Wide-Ranging 'L.A. Times' Probes Threatened by Budget Cuts?

By: Joe Strupp A Los Angeles Times special report on the 2003 deaths of two Afghanistan detainees in U.S. Army custody, which uncovered for the first time the Special Forces unit involved and the existence of the second death, is the kind of expensive, long-term project that potential Times budget cuts might eliminate, say its authors.

Kevin Sack, a veteran Times correspondent, and Craig Pyes, a longtime contracted writer for the paper, agreed the two-part series that began Sunday -- revealing details of the 2003 killings that were never reported by those involved -- could become extinct if threatened Tribune Company cutbacks occur.

"This kind of work can be at risk if budgets are cut in significant ways," said Sack, a Times reporter since 2002 who spent 13 years at The New York Times. "There is a fear that if it continues, we will see less of this type of reporting."

Pyes, who worked on the project through the independent Crimes of War Project, said the Los Angeles Times handled most of the resources for the year-long reporting, which had to run in to the "hundreds of thousands" of dollars. "You can't do it on the cheap," he said. "It is going to dry up and be gone if there are continued budget cuts."

The two-part series explores the deaths of two Afghanistan men in 2003. Pyes had previously written about the incident in 2004 for the Times, but only had information at that time on one of the deaths and no clear link to a specific Army unit. The previous story noted the location near the town of Gardez, involving a Special Forces group.

That first story prompted an investigation by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID), which continue today but has yet to produce any charges. It also sparked an interest by Pyes and the Times to pursue the story further.

"It is very unusual for a newspaper to take on this kind of investigation," Pyes said, crediting Editor Dean Baquet with supporting the project. "Dean is one of the few editors who has the guts to back something like this."

In the Spring of 2005, the Crimes of War Project and Pyes launched a second investigation, with Sack and the Times, that resulted in the latest series. That investigation included reviewing thousands of pages of internal military documents and contacting members of the ODA 2021 Green Berets, the unit believed to be responsible for the detainees who were killed.

"The newest piece is that both of these deaths occurred when these detainees were in the custody of the same Special Forces unit," said Sack. "And that neither death was reported to high command."

The series also claims that the cover-up of the deaths is a clear indication of how problematic many military operations in Afghanistan were at the time. "That a small Special Forces detachment could be tied to two detainee deaths and two apparent cover-ups in less than two weeks reflected an almost perfect confluence of circumstances," the series stated. "They include the personality of the team, the unaccountability of its leadership, the evolution of U.S. policy on detentions, the failure of the United Nations officials to report abuse, and the complicity of Afghan officials."

Sack and Pyes also report that none of the numerous military offices or spokespeople they contacted would give comment, other than the CID, which said only that its investigation was continuing. Pentagon officials did not immediately return E&P calls for comment.