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Obama just air-raiding villages and killing civilians

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by basso, May 7, 2009.

  1. basso

    basso Contributing Member
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    Red Cross says dozens of Afghans killed in US raid

    [rquoter]KABUL (AP) -- Villagers dug dirt graves Wednesday to bury what the international Red Cross said were dozens of Afghans - including women and children - killed in American bombing runs. A former Afghan government official at the site of the blasts said up to 120 people may have died.

    Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. "deeply, deeply" regretted the loss of innocent life, and the U.S. military dispatched a brigadier general to investigate the deaths in two villages in western Afghanistan's Farah province.

    The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David McKiernan, voiced doubts about whether it was an American airstrike that caused the tragedy.

    McKiernan said U.S. military personnel had come to the aid of Afghan forces who may have been ambushed by Taliban militants on Sunday. He said the Taliban beheaded three civilians, perhaps to lure police.

    "We have some other information that leads us to distinctly different conclusions about the cause of the civilian casualties," McKiernan said. He would not elaborate but said the United States was working with the Afghan government to learn the truth.

    Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the deaths "unacceptable," speaking only hours before his first face-to-face meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House. Karzai has long pleaded with the U.S. to minimize civilian deaths during its operations, contending that such killings undermine support for the fight against the Taliban.

    The number of civilians killed in Afghanistan's worsening conflict jumped 40 percent to a new high last year, though more than half of the deaths were inflicted by Taliban insurgents and other militants, the U.N. has reported. A record 2,118 civilians died from violence last year, up from 1,523 the previous year.

    Photos from the site obtained by The Associated Press showed villagers burying the dead in about a dozen fresh graves early Wednesday, while others dug through the rubble of demolished mud-brick homes.

    An international Red Cross team in Farah's Bala Baluk district on Tuesday saw "dozens of bodies in each of the two locations that we went to," said spokeswoman Jessica Barry.

    "There were bodies, there were graves, and there were people burying bodies when we were there," she said. "We do confirm women and children."

    Afghan police have said that 25 Taliban died in the fight, which began Monday and lasted until early Tuesday.

    It was unclear whether they were among the dozens of bodies witnessed by the Red Cross.

    Tribal elders called the International Committee of the Red Cross during the fighting to report civilian casualties and ask for help, Reto Stocker, head of the ICRC in Afghanistan, said.

    "We know that those killed included an Afghan Red Crescent volunteer and 13 members of his family who had been sheltering from fighting in a house that was bombed in an airstrike," said the ICRC's head of delegation in Kabul, Reto Stocker.

    A Western official said that Marine special operations forces called in the airstrikes. The U.S. troops responded to a call for help from Afghan security forces who had been attacked by Taliban militants Monday afternoon. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

    "Because of the overwhelming firepower coming in by the enemy, they called in airstrikes," said Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a U.S. military spokeswoman.

    Villagers said they gathered children, women and elderly men and put them in several compounds near the village of Gerani to keep them away from the fighting, but that those compounds were later hit by airstrikes.

    Taliban militants often take over civilian homes and launch attacks on Afghan and coalition forces. U.S. officials say the militants hope to attract U.S. airstrikes that kill civilians, thereby giving the Taliban a propaganda victory.

    After a massive case of civilian casualties in the village of Azizabad last August, McKiernan ordered forces to consider backing off from a fight if commanders thought civilians were in danger. Afghan officials and the U.N. say 90 civilians died in Azizabad; the U.S. says 33 died.

    Mohammad Nieem Qadderdan, a former district chief of Bala Buluk who visited the site of this week's battle, said 100 to 120 people were killed. If 100 civilians died in the fight, it would be deadliest case of civilian casualties since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

    "People are still looking through the rubble," Qadderdan said. "We need more people to help us. Many families left the villages, fearing other strikes."

    Provincial authorities have told villagers not to bury the bodies, but instead to line them up for the officials conducting the investigation, Qadderdan said.

    Karzai ordered an investigation, and the U.S. military sent a brigadier general to Farah to head a U.S. probe, said Col. Greg Julian, a U.S. spokesman. Afghan military and police officials were also part of the team. The team did not reach the site of the bombings Wednesday but hoped to on Thursday.

    Opening a meeting with the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan at the State Department, Clinton said any loss of innocent life was "particularly painful."

    Karzai thanked Clinton for "showing concern and regret" and said he hoped the countries "can work together to completely reduce civilian casualties in the struggle against terrorism."

    State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood said later that Clinton's remarks were offered as a gesture, before all the facts of the incident are known, because "any time there is a loss of innocent life we are going to be concerned about it, and we wanted to make that very clear."

    Kai Eide, the senior U.N. envoy in Afghanistan, said that avoiding civilian casualties is a "particularly big challenge" given the increased number of U.S. forces arriving in the country this summer.

    On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates landed in Kabul to meet with troops as the U.S. prepares to send 21,000 more forces to bolster the record 38,000 already in the country to battle an increasingly violent Taliban insurgency.[/rquoter]
     
  2. Northside Storm

    Northside Storm Contributing Member

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  3. Major

    Major Member

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    Obama just air-raiding villages and killing civilians

    He's just doing that? Nothing else? :confused:
     
  4. vlaurelio

    vlaurelio Contributing Member

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    similar to what bush did to iraq?
     
  5. Landlord Landry

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    nope. just checked Obama's twitter and it reads:

    just air-raiding villages and killing civilians.
     
  6. Air Langhi

    Air Langhi Contributing Member

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    The US foreign policy is just a failure. Its time to stop resource fighting terrorist.

    The flu is more likely to kill you than a terrorist.

    Fatty foot is more likely to kill you than a terrorist.

    Diving is more likely to kill you than a terrorist.

    Drinking is more likely to kill you than a terrorist.

    What is the point on spending billion maybe trillions of dollars on some supposed threat.
     
  7. jonjon

    jonjon Contributing Member

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    I don't know what that is, but I'm petrified by it!!! :D
     
  8. basso

    basso Contributing Member
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    a trip down memory lane.

    <object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wrW4fOGIMVY&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wrW4fOGIMVY&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object>
     
  9. glynch

    glynch Contributing Member

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    I guess Basso is going to start loving him some Obama. Killing Afghan civilians. What more could a yuppie neo-con ask for?
     
  10. glynch

    glynch Contributing Member

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    Obama and his "best and the brightest" in their hubris remind me so much of LBJ and Vietnam. :(

    .
     
  11. Space Ghost

    Space Ghost Contributing Member

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    Only if it was ok if Bush did it.
     
  12. Mulder

    Mulder Contributing Member

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    OK, that's it. I have decided to simplify my life starting now.

    Basso, texx, Trader_Jorge: Your posts are worthless to me. No value to my life whatsoever. They aren't a source of intelligence, news, or even humor anymore. Your ramblings are as useful as a crazy bum I used to pass on the street on the way to school. The only differences are 1) he was probably schizophrenic so i understand the reason for his ramblings and 2) I couldn't really ignore his screams as I passed him on the street. Luckily I have option # 2) with you guys.

    Adios.
     
  13. MoonDogg

    MoonDogg Member

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    [​IMG]
     
  14. bigtexxx

    bigtexxx Contributing Member

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    Adios, attention w****. Why you felt it was necessary to proclaim to the board that you're above reading my (and others') posts is beyond me. Just put me on ignore, it doesn't bother me a bit. You care a heck of a lot more about me than I care about you, that's for sure, brah
     
  15. MrRoboto

    MrRoboto Member

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    Cool.

    Glad I stopped by. The man who was offended when described as a self-righteous ignorant redneck showing me, through example, how it should be done.
     
  16. Mulder

    Mulder Contributing Member

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    I did as I stated in my post that I was going to. In fact I wouldn't have even know what you said if not for Mr. Roboto's quote. Your reading comprehension skills are awesome by the way.
     
  17. s land balla

    s land balla Contributing Member

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    Since when did basso start caring about Afghan civilians?
     
  18. Northside Storm

    Northside Storm Contributing Member

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    Since their deaths had political value.
     
  19. FranchiseBlade

    FranchiseBlade Contributing Member
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    I take it you are against killing civilians. So was it ok with you that Bush changed the certainty of intel needed to act from 90% to 50%? I guess Bush started the policy that it's ok to be wrong and kill civilians half the time you attack.

    I understand being upset about killing civilians. I am upset about it, and believe that more care needs to be taken. Do you agree that the policy that allowed this type of thing is wrong?
     
  20. basso

    basso Contributing Member
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    nope- just highlighting the rampant hypocrisy of O and his supporters.
     

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