Sound just too shocking, absurd, disgusting, and far too political for a military officer to be involved in and actually say? Think again ... for that's exactly what current and retired US military officers have testified that Obama-appointed (to lead U.S. and NATO efforts to build and train Afghanistan's army, police and border units) Lt. General William Caldwell indeed did ... he delayed an investigation into a US taxpayer-funded Afghan military hospital where the conditions were so horrific that it was described by one Colonel as "Auschitz-like" - and he did so to protect Barack Obama:

One active-duty officer testified that the three-star general, Lieutenant General William Caldwell, who headed the training mission in Afghanistan, forced him to retract a request for an inspector general's investigation into the Dawood national military hospital.

l, said he was shocked when Caldwell brought up the 2010 congressional elections and said: "How could we do this or make this request with an election coming? He calls me Bill." Fassl, who was inspector general for the compound, said he believed it was a reference to President Barack Obama.

Two retired colonels who worked with training command also told the House oversight and government reform committee that Caldwell did not want an inspector general's report of the hospital. In testimony submitted ahead of the hearing, retired Colonel Gerald Carozza, who served as adviser to the US campaign in Afghanistan, said: "The evidence is clear to me that General Caldwell had the request for a probe [into the hospital] withdrawn and postponed until after the election and then, after the election, tried to intimidate his subordinates into a consensus that it need to move forward at all."

He went on: "The general did not want bad news to leave his command before the election or after the election."Much more on the story here ... most of which is truly incredible (but unfortunately, at this point undoubtedly true).

CNN's Barbara Starr reports on the Congressional probe into abuse at a U.S. funded hospital in Afghanistan, giving more detail (after 25 second ad) ... some of which you might not want to see (disturbing images of patients).