Untitled Document

[00:00:00] While the world's attention is on the [00:00:01] Epstein files, sexual abuse and [00:00:03] trafficking of children has been quietly [00:00:05] taking place and protected at the [00:00:07] highest level within the US military for [00:00:11] decades. Because this is a pattern of [00:00:13] elite impunity and an Imperial boomerang [00:00:16] coming home to roost. Since 2021, dozens [00:00:20] of US soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg, [00:00:23] North Carolina, many from elite units [00:00:26] who served tours in Afghanistan, have [00:00:29] just been arrested or convicted for [00:00:31] serious sex crimes, including [00:00:33] trafficking and raping of young boys and [00:00:36] making financial gain from this [00:00:38] practice. But they are only now being [00:00:41] held accountable while those at the very [00:00:43] top walk free. These soldiers engaged in [00:00:46] a practice called Bacha Bazi, where [00:00:49] older men exploit and enslave young [00:00:52] boys, coercing them into cross-dressing, [00:00:55] dancing, wearing makeup, and acting as [00:00:57] sex slaves to then record them and sell [00:01:00] the explicit child pornography content. [00:01:03] This is a network of abuse that we at [00:01:05] Mint Press News have just reported on in [00:01:07] a major investigation. Sergeant Joshua [00:01:10] Glardon, for example, was just sentenced [00:01:12] to 76 years in prison for crimes related [00:01:15] to the production and distribution of [00:01:17] child pornography. And his female [00:01:20] accomplice was given 30 years in prison [00:01:22] for procuring a child for him to use. [00:01:25] Chief Warrant Officer Stuart P. Kelly [00:01:28] was convicted of forcing a child under [00:01:30] 12 years old to touch him on camera and [00:01:33] was sent to jail for 16 years. But what [00:01:35] makes this impossible to ignore is that [00:01:37] these men served multiple tours in [00:01:40] Afghanistan. Fort Bragg is a massive [00:01:43] city-sized military base outside of [00:01:45] Fatville, North Carolina, whose troops [00:01:48] provided the backbone for the US [00:01:50] military occupation in Afghanistan. [00:01:53] During the US military occupation, [00:01:56] American forces worked closely with [00:01:58] local allies who engaged in bachaabazi, [00:02:01] who would buy or kidnap Afghan boys and [00:02:04] force them to wear makeup in crossdress [00:02:06] and then chain them up and sexually [00:02:08] abuse them. US personnel repeatedly [00:02:11] reported witnessing minors being held by [00:02:14] Afghan police and officials on or near [00:02:17] US compounds and were ordered to look [00:02:19] the other way. In 2021, right at the end [00:02:22] of the occupation, Washington finally [00:02:25] admitted that everyone knew to be true, [00:02:28] the State Department released a report [00:02:30] where it admitted that for nearly 20 [00:02:32] years, there existed a quote unquote a [00:02:36] government pattern of sexual slavery on [00:02:39] government compounds, all carried out by [00:02:42] US trained and funded authorities. In [00:02:45] plain English, children, especially [00:02:48] boys, were being held in chains and used [00:02:50] as sex slaves on US bases all over [00:02:53] Afghanistan. And everyone from the State [00:02:56] Department knew about it. And at Fort [00:02:59] Bragg, court records show senior [00:03:01] non-commissioned officers and [00:03:03] commissioned officers receiving decades [00:03:06] long prison sentences for crimes [00:03:08] involving minors, including repeated [00:03:11] abuse and the online distribution of [00:03:13] illegal material. Investigative [00:03:15] journalist Seth Harp reports that since [00:03:17] the Afghanistan withdrawal, cases [00:03:19] involving child victims connected to [00:03:21] elite units at Fort Bragg have only [00:03:24] increased and it's targeting American [00:03:26] children. Former commanders say [00:03:28] leadership knew this was happening. One [00:03:31] whistleblower described how an officer [00:03:33] accused multiple times of abusing a [00:03:35] minor was not even prosecuted, but [00:03:37] instead quietly transferred between [00:03:39] units until the abuse happened again. [00:03:42] And when charges were finally pursued, [00:03:45] senior leadership intervened to shut the [00:03:47] case down and offer administrative [00:03:50] separation instead of criminal [00:03:52] accountability. And abroad, the pattern [00:03:54] was similar. This is the imperial [00:03:57] boomerang all over again. Only now it's [00:04:00] happening on US bases here in the US. [00:04:02] And it's our children at risk.