The most recent  WikiLeaks release of thousands of Afghanistan (undeclared) war documents is slowly being digested, between the M S M  and various blogs alike.

As one of three news outlets to get advanced copies of the leak, the Guardian  has focused on the secret U.S. death squad known as Task Force 373.  The unit was supposed to apprehend Taliban and al-Qaida senior officials, but ultimately took to wanton violence and indiscriminate killing, including Afghanistan security forces, innocent men, women and children. 

In one instance, TF 373 used a new weapons system (built by torture interrogators  Lockheed Martin ), the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System or HIMAR, to level a masadra (rather than try to apprehend their target, Abu Laith al-Libi).  Seven children were found in the rubble, six of them dead with one well on the way.  For some unknown reason, a medic from TF 373 performed CPR for 20 minutes, after which the child died.  Did they not just unleash five rockets into the masadra before even being fired on?

TF 373's hit list had targets (people) identified by serial number instead of name.  When one of the numbers was suspected to be in a certain location, air strikes would be called in and 500lb bombs or Hellfire missiles would usually kill a bunch of civilians and occasionally a 'suspected' Taliban.

When TF 373 did capture a serial number, they were transferred to Bagram air base where these 'targets' (some as young as 16) were beaten, tortured and not charged with any crime or access to any legal process, some for years.

There was a concerted effort by the coalition to keep the activities of TF 373 secret and hidden from anybody and everybody.  Press releases were blatantly falsified to make up 'militant' casualties and conceal civilian deaths.  Justifications for attacks and bombings were fabricated out of thin air.  And TF 373's involvement was never mentioned and was actively suppressed from  any public reports.

These revelations are surprising to some, which is surprising in itself; Dick Cheney told us what he was going to do, back in September of 2001, if anybody cared to listen over their Toby Keith blaring radio:

"We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side, if you will. We've got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if we're going to be successful."

"You need to have on the payroll some very unsavory characters if, in fact, you're going to be able to learn all that needs to be learned in order to forestall these kinds of activities. It is a mean, nasty, dangerous dirty business out there, and we have to operate in that arena. "

In the coming days and weeks, more and more will be revealed about these hit squads who have operated (and probably will continue to) under the direction of the Pentagon, CIA and numerous other entities.  How long will Americans continue to tolerate such a disaster?  The Pentagon Papers hastened the end of the Vietnam War Conflict.  Will the revelations of war crimes perpetrated by U.S. commandos, like Task Force 373, bring about a similar demise to the almost 10-year (and no bin-Laden to boot!) debacle in Afghanistan?  One can only hope.