... and on ...

... and on ...

I particularly would like to direct your attention to how the indiscriminate fire and deletion of photographic evidence is "a result of the Taliban extremists’ cowardly act", as well to the glorious expression of the Afghan Democracy, as evidenced by the chants of: "Death to America! Death to Karzai".

Ain't progress grand?

[ 04 March 2007: Message edited by: IgnoramusMaximus ]

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“We regret the death of innocent Afghan citizens as a result of the Taliban extremists’ cowardly act,” Lt. Col. David Accetta, a military spokesman, said in the statement.

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In fact, as the article makes clear, the 16 Afghani civilians were not killed by the suicide bomber, but by vengeful members of the "elite" Marine Special Operations Forces firing indiscriminately into the civilian population.

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Yet some of the wounded interviewed in the hospital by news agencies said the only shooting came from the American troops. A hospital official, who asked not to be named, said all the wounded were suffering from bullet wounds and not shrapnel from the bomb explosion....

“They were firing everywhere, and they even opened fire on 14 to 15 vehicles passing on the highway,” said Tur Gul, 38, who was standing on the roadside by a gas station and was shot twice in his right hand. “They opened fire on everybody, the ones inside the vehicles and the ones on foot.”

Some of the wounded interviewed by The Associated Press said the soldiers opened fire indiscriminately on passing cars and pedestrians on the busy main road.

“When we parked our vehicle, when they passed us, they opened fire on our vehicle,” said 15-year-old Mohammad Ishaq, who was hit by two bullets, in his left arm and his right ear. “It was a convoy of three American Humvees. All three Humvees were firing around.”

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[ 04 March 2007: Message edited by: M. Spector ]

BTW, I was editing my post while you beat me to this "its all the Taliban's fault!" gem (Babble always makes me do millions of re-edits due to lack of any sort of "preview" feature).

[ 04 March 2007: Message edited by: IgnoramusMaximus ]

quote:

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Originally posted by M. Spector:
Later news reports are saying the death toll is only half of what was reported initially. Let's wait and see.

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I wonder if this has anything to do with that "Delete the pictures or we will delete you" conversatoion that AP reporter had with the friendly Marine Peace Makers ...

I would hypothetise, that it is just within the realm of the possible, that perheaps they presented the same kind of proposition to "the officials", which would explain why those in turn offered "no explanation" for the change in numbers ....

[ 04 March 2007: Message edited by: IgnoramusMaximus ]

- March 4, 2007: U.S. Marines fleeing a suicide bombing and militant ambush open fire on a busy highway in eastern Afghanistan, witnesses said. Officials say up to 10 civilians were killed and 35 injured. The Interior Ministry says American gunfire caused most of the casualties; U.S. officials say they are still sorting through the chain of events but that the suicide bombing or militant gunfire could have been responsible.

- Feb. 27, 2007: Canadian troops in Kandahar shot and killed a civilian who drove too close to their convoy, police said.

- Oct. 26, 2006: Between 30 and 80 civilians were killed during NATO airstrikes in Panjwayi, a volatile district in southern Afghanistan, according to the Afghan government and villagers. NATO said its preliminary inquiry found 12 civilian deaths.

- Oct. 18, 2006: Airstrikes by NATO helicopters hunting Taliban fighters destroyed three dried-mud homes in Ashogho, in southern Afghanistan, as villagers slept, killing 13 people, police said.

- July 10, 2006: U.S. military said more than 40 Taliban were killed in an airstrike in Tirin Kot. Residents said at least four civilians died.

- May 21, 2006: U.S. warplanes hunting Taliban fighters bombed a religious school and mud-brick homes in the village of Azizi in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 16 civilians, according to local officials.

- April 15, 2006: A U.S. airstrike aimed at militants holed up in eastern Kunar province killed seven civilians, the military said.

- April 30, 2005: Three civilians died in airstrikes that targeted Taliban militants, the U.S. military said.

- July 1, 2005: A U.S. airstrike on a house in eastern Afghanistan killed as many as 17, including women and children, provincial officials said. The U.S. military confirmed some civilians died in the strike.

- Jan. 17, 2004: An American airstrike on a village in Uruzgan province kills 10 civilians, including women and children, according to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

-Dec. 6, 2003: The U.S. military said an airstrike intended to target a Taliban commander killed nine children in an Afghan mountain village in eastern Ghazni province. The attack occurred the day after another strike on a suspected militant's compound in eastern Paktia province set off secondary explosions that killed six children.

-April 9, 2003: A U.S. warplane, called in to support allied Afghans under fire near the Pakistani border, mistakenly bombarded a home instead, killing 11 civilians.

-July 1, 2002: A U.S. airstrike killed 48 people during a wedding in attacks on five villages in Uruzgan province, Afghan officials said. A U.S. investigative report later confirmed 34 dead.

quote:

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Thousands of people gathered to demonstrate against the shooting, shouting "Death to America, Death to Karzai", referring to the Afghan president, and blaming the US patrol for shooting passers-by.

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quote:

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Deadly riots shook Kabul last May after American troops were involved in a fatal car crash and then opened fire on the crowd.

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This is the numbers the Dr from the hospital reported:

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Among the dead this morning were a woman and two children in their early teens, said Dr. Ajmal Pardez, the provincial director of health, speaking by telephone from the Jalalabad city hospital. He said the hospital received 10 dead and 25 wounded people from the incident, with four people in critical condition, he said.

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Does his count mean the 10 dead they received, plus the woman and 2 children? And of course, there could have been those who were dead that went straight to the morgue.

It is still marching ...

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The strike hit a civilian home, killing four women, four children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years, and one elderly man, said Gulam Nabi, a relative of the victims.

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So fast in fact that it is starting to be difficult to keep up.

But fear not!

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Both times, the U.S military blamed militants for putting innocent lives in danger.

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At least it is all their (them, there, Islamunistofascist insurgents) fault!

[ 05 March 2007: Message edited by: IgnoramusMaximus ]

39 Killed in Action
5 Accidental deaths
171 Wounded in Action
83 Non-Battle Injured (including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other mental and psychological afflictions)

43% of those wounded in action were serious enough to require evacuation to the US Army medical hospital in Landstuhl, Germany; the vast majority of those were presumably among the 42% of WIA's who were sent back to Canada as unfit to continue in Afghanistan.

Fully one-third of all casualties (100) were suffered in the month of September, 2006, including 10 killed and 71 wounded in action (29 of them seriously enough to be sent to Germany for treatment and then back to Canada).

We tend to focus on the death toll, but for every soldier killed there are 2 others psychologically damaged and 4 or 5 others physically injured. While 44 bodies (up to last November) have been repatriated to Canada, more than twice that many wounded (102) have been sent home with physical or psychological injuries that render then unable to return to battle.

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In a lengthy 2003 analysis, military medical authorities conceded that the Canadian Forces have been faced with a "declining capability" to deal with soldiers' mental health issues even while there's been a "steady and significant increase in the prevalence of mental health conditions among CF members."
....

A rigorous screening protocol for mental illness was introduced in 2003 after senior army officers voiced concern that soldiers with mental health problems were being deployed overseas.
....

Dr. [Mark] Zamorski [head of the military's deployment health section in Ottawa], however, points out there are serious risks to keeping mentally ill soldiers in a combat scenario, which is why detection and treatment are so important. "Is there somebody who's died in Afghanistan because they weren't paying attention because they were mentally ill? It's possible . . . it is even likely."

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There were nearly 40 causalities on the 4th of September 2006, friendly fire incident however I believe that nearly half of the returned to duty within a few weeks.

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Washington and Ottawa keep telling us how well things are going in Afghanistan. But Vice-President Dick Cheney's brief visit there last week showed just the opposite.

Cheney arrived at Bagram air base, formerly the nerve centre for the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Today, it plays the same role for the U.S. occupation. A suicide bomber attacked the base's main gate, killing 22 and hugely embarrassing Cheney. Worse, the 60-km "secure" highway between Bagram and Kabul has become so dangerous that Cheney had to fly into Kabul on a U.S. Air Force transport to meet with the American-installed figurehead leader, Hamid Karzai.

Anti-Western forces are quickly gaining ground in Afghanistan. What Washington and Ottawa keep claiming is an "anti-terrorist operation" against a handful of al-Qaida fighters and Taliban has, in fact, turned into fast-growing Afghan national resistance to foreign occupation. Were it not for the U.S. Air Force's might and ubiquitous presence, U.S., Canadian, and British troops would soon be driven from southern Afghanistan.

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The foreign presence in Afghanistan was initially popular. But due to indiscriminate bombings and other mistakes, you've lost the high ground and turned the public against you. The current policy will continue to radicalize society and increase violence. There's no military solution, take it from me – I am a tribal person.

Initiate backdoor political and diplomatic moves with the resistance groups who are not hard-core Taliban. Develop a level of accommodation.

Then introduce a development package, and purchase all the opium for pharmaceutical purposes. Deny the land for opium cultivation. Unless you stop the narcotics, the Taliban won't come to the table.

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Governor-General makes surprise Afghan trip
JOE FRIESEN

Globe and Mail Update

KANDAHAR — Governor-General Michaëlle Jean, Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian military, arrived at Kandahar airfield Thursday, hours after meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a group of Afghan women in Kabul.

She was greeted upon arrival at the base by Brigadier-General Tim Grant, commander of Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

Ms. Jean, who is making her first visit to Afghanistan, chose to arrive in this country on International Women's Day as an expression of solidarity with Afghan women.

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Originally posted by siren:
I really debated where to put this story -- Governor General Michaëlle Jean has finally succeeded in visiting troops in Afghanistan. Also, she has tied her visit to International Women's Day:

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Isn't there a forum called "For Sale"? That might have been an appropriate place to put this story.

She should get herself a weapon, get into the front lines, and show a fine example to "our troops" as to how to kill Taliban. May she reign in peace.

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Originally posted by unionist:
God, the depths people will sink to for $$$.

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quote:

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Originally posted by siren:
Also, she has tied her visit to International Women's Day

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In actual fact, the oppression of women in Afghanistan is not being caused by our "enemies" (the Taliban) but by our "friends", the warlords and criminals who run the puppet government in Kabul.

Ironically, Jean's speech to Afghani women must have been a huge embarrassment to Karzai; and one wonders whether the norms of diplomacy would allow for the acting head of some other state to come to Canada and give a speech about how rotten we are being treated by the Harpocons.

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Originally posted by siren:

The GG is profiting from her visit to Afghanistan?

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Much worse than that. The immigrant woman of colour has landed a very high-paying respectable job where all she has to do to keep earning her fortune is to keep spouting Harper's foul warmongering shit.

That's why the words "For Sale" leap to one's lips.

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Originally posted by M. Spector:
It's a cynical ploy to help Canada's New Government™ sell the war to us as a war of women's liberation.

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quote:

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Originally posted by unionist:
Much worse than that. The immigrant woman of colour has landed a very high-paying respectable job where all she has to do to keep earning her fortune is to keep spouting Harper's foul warmongering shit.

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Perhaps. But Jean has been agitating to visit Afghanistan for quite some time now. Perhaps she simply sees some historical continuity with the last GG, perhaps she believes it is part of her duty to "support the troops" -- and it is.

A while back when Harper was trotting Karzai around Ottawa in support of the deployment, Jean (who had been sidelined) threw a banquet for Karzai, to which she also invited development officials and dug (reportedly) for information on reconstruction. It seems only The Toronto Star reported on it and her actions were hailed here at babble.

Harper most certainly finally saw the opportunity to use the GG (whom he so egregiously sidelined in the Harper/Karzai review of the troops on Canadian soil) for propaganda purposes. I am not sure that those are Jean's purposes in going to Afghanistan. (Although her tour of Haiti, post canadian involvement, gives me pause.)

quote:

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originally posted by M. Spector:
Ironically, Jean's speech to Afghani women must have been a huge embarrassment to Karzai; and one wonders whether the norms of diplomacy would allow for the acting head of some other state to come to Canada and give a speech about how rotten we are being treated by the Harpocons.

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I interpreted her speech as one of solidarity with and hope for the women of Afghanistan.

Although the speech itself was just -- painful. Yet this part was good:

quote:

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But I have spoken enough.

I would much prefer to hear from you.

And let us not forget, on this festive day, the Tajik proverb– roughly translated–that says "the work of one woman is worth more than the views of one hundred men."

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[ 08 March 2007: Message edited by: siren ]

quote:

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Originally posted by siren:
I interpreted her speech as one of solidarity with and hope for the women of Afghanistan.

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But her words are a clear condemnation of the oppression of women by Afghani society:

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I know, I know you face very harsh realities.

I know that some young women see suicide as their only escape from unbearable situations, to the point of setting themselves on fire.

I know that the women of Afghanistan have one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world.

I know that less than 10 per cent of Afghani women give birth with a qualified person present, and that these dangerous conditions are responsible for over 50 per cent of the deaths of Afghani women of child-bearing age.

And as a mother, it pains me to know that the infant mortality rate in Afghanistan is close to 20 per cent.

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quote:

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Originally posted by M. Spector:
How could this not be an embarrassnment to Karzai?

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Well, Karzai has only had some 6 years to set it all right ...btw, I believe Karzai's wife is a soviet trained obstetrician -- why I wonder is she not practicing?

quote:

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Originally posted by siren:
As for the list of Afghan ails, I too wonder why Jean listed them; to show that she is dealing with reality and not fantasy?

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Women in Afghanistan

Errors in Afghanistan

quote:

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A U.S. Marine unit that shot its way out of a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan last month violated international humanitarian law by using excessive force that left 12 civilians dead, a report released Saturday said.

Following the March 4 attack in Nangahar province, when an explosives-rigged minivan crashed into a convoy of Marines, the unit shot at vehicles and pedestrians in six different locations while driving along a 10-mile stretch of road, according to a report by Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission.

A U.S. military commander also determined that Marines used excessive force, and he referred the case for possible criminal inquiry.

The group's report was based on interviews with victims and their families, eyewitnesses, local community leaders, local and regional hospitals, as well as police.

"At least 12 people were killed and another 35 injured by the shooting, including several women and children," the 11-page AIHRC report said. "In failing to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets the U.S. Marines Corps Special Forces employed indiscriminate force," AIHRC said.

"Their actions thus constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law standards."

U.S. military officials said after the incident that the suicide attack was part of complex ambush, that included militant gunmen shooting at Marines, which may have caused some of the civilian casualties.

"There is some evidence at the immediate site of the incident to support this claim, but it is far from conclusive and all witnesses and Afghan government officials interviewed uniformly denied that any attack beyond the initial (suicide car bombing) took place," the report said.

AHIRC alleges that U.S. troops, serving with NATO-led International Security Assistance Force returned to the area after the bombing for an investigation and a cleanup operation, which involved removal of all bullet shells and cartridges.

AIHRC interviewed a member of Afghanistan's National Police criminal investigations office who said that his unit "made a full observation, 2.5 kilometers around the site of the incident, but ... ISAF forces had collected all shells, magazines, cartridges from the spot and we could not find any trace or sign of them."

The U.S. military officials were not immediately available to comment on the allegation.

The initial military investigation of the incident concluded that the Marines' response was "out of proportion to the threat that was immediately there," a senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday in Washington.

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I am in shock and awe that there is anyone who believes that with activities such as these by all of the Western troops (to varying degree) going on for years now there remains still any chance of achieving anything which one could label as "progress" without snickering and fits of histerical laughter.

Oh I mean I know there is another kind of "progress" possible .... one involving fattening wallets of cronies, lobbyists and military contractors at our expense.

Or am I wrong and webgear and other resident pro-afghanistan mission soldiers around here will enlighten us as to how 100 main battle tanks designed to fight WWIII will aid them in improving women's rights, building schools, reducing poverty, stamping out crime, creating viable crop altenatives to opium and otherwise helping out the Afghanis in their daily lives in an effort to win their "hearts and minds" from the Taliban.

I mean of course 100 used main battle tanks, with which the Europeans had no idea what to do ever since the Cold War ended, until some clever opportunist came up with a brilliant plan to get rid of them to the idiot Harperites. And presto! Lobbyists and contractor cronies paid to the tune of $650 million, Europeans' useless junk offloaded and O'Connor's future appontment to an executive position in some multi-national arms pusher guaranteed.

And what about Canadian taxpayers? Well, for all that money at least we gonna get us some neato pictures of these Leopards' blown-up remains rusting alongside all those Soviet T-80s as some sort of transcendental monument to limitless hubris and colossal stupidity for the future generations to marvel at.

[ 15 April 2007: Message edited by: IgnoramusMaximus ]