There was no oxygen,” said Maqsood Khan

“There was no oxygen,” said Maqsood Khan, a 26-year-old Pakistani from Rawalpindi. “We drank the

sweat off our own bodies and off the dead men. Some drank their urine. Of 400, half were dead by the

time we arrived.”…

Sajjid Mehmood, an 18-year-old from Karachi, said: “There were about 250 men in the container I was

in. We were praying, shouting and begging for mercy. It was very difficult to breathe.

“Zubair, a man who was crushed up against me, died after two or three hours. We were praying to God.

When the soldiers heard our cries for help they opened the rear doors and began shooting.

“Many of us died, maybe 20 or 30. When the container arrived after 18 hours, 150 out of 250 people

were dead.” Today Sheberghan prison, originally built for 500 to 1,000 inmates, houses more than

3,000. The commandant said 807 of them are Pakistanis. The rest are Afghans.

My piece closes with Strauss’ warning that “stories such as these have only served to harden the

resolve of Islamic militants.” And sure enough, from the Wall Street Journal we learn that the four

London bombers, “of Pakistani descent,” according to friends “had been

influenced by claims of atrocities in Afghanistan and MBT SHOES.” (“From Heart of U.K., Four Friends

Emerge As Terror Suspects,” 7/14/05)