDS pandemic, since one-third of all HIV infections outside of sub-Saharan Africa are attributed to injection drug use (IDU).Longstanding Support from Health and Drug Policy LeadersThe ban language was first introduced in 1988, but evidence in support of funding NEPs has been piling up since before 1998, when then-Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and then-Surgeon General David Satcher detailed the effectiveness of these programs. Research has proven that needle exchange programs:

• Reduce HIV transmission;
• Do NOT increase drug use;
• Provide entry points for drug treatment and other support services; and
• Do NOT increase local crime rates.

The World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations coordinating authority on international public health, has also indicated similar findings in this PDF document.Domestic and International SupportThere are a host of domestic and international organizations and agencies that support NEPs including:

• the WHO,
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
• the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
• American Medical Association (AMA),
• American Public Health Association (APHA),
• American Bar Association (ABA), and
• National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA), among others.

For a longer list of supporting organizations, download this PDF document.Drug Czar SupportIn April 2009, Gil Kerlikowske, former Seattle Police Chief, in confirmation hearings (PDF) for his appointment as the new Director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, responded to Congressional questions regarding national needle exchange policy. He stated:

Needle exchange programs have been proven to reduce the transmission of blood borne diseases. A number of studies conducted in the U.S. have shown needle exchange programs do not increase drug use. I understand that research has shown these programs when implemented in the context of a comprehensive program that offers other services such as referral to counseling, healthcare, drug treatment, HIV/AIDS Prevention, counseling and testing are effective at connecting addicted users to drug treatment.

Opposition Aims to Sustain Culture WarHealth experts almost universally agree that NEPs reduce transmission of HIV and protect not only drug users but also the general population.Unfortunately, some members of Congress still refuse to accept the overwhelming scientific evidence. They are mounting opposition to removing the federal ban. The Washington Post recently reported Ranking Sub-committee Member Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) as saying,

I am very concerned that we would use federal tax dollars to support the drug habits of people who desperately need help.

In 1998, Former Surgeon General David Satcher warned,

One of the worst things that can happen in this country is for us to say, if the science doesn’t agree with our perspective, then we want to suppress the science.

Representative Tiahrt and others on the opposition are doing just that. They are blatantly ignoring the evidence and preparing to wage yet another battle in the culture war. As the legislation moves through Congress – maybe as early as this Friday (July 17th) – they will try to restore the ban to the bill and sustain the status quo which has until now hampered a more comprehensive response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, domestically and abroad.Undoubtedly, the opposition’s anachronistic anti-harm-reduction ideology has contributed to the rapid spread of the HIV epidemic. Needle sharing is a highly efficient form of HIV transmission, and the practice has led to explosive epidemics throughout our country and around the globe.The HIV pandemic continues to grow exponentially among populations in Eastern Europe and Central and South-East Asia, where it is largely driven by unsafe injection practices. Studies in cities around the world have shown that without adequate harm-reduction polices and programs, HIV prevalence rates can rise among drug users to as high as 90% in a very short period of time. Importantly, HIV also spreads sexually beyond drug user networks, infecting non-injecting partners.For more information on syringe exchange programs and materials for advocacy, please visit Harm Reduction Coalition: Syringe Access.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has issued a call for a criminal probe in the wake of a major New York Times story by James Risen with new evidence that the Bush Administration impeded at least three federal investigations into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan in 2002.

PHR is calling for the Department of Justice to investigate why the Bush Administration impeded an FBI criminal probe of the alleged Dasht-e-Leili massacre.

According to US government documents obtained by PHR, as many as 2,000 surrendered Taliban fighters were reportedly suffocated in container trucks by Afghan forces operating jointly with the US in November 2001. The bodies were reportedly buried in mass graves in the Dasht-e-Leili desert near Sheberghan, Afghanistan. Notorious Afghan warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who was reportedly on the CIA payroll, is allegedly responsible for the massacre.

This video, detailing nearly eight years of advocacy and investigation by Physicians for Human Rights, explores the events surrounding the massacre and subsequent cover-up.

Featuring Physicians for Human Rights' CEO Frank Donaghue, Campaign Against Torture Director Nathaniel Raymond, and Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin. Written, directed, and narrated by Jared Voss.

For more information and to sign our petition calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to let the FBI do its job, visit AfghanMassGrave.org. ("U.S. Inaction Seen After Taliban P.O.W.s Died" – NYTimes.com)

In an interview today with Anderson Cooper, President Obama announced that he has ordered his national security team to collect all the facts in the Dasht-e-Leili massacre and apparent US cover-up — a move that Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin has praised in a statement earlier today.

President Obama's comments differ from statements made by Obama Administration officials on Friday, as reported by Lara Jakes of the Associated Press, that they had no grounds to investigate. In their statement, these officials claim that they lack legal grounds to probe these alleged war crimes because "only foreigners were involved and the alleged killings occurred in a foreign country."

Today, however, CNN reports:

President Obama has ordered national security officials to look into allegations that the Bush administration resisted efforts to investigate a CIA-backed Afghan warlord over the killings of hundreds of Taliban prisoners in 2001."The indications that this had not been properly investigated just recently was brought to my attention," Obama told CNN's Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview during the president's visit to Ghana. The full interview will air 10 p.m. Monday.

"So what I've asked my national security team to do is to collect the facts for me that are known, and we'll probably make a decision in terms of how to approach it once we have all of the facts gathered up," Obama said….

When asked by CNN about whether Obama would support an investigation, the president replied, "I think that, you know, there are responsibilities that all nations have, even in war. And if it appears that our conduct in some way supported violations of laws of war, then I think that, you know, we have to know about that."

Nathaniel Raymond, PHR's lead researcher in the case, has noted that

Since Physicians for Human Rights discovered the mass grave in January 2002, we have been gathering the facts on the initial incident and the alleged cover-up of it, through forensic investigation, legal action against the Bush Administration, and documentation of the chain of command.

We stand ready to provide these facts to the president's national security team and to Congress. President Obama is right to say that US and Afghan violations of the laws of war must be investigated. If the Obama Administration finds that criminal wrongdoing occurred in this case, those responsible — whether American or Afghan officials — must be prosecuted.

This and other developments in the news make us hopeful that the tide could be turning in the campaign to hold the Bush Administration accountable for the torture and mistreatment of detainees in US custody. Raymond, who also directs PHR's Campaign Against Torture, continued:

Additionally, reports that Attorney General Eric Holder is considering appointing a prosecutor to pursue violations related to detainee abuse is a welcome and long-awaited first step to restoring our nation's commitment to the rule of law.

The White House should support the appointment of a criminal prosecutor to investigate the US use of torture as well as the creation of a commission of inquiry to gather all the facts of this dark chapter.

According to US government documents obtained by PHR, as many as 2,000 surrendered Taliban fighters were reportedly suffocated in container trucks by Afghan forces operating jointly with the US in November 2001. The bodies were reportedly buried in mass graves in the Dasht-e-Leili desert near Sheberghan, Afghanistan. Notorious Afghan warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who was reportedly on the CIA payroll, is allegedly responsible for the massacre.

New York Times reporter James Risen, who wrote the story published on Saturday, about the US cover-up of the Dasht-e-Leili massacre, and PHR Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin appeared today on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.

Towards the end of the interview, Risen and Sirkin each provide some interesting elaborations on the information that appeared in The Times.

In The Times, Risen noted:

While a dozen or so bodies were examined and several were autopsied, a full exhumation was never performed, and human rights groups are concerned that evidence has been destroyed. In 2008, a medical forensics team working with the United Nations discovered excavations that suggested the mass grave had been moved. Satellite photos obtained by The Times show that the site was disturbed even earlier, in 2006.

Today, Susannah Sirkin elaborated:

Physicians for Human Rights has repeatedly called for protection of that site. There has never been any kind of protection, even though President Karzai and others have promised that they would investigate the site and protect it.

What we now know is, first of all, in 2008, one of our forensic scientists was able to go up to the area and noticed that there were very large holes in the area. This was reported by McClatchy in December 2008.

What we now know from satellite imagery that appears in James Risen’s New York Times piece, and that has been provided by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is that in 2006 there are photos with not much area destroyed, but maybe one large hole. And then a few months later, we see pictures of images that are very consistent with large earthmoving equipment. Within a month of that picture, we see a very large hole right at the area where what appears to be a backhoe and a dump truck on the site. So it looks as though, actually, within a month of Physicians for Human Rights filing a Freedom of Information Act request to get what the US government knew, all branches knew, about the Dasht-e-Leili massacre, the site has been dramatically damaged.

Risen’s Times article discussed how the first attempted investigation into the Dasht-e-Leili massacre was via the FBI:

Dell Spry, the F.B.I.’s senior representative at the detainee prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, heard accounts of the deaths from agents he supervised there. Separately, 10 or so prisoners brought from Afghanistan reported that they had been “stacked like cordwood” in shipping containers and had to lick the perspiration off one another to survive, Mr. Spry recalled. They told similar accounts of suffocations and shootings, he said. A declassified F.B.I. report, dated January 2003, confirms that the detainees provided such accounts.

Mr. Spry, who is now an F.B.I. consultant, said he did not believe the stories because he knew that Al Qaeda trained members to fabricate tales about mistreatment. Still, the veteran agent said he thought the agency should investigate the reports “so they could be debunked.”

But a senior official at F.B.I. headquarters, whom Mr. Spry declined to identify, told him to drop the matter, saying it was not part of his mission and it would be up to the American military to investigate.

“I was disappointed because I believed that, true or untrue, we had to be in front of this story, because someday it may turn out to be a problem,” Mr. Spry said.

Today, Risen said further:

[Spry] told me that during those times that he kept getting these—the agents who worked for him were interrogating and questioning detainees and that he kept getting this pattern of reports from the detainees all talking about surviving this massacre. And he said that they would volunteer this information to the FBI agents. And that, so he felt—he really didn’t think—at first he didn’t believe the stories, because he thought that—he’d been told that al-Qaeda tried to, you know, fabricate stories of torture and abuse as part of their training. And so, he didn’t believe it, although when he began to hear all of these, he thought it would be important for the US to at least investigate the allegations so that they could be debunked. Or else, if they didn’t try to investigate it, then this story would still—it would hang out there, and the US would pay the price in its reputation eventually.

What he said was that he passed—he wrote up what the FBI call 302 reports, which are, you know, reports of an interview with someone, and that he got word back from FBI headquarters to drop the issue. And he was told that it was not his mission at Guantánamo to investigate a potential—you know, a massacre in Afghanistan. And instead, he should be focused on his role as looking for, you know, evidence to be used in trials of detainees and also for evidence—intelligence on possible future attacks against the US.

What he told me was he understood it wasn’t part of his mission, but thought that, still, it was something that should be looked into, and he was disappointed that the FBI didn’t want to look into it. They told him that this was something for the Pentagon to look into. But as I said, it turns out that the Pentagon never really did look into it.

Risen concluded the interview saying:

It’s very unclear what US personnel knew at the time. And I think the investigation should focus rather on what happened afterwards in the Bush administration.

Physicians for Human Rights has issued a call for a criminal probe in the wake of a major New York Times story by James Risen with new evidence that the Bush Administration impeded at least three federal investigations into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan in 2002.

PHR is calling for the Department of Justice to investigate why the Bush Administration impeded an FBI criminal probe of the alleged Dasht-e-Leili massacre.

According to US government documents obtained by PHR, as many as 2,000 surrendered Taliban fighters were reportedly suffocated in container trucks by Afghan forces operating jointly with the US in November 2001. The bodies were reportedly buried in mass graves in the Dasht-e-Leili desert near Sheberghan, Afghanistan. Notorious Afghan warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who was reportedly on the CIA payroll, is allegedly responsible for the massacre.

This video, detailing nearly eight years of advocacy and investigation by Physicians for Human Rights, explores the events surrounding the massacre and subsequent cover-up.

Featuring Physicians for Human Rights' CEO Frank Donaghue, Campaign Against Torture Director Nathaniel Raymond, and Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin. Written, directed, and narrated by Jared Voss.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMedia Contact:Mark Russellmrussell [at] phrusa [dot] comCell: +1-617-909-9160Cambridge, MA – Obama Administration officials stated Friday, as reported by Lara Jakes of the Associated Press, that they had no grounds to investigate the 2001 deaths of Taliban prisoners of war who allegedly were killed by U.S.-backed forces. In their statement, these officials claim that they lack legal grounds to probe these alleged war crimes because "only foreigners were involved and the alleged killings occurred in a foreign country."The officials' comments came in response to a New York Times report by James Risen that the Bush Administration impeded at least three federal investigations into an alleged massacre of as many as 2,000 prisoners in Afghanistan."For US Government officials to claim that there is no legal basis to investigate this well-documented mass atrocity is absurd," stated Physicians for Human Rights Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin. "US military and intelligence personnel were operating jointly and accepted the surrender of the prisoners jointly with General Dostum's forces in northern Afghanistan. The Obama Administration has a legal obligation to determine what US officials knew, where US personnel were, what involvement they had, and the actions of US allies during and after the massacre. These questions, nearly eight years later, remain unanswered.""Furthermore," added Nathaniel Raymond, PHR's lead researcher on the Dasht-e-Leili case, "The New York Times has shown that the Bush Administration engaged in a coordinated effort to prevent this alleged war crime from ever being investigated. Under the Geneva Conventions, the cover-up of a war crime can itself constitute a war crime."

This morning, Congressman David Obey of Wisconsin, Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, took the first step toward ending the 20-year-old ban on federal funding of syringe exchange. He removed the ban from the draft House Labor HHS spending bill he introduced to the subcommittee.In a prepared statement, Chairman Obey said:

Scientific studies have?documented that needle exchange programs, when implemented as part of a comprehensive prevention strategy,?are an effective public health intervention for reducing AIDS/HIV infections and do not promote drug use. The?judgment we make in this bill is that it is time to lift this ban and let State and local jurisdictions determine if?they want to pursue this approach.

Though this is the first of many steps, it is a critical one — one that has been a long time in coming. Denying someone a proven prevention strategy is to deny them their human rights. After 20 years, evidence and human rights are finally starting to overcome politics and ideology.We won the fight today, but the battle's far from over. The bill is scheduled to go to the full Appropriations Committee next Friday. If opposition to this provision arises, we are going to have to work quickly to stamp it out. We've got the evidence on our side and as a conservative member of Congress recently told PHR Staff,

If you can convince a knucklehead like me, you can convince anyone. ?Keep up the good work.

Keep your fingers crossed, and tune back in next week for an update. You can take action right now by calling your member of Congress at 202-224-3121 and tell them

Clean needles save lives. Support all efforts to lift the federal ban on needle exchange.

After you've called, use the "Share This" button below to send this post to friends and colleagues and ask them to take action.

The New York Times is reporting new evidence that the Bush Administration impeded at least three federal investigations into an alleged massacre of as many as 2,000 prisoners in Afghanistan. This major investigative piece, now available online and slated for the front page of the July 11 print edition, represents the culmination of nearly eight years of investigation by Physicians for Human Rights.Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has issued a call for a criminal probe in the wake of a major New York Times story with new evidence that the Bush Administration impeded at least three federal investigations into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan in 2002.PHR is calling for the Department of Justice to investigate why the Bush Administration impeded an FBI criminal probe of the alleged Dasht-e-Leili massacre.According to US government documents obtained by PHR, as many as 2,000 surrendered Taliban fighters were reportedly suffocated in container trucks by Afghan forces operating jointly with the US in November 2001. The bodies were reportedly buried in mass graves in the Dasht-e-Leili desert near Sheberghan, Afghanistan. Notorious Afghan warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum, who was reportedly on the CIA payroll, is allegedly responsible for the massacre.Physicians for Human Rights, which shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, first documented the existence of the alleged mass grave in January 2002 and since then:

• Advocated for witnesses to be protected, the mass grave site to be secured, and for a full and impartial investigation;
• Conducted preliminary forensic investigations — including exposing 15 remains and conducting three autopsies — under UN auspices at Dasht-e-Leili;
• Successfully sued for compliance with a PHR Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the release of US government documents that reveal US intelligence knowledge of the magnitude of the alleged crime and awareness of the execution and torture of witnesses to the incidents;
• Helped identify the US chain of command likely responsible for impeding federal investigations into the alleged massacre;
• Discovered and reported on alleged tampering of the site; and
• Requested satellite image analysis by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) that appears to demonstrate that tampering occurred soon after PHR filed its FOIA request in June 2006.

"Physicians for Human Rights went to investigate inhumane conditions at a prison in northern Afghanistan, but what we found was much worse," stated Susannah Sirkin, PHR Deputy Director. "Our researchers documented an apparent mass grave site with reportedly thousands of bodies of captured prisoners who were suffocated to death in trucks. That was 2002; seven years later, we still seek answers about what exactly happened and who was involved."Senior Bush Administration officials impeded investigations by the FBI and the State Department, and the Defense Department apparently never conducted a full inquiry, the New York Times reports in the story for the July 11 print edition by Pulitzer Prize winning reporter James Risen."The Bush Administration’s disregard for the rule of law and the Geneva Conventions led to torture of prisoners in Guant?namo and many other secret places," noted Nathaniel Raymond, PHR’s lead researcher on Dasht-e-Leili. "Contrary to the legal opinions of the previous Department of Justice, the principles of the Geneva Conventions are non-negotiable, as is their enforcement. President Obama must open a full and transparent criminal probe and prosecute any US officials found to have broken the law.""The State Department’s statement to the New York Times that suspected war crimes should be thoroughly investigated indicates a move towards full accountability," added Raymond. "We stand ready to aid the US government in investigating this massacre. It is time for the cover-up to end."Sirkin added, "President Obama must set a different course by signaling publicly that in all of its operations anywhere in the world, the US and its allies will respect the Geneva Conventions and safeguard the rights of prisoners of war, as well as all captured combatants and detainees to be treated humanely."PHR reiterated its call on the Government of Afghanistan, which has jurisdiction over the alleged mass grave site, to:

• Secure the area with the assistance of ISAF (International Security Assistance Force-Afghanistan);
• Protect witnesses to the initial incident and the ensuing tampering; and
• Ensure a full investigation of remaining evidence at the site, including the tracing of the substantial amount of soil that appears to have been removed in 2006.

"Gravesites have been tampered with, evidence has been destroyed, and witnesses have been tortured and killed," stressed Sirkin. "The Dasht-e-Leili mass grave site must finally be secured, all surviving witnesses must be protected, and the Government of Afghanistan, in coordination with the UN and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), must at last allow a full investigation to go forward."Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. PHR was founded in 1986 on the idea that health professionals, with their specialized skills, ethical commitments, and credible voices, are uniquely positioned to investigate the health consequences of human rights violations and work to stop them. PHR mobilizes health professionals to advance health, dignity and justice and promotes the right to health for all. PHR has documented the systematic use of psychological and physical torture by US personnel against detainees held at Guant?namo Bay, Abu Ghraib, Bagram airbase and elsewhere.PHR’s International Forensic Program (IFP) has conducted forensic assessments and investigations of human rights abuses, crimes against humanity and genocide in many countries. IFP is dedicated to providing independent forensic expertise to document and collect evidence of human rights violations and of violations of international humanitarian law. Since the 1980s, PHR has mobilized forensic scientists and other experts worldwide to respond to inquiries by governments, organizations, families and individuals.On the Web:https://phr.orghttp://afghanmassgrave.orgBloggers, please note:To obtain high-resolution photos courtesy of Physicians for Human Rights, please visit http://afghanmassgrave.org.UPDATE 1 Obama Administration officials told the Associated Press on Friday night that they had no grounds to investigate the 2001 deaths of Taliban prisoners of war who allegedly were massacred by U.S.-backed forces. These officials claim they lack legal grounds to probe these alleged war crimes because, the AP reports, "only foreigners were involved and the alleged killings occurred in a foreign country."Physicians for Human Rights is preparing a rebuttal of this ill-considered argument.(Cross-posted on Daily Kos)