NATO Air Raid Kills 21 Afghan civilians

NATO Air Raid Kills 21 Afghan civilians

www.reuters.com

A NATO air strike killed 21 civilians, including women and children, in southern Afghanistan, a provincial governor said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of civilian casualties that have riled Afghans.

Last night, NATO forces carried out an operation in Sangin and as a result of its bombing, 21 civilians, including women and children and men, have been killed," he said

Wafa said he had no report of casualties among the Taliban.

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
news.bbc.co.uk
news.yahoo.com

Good old "Shoot First - Ask Questions Later" technique being used in Afganistan here. But I do not think this technique is going to win hearts and minds of people who actually live in Afganistan and with military "actions" like this, the Taliban will only get stronger and get more support from the local population.

www.reuters.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

How do you know it was a case of "Shoot First - Ask Questions Later", do you have added details of this case that you haven't posted?

Originally posted by Steel Penguin
How do you know it was a case of "Shoot First - Ask Questions Later", do you have added details of this case that you haven't posted?

Well it is pretty obvious that Intel in this case was not the strongest part of the military operation and that the air strike late on last night aimed at one of the homes was probably just a "Hunch" turned out BAD. There are no report of casualties among the Taliban. And this incident in Helmand would bring to nearly 90 civilian deaths at the hands of Western troops that have been reported in the past two weeks by Afghan officials.

"probably just a hunch".....so you haven't really got any facts to back up your assumptions in regard to this operation!!

Originally posted by Steel Penguin
"probably just a hunch".....so you haven't really got any facts to back up your assumptions in regard to this operation!!

It's a WIN-WIN situation for NATO;

Bomb the house; if there are Taliban killed it's all Good - if there are Civilians killed, they will just say, that the Taliban are always hiding among Civilian population.

For the third time - GOT ANY FACTS TO BACK UP YOUR CLAIMS.

I won't hold my breath, it'll be just more of the usual anti-west rubbish.

Wednesday's reported deaths came a day after the US military said it was "deeply ashamed" over the killings of 19 Afghan civilians by US Marines in early March.

The apology came as the Afghan Senate called on the government in Kabul to open direct talks with local Taleban militants, and for attacks on them to stop.

Public discontent in Afghanistan is growing over the rising number of civilian casualties and the government's failure to improve the lives of most Afghans.

In January, Nato said its biggest mistake last year had been killing civilians, and promised to do better.

Will statements by commanders, who say that they are "deeply ashamed" help to win the hearts and minds of People of Afganistan? Sadly this was not the first Incident of this kind - and it is not the last one at all. Just shows how much the Lives of People of Afganistan are worth these days...

I'll try again...

You start with a source which says that US commanders are deeply ashamed for loss of innocent civilian life (point A), from that you jump to nato being in a win/win situation by killing civilians and that they don't think the life of the people involved are worth anything(point B)...

Now where is your evidence which leads you to jump from point A to point B?

If it's just an assumption on your part then just say so, it'll save me going round and round in circles with you.

[edit on 9-5-2007 by Steel Penguin]

I think you should check out this video:

Video: American Soldiers Shooting Iraqi Civilians

Then you should check out this thread:

U.S. Marine: Squad Leader Shot Unarmed Iraqis

Then this one:

War Strain Leads Troops to Abuse Civilians

And at the end, you should read this report:

Marine says urinated on dead Iraqi at Haditha

news.yahoo.com

Angered that a beloved member of his squad had been killed in an explosion, a U.S. Marine urinated on one of the 24 dead Iraqi civilians killed by his unit in Haditha, the Marine testified on Wednesday.

The name HADITHA will haunt U.S. Marines for a long time...

After reading all of that, do you still have any questions?

[edit on 10/5/07 by Souljah]

Yep, you were talking about Afghanistan and then produced links to Iraq.

My initial question still stands, how do you know that your original post wasn't nothing more then a tragic accident?

My initial question still stands, how do you know that your original post wasn't nothing more then a tragic accident?

They have been having "tragic accidents" like this since they first went into Afghanistan. Oh dear! we've killed a few civilians, sorry about that.... right then, what shall we bomb next?

Basically, the lives of civilians in these places seems to matter little to the military commanders and the politicians back home, waving the flag and telling us all how wonderfully things are going.

Originally posted by Steel Penguin
Yep, you were talking about Afghanistan and then produced links to Iraq.

My initial question still stands, how do you know that your original post wasn't nothing more then a tragic accident?

Want more Afganistan?

NATO Bombs Kill 50 Civilians in Afganistan

Brutal US attack on unarmed Afghans captured by photos

Death is nothing new to People of Afganistan.

And foreign Empires have tried to control this land for centuries.

What do you think happened to those Empires ey?

Originally posted by Britguy

My initial question still stands, how do you know that your original post wasn't nothing more then a tragic accident?

They have been having "tragic accidents" like this since they first went into Afghanistan. Oh dear! we've killed a few civilians, sorry about that.... right then, what shall we bomb next?

Basically, the lives of civilians in these places seems to matter little to the military commanders and the politicians back home, waving the flag and telling us all how wonderfully things are going.

Complete rubbish! If we didn't care about the people then why didn't we just flood the country with troops and flatten the whole area?

As for your second point - have you spoken to commanders on the ground to canvass their opinion, or served in Afghanistan?

Originally posted by Souljah

Originally posted by Steel Penguin
Yep, you were talking about Afghanistan and then produced links to Iraq.

My initial question still stands, how do you know that your original post wasn't nothing more then a tragic accident?

Want more Afganistan?

NATO Bombs Kill 50 Civilians in Afganistan

Brutal US attack on unarmed Afghans captured by photos

Death is nothing new to People of Afganistan.

And foreign Empires have tried to control this land for centuries.

What do you think happened to those Empires ey?

Now tell me something i don't know, like how you got from an article about a tragic military blunder to a conspiracy to target civilians.

Like i said earlier, you haven't got a shred of proof, your just leaping from one thing to another to make some cheap shot at the West.

US-led raid kills 40 civilians in Afghanistan

news.yahoo.com

At least 40 civilians were killed in an air strike in Afghanistan by foreign forces, witnesses said on Thursday, but the U.S.-led coalition said only rebels were hit and it knew of no other casualties.

The deaths on Tuesday in the southern province of Helmand, if confirmed, would raise the civilian toll at the hands of foreign troops to 110 in the past two weeks.

"Foreign troops are killing Afghans every day, but our government has closed its eyes and does not see our casualties," local resident Haji Ibrahim said.

Helmand governor, Assadullah Wafa, said earlier 21 civilians, including women and children, were killed in Tuesday's air strike in Sangin district -- a major opium-growing area and the scene of a large anti-Taliban operation by foreign troops.

Actually the death toll of Afgani CIVILIANS is higher then 21 - today is 40. And there are probably some that are can not be found from under the rubble. Local population say, "There were no Taliban in our area," - yet the official U.S. Army story is completly different. And the patience of people of Afganistan is slowly running out. Who do you think they will support, if these so-called Peacekeepers keep on killing their women and children?

yeah right, i can see them all turning to the Taliban to save them from the evil West and give them a better life!!!!

Perhaps the US should pull out of Afghanistan altogether and leave it to the UK and other allies. We've got some great links with the people of that country and we have a different way of doing things...i.e we don't think we can win a war from a distance, we're more prepared to get up close and personnal with the enemy.

That would minimize civilian deaths.

As for your second point - have you spoken to commanders on the ground to canvass their opinion, or served in Afghanistan?

errrrrr....No! have you?

Perhaps in this case actions speak louder than words. How long are the leaders going to get away with referring to even more deaths as colatteral damage?
If they truly cared we wouldn't even be there dropping bombs on them to start with, based on some rather sketchy info provided by a country intent on attacking over a pipeline royalties dispute

At this rate there are not going to be many people left to bring "freedom and democracy" to (that's freedom and democracy on OUR terms). Still, at least our NATO troops are doing a sterling job of making sure the opium trade is back up to, and even exceeding, previous levels

No your right, if we really cared we'd just leave them in the hands of backward people.

As for the opium trade - people have to earn a living. If neither us or the Taliban are going to give them profitable alternatives then we can't really maon about them reverting back to what they know.

Originally posted by Steel Penguin
yeah right, i can see them all turning to the Taliban to save them from the evil West and give them a better life!!!!

Well some of them are for sure - when NATO and other start killing your children, can you tell what you would think about them?

Perhaps the US should pull out of Afghanistan altogether and leave it to the UK and other allies. We've got some great links with the people of that country and we have a different way of doing things...i.e we don't think we can win a war from a distance, we're more prepared to get up close and personnal with the enemy.

So do you know why there are NATO soldiers in Afganistan? Why is there a pro-west puppet government installed there? So that people of Afganistan are FREE? Well then you are severly mistaken. I guess you should know something about Opium trade, which has increased since Afganistan was supposed to be "Liberated". And drug trade from Afganistan is no small money: it brings between 120 and 194 billion dollars of revenues to organized crime, intelligence agencies and Western financial institutions!

Please read:

Occupation Forces in Afganistan support Afghan Narcotics Trade

Everyhing else is a smoke-screen.