NATO air attacks kills women and girls gathering firewood

According to Afghan officials a NATO air strike has killed eight Afghan women and girls gathering firewood. At first International Security Assistance Force officials claimed that 45 insurgents were targeted but later admitted possible civilian casualties

As is often the case, NATO at first claimed that the targets were insurgents and that initial reports showed that only insurgents were killed in the strike. However this report was contradicted by information coming from Afghan officials who said that victims included eight women and girls who were out gathering firewood before dawn.

Once the Afghan officials contradicted the NATO report Jamie Graybeal a NATO spokesperson said that NATO took any charges of civilian deaths seriously. No doubt the charges were taken even more seriously after villagers from the Alingar district in Lagham province brought bodies of those killed to the governor's office in the provincial capital.

Sarhadi Zewak, a spokesperson for the provincial government, said:

“They were shouting ‘Death to America!’ They were condemning the attack."

A provincial health director said that there were also seven females injured who were brought to area hospitals for treatment. Some of the injured were as young as ten years old.

BBC now reports that NATO has acknowledged the civilian deaths.

Nato has conceded that between five and eight civilians died as it targeted insurgents, and offered condolences.

Afghan president Karzai has constantly complained about air strikes and the civilian casualties they have caused. However, he has so far been unable to stop them and no doubt they will continue even after security is turned over to Afghanistan in 2014. U.S. officials say that these missile attacks are very precise and that civilian casualties are rare. However, what are called signature attacks are now used. In these attacks people are targeted simply on the basis of suspicious behavior. Apparently people moving in the countryside before dawn arouse enough suspicion to be classified as suspected terrorists. There were probably never any insurgents targeted. The women collecting firewood were just classified as suspected insurgents.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan four more soldiers were killed in an apparent insider attack. The four killed were American troops. The killings happened at an observation post operated jointly with 6 coalition troops together with 6 Afghan National Police.. One of the Afghan members was found dead at the scene while the other five had disappeared. Over 50 NATO troops have now been killed so far this year in "insider" attacks.

NATO air strike in Afghanistan kills 8 including 6 children

In the eastern province of Paktia local officials claim a NATO air strike killed eight members of one family including 6 children plus husband and wife. The strike happened last Saturday in a small village in the province.

As usual NATO says it is investigating the reports. A spokesperson for the province said::"It was an air strike conducted by Nato."This man [the father] had no connection to the Taliban or any other terrorist group."

NATO did confirm that it was conducting an operation in the area that night. Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings said that the operation was "against a large number of insurgents" on Saturday night. He also acknowledged reports of civilian deaths and that they were being investigated. The area is the ancestral home base of the Haqqani group which has links to the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Karzai had warned earlier in May that civilian casualties in air attacks could derail the recently signed partnership agreement. This is probably just rhetoric for domestic consumption. For more see this article.

Lawmaker: Air raid kills civilians in Afghan south..

Air operations produce no casualties for occupying forces. They make use of the superior force and technology of the occupiers. They also produce extensive "collateral damage". In a tribal society the killing of relatives demands revenge. Air operations thus ensure a constant stream of suicide bombers and recruits for the Taliban. It also makes the central government unpopular. Karzai constantly complains about such operations but to no avail. This disabuses any Afghans not profiting from the occupation that Afghanistan is sovereign. Sovereignty involves having a monopoly on the legitimate use of force within your borders. An occupied country has no such monopoly. Karzai does not control the operations of the occupying forces.

Air raid kills civilians in Afghan south-lawmaker


REUTERS
Reuters North American News Service

Mar 18, 2008 09:02 EST

KABUL, March 18 (Reuters) - An air strike by foreign forces has killed more than 30 people, including civilians, in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand, a lawmaker said on Tuesday.

The raid happened on Monday in a village in the province's Sangin district, scene of a series of battles between Taliban insurgents and foreign troops in recent years, she said.

Civilian deaths are a sensitive issue for the foreign forces in Afghanistan under the command of the U.S. military and NATO and for President Hamid Karzai's government.

"More than 30 people have lost their lives and it is said that the Taliban and civilians were amongst those killed," Nasima Niyazi, who is a member of the lower house of the Afghan parliament representing the province, told Reuters.

She did not have any more details about the air strike.

But several people who identified themselves as residents of Sangin said the raid targeted a picnic spot where civilians had gathered to play traditional sports. The Taliban said 40 civilians were killed and 60 more wounded.

Both NATO and U.S.-led troops are stationed in Helmand, a bastion for Taliban insurgents and the key drug-producing region of Afghanistan, the world's top supplier of heroin.

A spokesman for NATO in Kabul said the alliance had carried out an air attack to the south of Sangin and a total of 12 insurgents were killed while driving in three cars.

The strike comes amid spiralling violence in the past two years in Afghanistan, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban's hardline Islamist government in 2001.

More than 12,000 people, nearly a quarter of them civilians, have been killed by the violence.

Civilian deaths have sparked protests and added to growing frustration among ordinary Afghans that Karzai's government and its Western backers have not brought more security to the country. (Reporting by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Alex Richardson)

Source: Reuters North American News Service

Bomber McNeill

This article exaggerates in comparing McNeill to Pol Pot and being a psycopath. No doubt it is a calculated cold blooded policy designed to remove any sanctuary for Taliban and convince the public that it is fatal to shield or support them. What is evident is that Karzai is powerless to control events. It seems that no one is able or at least willing to confront McNeill even though he may be helping NATO lose the war.

Bomber McNeill, the Faceless Pol Pot of the Sky
Is This Man a Psychopath?
By RICHARD NEVILLE

You be the judge. Following his appointment as commander of NATO's forces in Afghanistan earlier this year, U.S. General Dan McNeill devised a daring strategy to defeat the Taliban. He would beat them at their own game. That's why this week marks an important milestone for General McNeill--"Bomber" to his troops--because his goal has been achieved. Although mocked by British officers for overuse of air power, McNeill proved its effectiveness within days of taking up his post. His air strikes hit homes in the Kapisa province north of Kabul, killing nine people from four generations of a local family, including a 6-month-old child. The usual complaints erupted from human rights fanatics and the lily livered Dutch, but McNeil held his ground.

It was the fault of civilians for living in populated areas, explained Lt. Col. David Accetta at the time, areas that can provide a shelter for Taliban on the run. So homes were "targeted and hit." This was the first clue to the McNeil plan. Among the corpses found in the mud brick rubble at Kapissa in March, were four women, four children under 5 years old, and an 80-year-old man. The Bomber's tactic was on track. The gloves were off. Over the next three months, NATO would set out to prove that its air force could kill more civilians than the number achieved by the Taliban.

But it wasn't easy. The British and Dutch were reluctant to accept the mission, fretting about civilian blood. (General McNeil is a veteran of Vietnam). Some experts spread rumours that the flurry of attacks by US aircraft was "indiscriminate", but that was the point. Others argued the strategy violated the Geneva provision that parties to conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives (Article 48, 1977 addition to, Part IV). However, as the US Attorney General Gonzales had dismissed the Geneva Conventions as quaint, who cared?

PHOTOS STOLEN AT GUNPOINT

McNeil welcomed input from other services. After the aerial slaughter in Kapisa, a convoy of Marines fleeing an ambush east of Kabul, started shooting wildly at the highway traffic. Their score was 19 civilians dead and 50 wounded. Afterwards, US soldiers confiscated photos of the incident at gun point.

In the past few months civilian injuries and deaths have been reported every few days, although Western sources report the numbers are often exaggerated - Chicago Tribune. A bizarre kill was achieved on June 12, when US troops destroyed a police checkpoint east of Kabul and called in attack aircraft. Seven Afghani police were killed and four wounded. Shredded and bloodstained police gear littered the crash scene. "We are here to protect and serve the Afghan government, but the Americans have come to kill us," said Khan Mohammad, a policemen who felt he was under attack by the Taliban.

Six days later, McNeil's jets bombed a compound suspected of housing al-Qaida militants in eastern Afghanistan, netting seven children. President Hamid Karzai condemned foreign forces for careless 'use of extreme force' and for viewing Afghan lives as 'cheap', but this didn't deter the mission. The following day NATO forces fired a rocket into a building in Pakistan and notched up another tally of civilians - a child, a woman and seven men. Pakistan military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said his country demanded an explanation, but no-one was listening. In the body bag stakes, NATO and the Taliban were now neck and neck. A puzzled Ban Ki-Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, came to Kabul to slow Mc Neill's hand, but it was too late for that.


SWORD AND SHIELD THAT GUARDS AMERICA

NATO planes struck again at the end of June in Hyderabad, in the remote Girishk district, killing numerous villagers, including women children. "Six houses have been bombed, three of them have been reduced to rubble," a local named Feda Mohammad said, claiming about 100 had been killed or wounded. "People are still busy bringing out the dead from under the rubble, there are funerals at various places. A local member of parliament, Wali Khan, said "the Taliban were far away from there". He warned that continued slaughter of civilians will spark revolt against the Afghan government.

Local Police said 25 civilians were killed in air strikes in the same area the week before, including nine women and three young children.
Hamid Karzai said "indiscriminate and unprecise" operations by foreign forces could no longer be tolerated, but his voice was drowned out by this year's Independence Day address delivered by the Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley, which urged American Airman to be proud of their calling:"Wherever you are on our nation's 231st birthday, have a safe and enjoyable holiday, and take pride in knowing that you are a member of the finest Air Force the world has ever known! Your service provides the sword and shield that guard our nation, its interests, and ideals throughout the world. On this Independence Day be proud to be an American Airman -- a warrior who has answered our nation's call to fly, fight and win.

And win they did. This weekend it was confirmed that US troops and their NATO allies have out killed more civilians than the insurgents. UN and local rights groups tallied 314 civilians killed by McNeil's forces and 279 killed by the Taliban and associates. Congratulations, Bomber, enjoy your victory.


AUSTRALIAN AIR CREWS ASSISTED

Except of course, it isn't a victory. Every dead civilian recruits 5 more locals for the Taliban. This will provide an excuse for continued US presence in the region and plenty more Afghanis to use as targets.

Even if Bomber McNeill is arrested for war crimes, such insane attacks will continue. It is what the air force does. That its enemy lacks warplanes only intensifies its savagery. In bloodless bureaucratic prose, the official site of the US air force reports around 40 sorties each day in Afghanistan (90 in Iraq), which involve the extermination of [suspected] insurgents in tree lines and family compounds. Example: "July 507: F-15Es hit an enemy mortar position with GBU-38s near Kajaki Dam. The JTAC reported the weapons hit their intended target. The pilots also conducted a show of force to try and flush out any insurgents still in the area aircrews also strafed enemies in a tree line", etc. C-130 crews from Australia assisted in such attacks, despite Canberra's assurance that its mission is one of "restoring infrastructure".

Western commanders say any comparison of casualties caused by Western forces and by the Taliban is unfair because there is a clear moral distinction between accidental deaths from combat operations and deliberate killings of innocents by militants. This is claptrap. When invading an impoverished land peopled by extended families with interlocking tribal loyalties, the world's mightiest air power has an obligation to proceed with respect and restraint. Alas, this it failed to do, as it has failed to do in previous wars.

The killings of civilians cannot be excused as regrettable "accidents". They may not have been intentional, but they arise from a military culture that makes such casualties inevitable. In their hearts, the officers know this. It is why they don't do body counts. It is why in the daily reports of hundreds of bombing raids, you'll never see any mention of death.

Richard Neville has been around a while. He lives in Australia, the land that formed him. In the Sixties he raised hell in London and published Oz. He can be reached through his very bracing website, http://www.richardneville.com.au/