NATO Can't Deny They Killed Civilians in Sangin Anymore

[JohnyCanuck]

Run time: 02:43 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4m6tQudSpI   Posted on YouTube: August 06, 2010 By YouTube Member: bravenewfoundation Views on YouTube: 2193   Posted on DU: August 07, 2010 By DU Member: JohnyCanuck Views on DU: 854

 
From the info posted at the Youtube link:

For weeks, U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan have denied they killed several dozen civilians in Sangin District of Helmand Province on July 23. But our new video exposes the truth about one of the worst civilian casualty incidents of the war. Watch our exclusive interviews with survivors and demand that your elected officials act to prevent future catastrophes like this. http://rethinkafghanistan.com

First, NATO denied knowing anything about the incident.

Then, they said only six people were killed and that most of them were insurgents.

[sabrina 1]

1. Those poor people. It is heart-breaking to know what is happening

to them. Babies, beautiful young children and Gates has the nerve to accuse Wikileaks of having blood on their hands.

These are crimes against humanity. And this was just the latest massacre they tried to hide.

Kudos to all those independent journalists who take the trouble to give a voice to the voiceless. Not are they just voiceless, they are denied their existence, their pain and grief and their very lives are not even thought worthy of mentioning.

Anyone who does not speak out, or whose heart is not moved by the suffering of these people, is complicit in the crimes that one day history WILL record and future generations will ask 'but how could it have happened, why was there not worldwide outrage'?

To see even democrats turn a blind eye to these horrors is simply reprehensible. And I am appalled at the dismissive attitude towards these killings by people who I once thought were different from Bush's loyal followers.

[sabrina 1]

2. Just want to add this link.

This organization answers the question increasingly being asked 'has the American public lost its conscience'?

Thankfully there are still a few voices speaking out for the people of Afghanistan, making sure their humanity is not diminished. Still trying to evoke some kind of moral reaction from Congress they have included a prepared letter which people can send to their member of Congress demanding that this slaughter stop. My Rep. is a Repug so I doubt he can be reached morally or on behalf of people he most likely views as less than human. But I'll try ....

Rethink Afghanistan

Dear (Insert name of Congressmember here)

Brave New Foundation's latest Rethink Afghanistan video confirms what NATO has denied for weeks--dozens of civilians were killed in Sangin district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on July 23, and NATO forces were responsible. I'm outraged that NATO continues to deny an incident for which they are obviously responsible based on witness accounts, and that because of that, we have to rely on independent sources like Brave New Foundation to get the truth. Please watch the video and read the transcripts of the survivors' stories, available at http://rethinkafghanistan.com

This incident shows that the debate about war isn't about abstract concepts. It's about a constant trickle of moral and strategic disasters, just like this one.

I want you to know that I vote, and when I vote, I think about incidents like the one at Sangin and what my representatives did to prevent other catastrophes like it. I will remember how you react to the Sangin incident when I vote this November.

The Afghanistan War is a brutal conflict that's not making us safer and isn't worth the cost. I expect my elected officials to act swiftly and forcefully to bring our troops home.

Signed

The transcript of the interviews with the survivors of this attack are included in this link. They truly are heartbreaking and it is devastating that this is being done in the name of the American people.

This is part of an interview with Abdul Barg, a survivor of the slaughter who lost many family members:

Abdul Barg

>snip


We ran to a place about 200 meters from our village. We gathered all of the women , children and elderly, we were 200 meters away from the location of the actual battle so we thought it would be okay.

The airplanes came(N.A.T.O.) and started the bombardment. A lot of innocent people were killed, old and young, women and children were all martyred. Some had no heads or hands. Body parts were scattered all over the place.

People were screaming one yelled out that for God’s sake someone should go to the government and tell them they are killing innocent people! We are not Taliban! Stop the bombing! These people were waiting for you help!

Interviewer: What happened to the injured?

AB: The injured were taken to the Red Cross hospital. One of the injured was my son the other was my nephew who was in really bad shape.(Crying) We thought the government would bring us peace and security, now I am putting my family members body parts inside a bag with my own two hands.

Interviewer: How many civilian deaths were there?

AB: I don’t know how many but almost every family in the village was placing at least a couple of their loved ones in a bag.

Interviewer: You don’t know how many?

AB: Almost every family lost a few. The injured were taken to Chinese Hospital.

Interviewer: Can you estimate how many were killed?

AB: The number of martyred were no less than 35 up to 50 at the most.

Interviewer: What were their ages?

AB: I swear to God that they were 10 to 12 years old and smaller children like my daughter who was 2 years old and my nephew was 3 months old they were torn to pieces.

I don't how this can be justified or how the media can ignore it. Shame on everyone who is silent and especially on those who are responsible.

[lumpy]

3. The American people need to know what monsters we have

become. It won't happen until the news media in this country develops a conscience.

[sabrina 1]

4. Thank you for caring ~

If this OP had been about Sarah Palin, it would have one hundred posts. Is it just the media? Maybe people in general just don't care so long it's not happening to them. Maybe that's why it is all so easy for the PTBs to keep on slaughtering people in other countries. They don't get much reaction even from the 'left' anymore.

Those poor people if they are depending on the American people to do something to try to help them. Voices in the wilderness is all they are as far this country is concerned.

[JohnyCanuck]

5. So please tell me again, what’s the war about?

By William Blum

When facts are inconvenient, when international law, human rights and history get in the way, when war crimes can’t easily be justified or explained away, when logic doesn’t help much, the current crop of American political leaders turns to what is now the old reliable: 9/11.

We have to fight in Afghanistan because . . . somehow . . . it’s tied into what happened on September 11, 2001. Here’s Vice-President Joe Biden: “We know that it was from the space that joins Afghanistan and Pakistan that the attacks of 9/11 occurred.” <1>

Here’s Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC): “This is the place we were attacked from 9/11.” <2>

snip

Never mind that out of the tens of thousands of people the United States and its NATO front have killed in Afghanistan, not one has been identified as having had anything to do with the events of September 11, 2001.

Never mind that the “plot to kill Americans” in 2001 was devised in Germany and Spain and the United States more than in Afghanistan. Why hasn’t Washington bombed those countries?

snip

There are many people in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- the ones still living -- who deeply resent the US presence there and the drones that fly overhead and drop bombs on their houses, their wedding parties, their funerals, their life. As in Iraq, the American “war on terrorism” in Afghanistan regularly, routinely, and conspicuously creates numerous new anti-American terrorists.

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_6194.shtml

[Liberation Angel]

8. +1

[sabrina 1]

9. I think it was always clear that 9/11 was just an excuse

to go there. The plans were already made which is why it was possible to get there so fast.

What is sad is that we could have had so much influence there had we chosen diplomacy as a means of communication, not bombs. The Taliban wanted recognition very badly at that time. Conditions could have laid out under which they could have worked towards it.

Now, we have set back that region of the world by centuries and it is the people there who will pay the most.

[Hissyspit]

6. kick nt

[Liberation Angel]

7. K&R I just put this on my favorites at my LiberationAngels youtube site

www.Youtube.com/user/LiberationAngels

Take a look around when you get there.

More is coming.

Check the comments section for a link which helps explain the site then take a stroll through the playlists, favorites and archives and please subscribe or friend me.

It is a work in progress and if there are videos you think i should add please PM me or send a comment.

Thanks for this post. This is probably THE most important and pressing issue facing us as citizens.

Can we continue to support policies which are basically a continuation of a Nazi mentality and the useless and murderous "hearts and minds" socalled strategies which are really just murder, inc for the most powerful global elites?

[sabrina 1]

10. I agree with you that this is one of the most important issues,

if not the most important. It defines this country, 'a continuation of a Nazi menatlity'. Yes, that is what it is. 'Collateral Damage' is all these people are to many Americans. You see it said even on this board.

I really hate that phrase. It allows those who wish to excuse these war crimes to not have to deal with the awful reality of what they are responsible for.

The father in the transcript I linked to above lost his two year old daughter. Do any of these politicians have children of their own and how can they kiss them goodnight while supporting the slaughter of children no less loved or cherished?

As long as America is okay with this being done in their name, it is easy to understand their acceptance of the brutality of the police here, the refusal to provide healthcare for all Americans, the willingness to accept over 44,000 deaths a year of American citizens who do not have adequate health care.

And now, the proposal to cut back the pittance that the elderly rely on for survival while the wealthy grow richer.

If Americans keep taking it, nothing will change.

[Liberation Angel]

11. Collateral Damage is just a fancy word for murder

Dead is dead.

If I shoot at a bad guy recklessly and kill an innocent my recklessness makes the act criminal.

But the fact is that as policiy Obama is supporting a policiy which condones the murder of civilians.

Some may not call it murder because (its an accident and we are trying to kill bad guys), But the whole war itself is immoral and reckless and stupid and a waste.

The war itself is unjustified and counterprofuctive.

It is just PNAC running the show and apparentlt running Obama to boot.

I really like Obama. But I hate this and he is completely wrong on many of these policies.

But once one is convinced the war is "justifiable" then the murder of civilians becomes "justifiable" cause that is just the way war is.

It is a sickness., It is criminally insane imho.