NATO Forces in Afghanistan Can't Deny They Killed Civilians in Sangin Anymore

[robdogbucky]

Exclusive, on-the-ground interviews obtained by Brave New Foundation's Rethink Afghanistan project confirm what NATO forces repeatedly denied: U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan killed dozens of people in the Sangin District of Helmand Province on July 23.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's office first acknowledged the incident when they condemned the killings on July 26. At that time, the Afghan National Directorate of Security claimed that the American-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) killed "52 civilians...including women and children" in a "rocket attack." (The Kabul government later revised that tally to 39.) By Sunday, August 1, there were protests in the streets of Kabul.

ISAF immediately attacked the credibility of the Afghan government's report, complaining bitterly of Karzai's decision to condemn the incident without conferring with U.S. and allied forces...

...When asked to explain the discrepancy between his tally and that of the Afghan government, the unnamed official cited "political challenges," as if "political challenges" account for a 33-person difference in the death tallies. This explanation reminds one of the Gardez massacre earlier this year, when ISAF tried to pass off its blatant lie about an American special forces team finding women "bound, gagged and executed" as a "cultural misunderstanding," when in fact they'd killed the women themselves and tried to dig the bullets out while one of them was still alive, screaming in pain. In effect, this unnamed source accused Afghan locals and officials of lying about civilian deaths because of hard feelings between them and the coalition..."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/derrick-crowe/us-and-allied-forced-kill_b_672987.html

Transcripts of those Afghan citizens interviewed are available at: http://rethinkafghanistan.com




So, we kill innocents over there so we don't have to kill them here?





Hands off my Social Security!
Hands off Latin America!





rdb

[robdogbucky]

1. Did you know?

This incident is more than a moral outrage: it shows why the Afghanistan War undermines our safety. Thanks to the work of the National Bureau of Economic Research, we know that, statistically speaking, every time an incident like this happens, we can expect an additional six attacks on coalition forces.




Just my dos centavos


robdogbucky