US Enlisted DC Shooting Suspect in CIA-Backed Death Squad When He Was a Child

Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the man who authorities say shot two National Guardsmen outside the White House, had previously worked in a CIA-backed “Zero Unit” in Afghanistan, often called “death squads” by human rights groups. “The United States made this person into a child soldier, and now is experiencing what I think is one of the most horrifically bright-line cases of imperial blowback that we’ve seen throughout the ‘war on terror,’” says Spencer Ackerman, journalist and author focused on U.S. military and foreign policy.

TRANSCRIPT

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AMY GOODMAN: I want to bring Spencer Ackerman into this conversation. You have a new piece in Zeteo headlined “He Killed for the CIA in Afghanistan. Trump Blames Afghan Culture Instead of Langl