Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

OpEd in Boston Globe: How many civilian deaths are acceptable?

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
Home » Discuss » DU Groups » Democrats » John Kerry Group Donate to DU
 
TayTay Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Aug-02-09 09:34 PM
Original message
OpEd in Boston Globe: How many civilian deaths are acceptable?

How many civilian deaths are acceptable?


By Tom Hayden
August 2, 2009

IT WAS A CRYPTIC Pentagon answer to Senator John Kerry’s straightforward question, in notes from the Senate hearing on May 21:

Question. According to The New York Times July 20, 2003, Secretary Rumsfeld personally approved over 50 US airstrikes in Iraq which were expected to kill up to 50 innocent Iraqi civilians each. According to Pentagon policy at the time, any strikes expected to result in 50 or more civilian deaths as unavoidable collateral damage were to be approved personally by the Secretary. The media was informed of this policy in July 2003 when the chief US commander disclosed the sign-off policy. Does that policy continue today in Afghanistan, and, if so, in what form? Do White House or Pentagon officials sign off on bombing runs where civilian casualties are expected to be higher than 50? Which officials?

Answer. (DELETED)

Does the Obama administration, specifically the secretary of defense, know in advance how many innocent civilians are expected to die before bombing raids are approved in Afghanistan and Pakistan? This was the case with Donald Rumsfeld during the bombing of Iraq.

Now the administration insists on keeping the answers secret.

More at the http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/08/02/how_many_civilian_deaths_are_acceptable/">Boston Globe site


I would be very interested to know the answer to this question as well. How many civilian deaths are deemed acceptable before an operation is okayed. Who is in on the decision?

I am fascinated that the SFRC is asking these questions, albeit without any public notice. These are precisely the things that I would expect Sen. Kerry to be probing. Good for him and I hope we hear on this.
Refresh | 0 Recommendations Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
beachmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-03-09 02:45 PM
Response to Original message
1. Interesting. Maybe what I want is not possible, but I would prefer
a light, light footing in terms of killing terrorists. If possible, by all means, only kill them, NOT civilians.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
karynnj Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Aug-03-09 04:29 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. I agree with you here - I also hate that they call it a "PR" problem, when it is
Edited on Mon Aug-03-09 04:32 PM by karynnj
about the lifes of people who are other people's children, wives, mother, fathers etc. I remember Kerry speaking of this in 2005 when he was pushing for Americans not doing the policing and search and destroy. Here, it might be similar that we really can't tell the difference between terrorists and people just in the same area.

I think it is important that the policy be known, but I don't understand this from the BG.

"To move forward, Kerry’s committee should release the Pentagon’s classified answer and, if necessary, press for further clarification. Congress should see through the Pentagon’s conflict of interest."

The question I have is whether if the pentagon classified the answer, Senator Kerry has the authority to release it. I hope if he doesn't, he works to persuade Obama that this should not be secret. Are they asking Kerry to break security rules - maybe by giving the answer in the Senate. (If so, I'm not sure knowing the policy would be worth it)
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Sun Dec 22nd 2024, 04:13 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » DU Groups » Democrats » John Kerry Group Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC