Some 25 Afghan civilians were killed Thursday in a NATO airstrike against Taliban forces, the latest in a string of civilian deaths that is seriously undermining Afghan support for the U.S.-led mission there.
As this commentary notes, such incidents are taking their toll. Since March, more than 135 Afghans have been killed and many others wounded or left homeless by Western combat operations, mainly under U.S. command.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the civilian deaths "difficult for us to accept or understand." Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey has advocated a goal of "zero innocent civilian casualties" in Afghanistan, even if that means letting some Taliban fighters escape when they hide among the civilian population.
At present, we’re handing the Taliban a propaganda and recruiting windfall.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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27 Comments
And now for the positive news on Afghanistan and Iraq published by the MSM – See below:
”
“
Yep, Republican, because that is how much there was to report!
We promised them so much in the beginning and all they got was the Taliban back.
Plus, as the article states, their civilians killed. Another job bushco bungled. Is there anything he has proven competent at doing?
The blank poster is now posting blank posts. How ironic.
I’m shocked by the Yahoo news headline just out today, “22 killed in wave of violence in KENYA.”
Kenya, of course, is located in east Africa, crossed by the equator, having some of it’s eastern border on the Indian Ocean. Although surrounded by several dangerous nations, among them Somalia and Sudan, my impression was that Kenya was managing to maintain peaceful co-existence and setting at least a modest example for other African nations in economic growth, education and stable government.
Since gaining independence from the British in 1963, Kenyan economy is said to have steadily improved.
Perhaps violence is developing in Kenya because their oil industry is growing. Apparently the oil developers are Chinese which might have some bearing, I don’t know.
There are some very productive Kenyans in Wichita who will be very upset at this news of violence in their country.
Bush hasn’t bungled anything, he’s right where the Zionists want him to be: Ready to attack Iran from the north.
Or do you think that he’s trying to sell “democracy to the Afghans?”
They want Islam just as much as the G-D jews want whatever the hell they call their “Gang of Thieves.”
The Blood-soaked Zionist Mafia?
Stop trying to sell that Bullshit Zionist crap, and lean towards the truth, that’ll help with your credibility.
Not much, but some.
“Afghan President Hamid Karzai”
Afghan President Hamid Karzai rules about ten square feet of Kabul and that silly hat he wears. That’s it.
Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey has advocated a goal of “zero innocent civilian casualties” in Afghanistan, even if that means letting some Taliban fighters escape when they hide among the civilian population.
Again: The resistance is the People of Afghanistan, just as would be the People of the United states if a group of murderers were invading the US.
al-Qaida, terrorists, insurgence, militants, fighters, all do not apply. That is propaganda speak, not what’s really happening.
We’re have been sounding more like the Jews, with the trying to tag our victims with a new name, which the gullible US citizens will swallow.
Gulp!
Cut-off the money for this misadventure and like cutting-off the head of a snake the rest of it will die.
Every member of congress who voted to fund this Iraq debacle the last time, gets voted out the door, and any State which votes one back in will never see a penny of money if they’re all drowning or on fire.
Not one penny.
Some other relevant news…
http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=114016“KABUL: The U.N. World Food Program has halted aid deliveries in Afghanistan’s most volatile provinces after 85 of its trucks were attacked, set ablaze or looted in the last year by Taliban insurgents and thieves, an official said the other day.”
‘”We`ll be in Afghanistan for decades”: UK Envoy’http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?181870
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6222200.stm“The drug economy in Afghanistan is now worth about $3bn a year, larger than the legal economy,……[Gen Aminullah] said they had now “lost the war on drugs… It is damaging British people in both places. Their soldiers die here, because it pays for ammunition and weapons, and the money for that comes from drugs.
“And in Britain they are dying in another way because people become addicted to drugs. It kills their youth there and their soldiers here.”
“Since March, more than 135 Afghans have been killed and many others wounded or left homeless by Western combat operations, mainly under U.S. command.”
So, they threw the first punch and took out over 3,000 love ones in one fell swoop.
Here is a scripture for the muslins:Never get an elephant running while standing in front of it.
Wiseman,
So, it was Afghan women and children who “threw the first punch?”
Boy. “Wiseman” is neither: wise, nor a man.
Uh, wiseman, the hijackers were mostly Saudi.
Here is a scripture for the muslins:Never get an elephant running while standing in front of it.
Posted by: Wiseman | June 22, 2007 at 04:58 PM
That’s the America I’m used to see seeing Wiseman.
Not all these spineless wimps who dare to call themselves men.
InfSgt,
The only “spineless wimps” I see around are the cowards who order others to kill and torture, and then deny responsibility: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld.
CF2K –Is Afghanistan guilty of anything?Try the harboring of criminals such Osama Bin Laden (mostly Saudi) and his good ole’ boys the Taliban.WHO have stuck their necks out and said, “We crash your planes into your buildings”.You do not attack someone without knowing that there are consequences.Sadly, the business of waging war knows nothing about innocence.
“Here is a scripture for the muslins:Never get an elephant running while standing in front of it.”
You can’t expect plain-woven cotton cloths to stop an elephant… use something stronger, like Kevlars.
Wiseman,
Nice job conflating a) the response to 9/11 with b) the current campaign to tamp down a resurgent Taliban.
Like everybody else, I supported the 2002 invasion of Afghanistan and the overthrow of the Taliban (note to Wiseman: the Taliban didn’t attack America–Al Qaeda, their guests, did).
But I also supported finishing the job, both against the Taliban AND Al Qaeda. Bush supported neither: by then he was agitating for an attack against Iraq, which had no role in the attacks. NONE. We botched the job and allowed the Taliban to regroup and reassert. And, for that matter, Al Qaeda are now being positioned by the Administration as ALLIES against Shi’ite countries such as Iran.
If, as you say, “the business of waging war knows nothing about innocence (sic),” then there are two responses. First, you’d better get ready to deal with all the enemies we create by killing “innocents”–namely, noncombatants such as women and children.
But second, you give up your right to object when the “innocents” who are killed are U.S. citizens.
And, to go a step further, Wiseman, the legitimacy of the Afghanistan invasion was premised on rebuilding the country and reversing its history as a failed state.
Back in 2003 I had as a student a nephew of Prime Minister Karzai: it was already apparent to my student, and to his uncle, that the U.S. had made promises it had no intention of delivering.
This lack of credibility being the case, no amount of armed force is going to accomplish very much in Afghanistan unless folks there see a reason to buy into the U.S. vision. And killing civilians certainly doesn’t help to bring this about.
And now, if y’all will excuse, CF2K is off to a solstice picnic with high school chums at Golden Gardens.
http://www.ci.seattle.wa.us/parks/_images/parks/goldengardenssunset.jpg
Evidently, CF2K hasn’t read his War history about killing innocents in the time of War or even conflicts.
It happens.
Yeah CF2K having a student that was related to karzei.
More lies please.
In many ways the Taliban was placed in power by the US via the CIA. Remember the wonderful “freedom fighters” Reagan hosted at the White House? That also included OBL and others. Afghan citizens had no way to resist them.
Now we face a situation where the Bush administration may be ’snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’ in Afghanistan. The Afghan people hate the Taliban; they remember all too well their oppression and destruction. However, instead of following up the fall of the Taliban with building up the fledgeling government there Bush made the decision to turn his attention elsewhere – IRAQ.
I am certain that OBL and the rest of the Saudis cheered the day Bush decided to go after their enemy (Saddam) rather than going after them.
This Admin. and the former rubber stamp congress are directly for America’s declining status all over the world.Guess we may not have to be too concerned if gitmo prisoners are sent to leavenworth, as they very well may be innocent.Army officer says Gitmo panels flawed By BEN FOX, Associated Press Writer8 minutes ago
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – An Army officer with a key role in the U.S. military hearings at Guantanamo Bay says they relied on vague and incomplete intelligence and were pressured to declare detainees “enemy combatants,” often without any specific evidence.
ADVERTISEMENTHis affidavit, released Friday, is the first criticism by a member of the military panels that determine whether detainees will continue to be held.
Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham, a 26-year veteran of military intelligence who is an Army reserve officer and a California lawyer, said military prosecutors were provided with only “generic” material that didn’t hold up to the most basic legal challenges.
Despite repeated requests, intelligence agencies arbitrarily refused to provide specific information that could have helped either side in the tribunals, according to Abraham, who said he served as a main liaison between the Combat Status Review Tribunals and those intelligence agencies.
“What were purported to be specific statements of fact lacked even the most fundamental earmarks of objectively credible evidence,” Abraham said in the affidavit, filed in a Washington appeals court on behalf of a Kuwaiti detainee, Fawzi al-Odah, who is challenging his classification as an “enemy combatant.”
The Pentagon had no immediate comment, but a spokesman said Defense Department officials were preparing a response to the affidavit.
An attorney for al-Odah, David Cynamon, said Abraham “bravely” agreed to provide the affidavit when defense lawyers contacted him.
“It proves what we all suspected, which is that the CSRTs were a complete sham,” Cynamon said.
Matthew J. MacLean, another al-Odah lawyer, said Abraham is the first member of a Combat Status Review Tribunal panel who has been identified, let alone been willing to criticize the tribunals in the public record.
“It wouldn’t be quite right to say this is the most important piece of evidence that has come out of the CSRT process, because this is the only piece of evidence ever to come out of the CSRT process,” MacLean said. “It’s our only view into the CSRT.”
Abraham said he first raised his concerns when he was on active duty with the Defense Department agency in charge of the tribunal process from September 2004 to March 2005 and felt the issues were not adequately addressed. He said he decided his only recourse was to submit the affidavit.
“I pointed out nothing less than facts, facts that can and should be fixed,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his office in Newport Beach, Calif.
The 46-year-old lawyer, who remains in the reserves, said he believe he had a responsibility to point out that officers “did not have the proper tools” to determine whether a detainee was in fact an enemy combatant.
“I take very seriously my responsibility, my duties as a citizen,” he said.
Cynamon said he fears the officer’s military future could be in jeopardy. “For him to do this was a courageous thing but it’s probably an assurance of career suicide,” he said.
The military held Combatant Status Review Tribunals for 558 detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay in 2004 and 2005, with handcuffed detainees appearing before panels made up of three officers. Detainees had a military “personal representative” instead of a defense attorney, and all but 38 were determined to be “enemy combatants.”
Abraham was asked to serve on one of the panels, and he said its members felt strong pressure to find against the detainee, saying there was “intensive scrutiny” when they declared a prisoner not to be an enemy combatant. When his panel decided the detainee wasn’t an “enemy combatant,” they were ordered to reconvene to hear more evidence, he said.
Ultimately, his panel held its ground, and he was never asked to participate in another tribunal, he said.
In April, the Supreme Court declined to review whether Guantanamo Bay detainees may go to federal court to challenge their indefinite confinement.
Lawyers for the detainees have asked the justices to reconsider and included Abraham’s affidavit in a filing made Friday. The administration opposes the request.
CF2K,
Thank you for your accurate, concise, and well written posts at 6:51 and 7:03 PM upthread,http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2007/06/losing-hearts-a.html#comment-73567916
cosmos,
Gracias. The bungled situation in Afghanistan speaks for itself, as does the impotent Wingnut desire to rain down manly American hellfire, blah blah blah blah blah.
Wingnuts need to get a life.
CF2K’s student is saying exactly what Karzai is saying publically:
Afghanistan needs to be re-built. Roads, schools, hospitals, power stations etc.
Instead, BushCo reneges on the promised aid and sends more bombs.
But thank goodness HALLIBURTON is doing so well, right?
Hello everyone!!!Well it’s been a couple of weeks since my last letter to the group. I just want to start off by saying that it has been one of the toughest times of my life and without your prayers I don’t think I would have made it this far. If it hadn’t been for the Lord that’s for sure. Keep your prayers up my friends. The Army is in a reaaly bad spot right now. What we hear our leadership telling the American people isn’t the case at all really. The common line soldier is not being heard. I want you to know the truth. The truth from a soldier from the gound in the middle of Baghdad. We are not making progress. I can tell you from the last time I was here in 05 that we are fighting a whole new beast. Instead of a few individuals from a different land we are now fighting the whole country.
The streets are empty. The people that supported liberty and freedom have long been killed or have moved. I cleared a group of houses the other day that was at least 50% abandoned. The only people that seem to want us here are the people we put in power. How is this a Godly war? How is forcing our way on another country that doesn’t want us here the right answer. Sure the government we put in place needs our help, yet we gave them power for which they aren’t inclined to give up too easily. This county is in the middle of a civil war. They tell us we are on Iraq’s side. Well Iraq wants to be free to fight their own battles, Sunni and Shiite alike.
All this being said it’s not the fight for freedom that upsets me. If I saw citizens dragging terrorists in the streets and wanting Liberty I would gladly give my life for that cause. That is not the case at all. The people keep thier mouth’s shut and therefore the Terrorists leave them alone. Thats all they want anyway.
Well a Army is held together by a “cause” . A cause to hold the soldiers together, a cause to give them some cause for sacrifice. Four of my close friends gave that sacrifice the other day. Death is part of a soldiers life. It is the accepted risk. The price for Liberty. The hardest part has been justifying thier sacrifice. Is so many good many lost worth the freedom of a country who doesn’t really want us here. I say no.
When is this going to stop? When is enough, enough? Please we need your help. The common soldier needs your help. The soldier that signed up to serve and protect his country with no political gain needs your help. The command is not representig the truth. They are representing thier careers. It is costing you your son’s and daughter’s lives. Please stand up and help us. Bring us home!! Bring your sons and daughters home…..it’s time.
I am a believer in my Christ Jesus. I pray everyday that the Lord will bring His wisdom down on the leadership of our country. I believe that these people have seen nothing but violence their entire life. How are we bringing them any difference. Christ looked at the individual. We need to help this country one person at a time with the love of Christ. The Lord will bring His Judgement when the time is right. There are good people here, yet they are ruled by fear. They need Christ’s love.
I dont think they have the burdon of liberty on their hearts yet. You have to want, desire, and yearn for Liberty and be willing and ready to sacrifice everythig for that cause. That is what I don’t see. It has a heavy cost and it cannot be bought by anyone butyourself. Please send this to whomever you please, The county need to know the truth. In fact, please send this out to as many people as you want.
In HimSGT Walker, JasonB CO 1-64 AR BN