Why, oh why, can't they figure this one out.
Trigger happy US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan are going on a spree killing civilians. You could also say they're on a massive recruiting drive - for the Taliban.
Yesterday following a suicide bomber attack, American troops opened fire on a group of civilians, mowing down 16 of them. The US military admits that after first claiming they victims were likely killed by insurgent gunfire.
Today - well today they're killing kids. The way the US military spokesman puts it, they spotted two guys with guns going into a house so they called in an airstrike on the place.
They called in massive firepower on a residence without knowing who was inside because they "saw" or thought they saw a couple of men with guns in a country where people just tend to have guns.
The airstrike killed 5 adults and 4 children between the ages of 6-months and 5-years.
The US military admits the aircraft dropped two, TWO THOUSAND POUND BOMBS, on the residence. What in God's name is anyone thinking when dropping two, one-ton bombs in a residential area? These are "area weapons." They kill everyone - innocent or suspect - within their huge blast area.
If this is the way we - and our allies - are going to conduct this war, it's time we got out because we have lost the moral high ground we like to boast about so much. This isn't warfare, it's butchery. Gunning down civilians in the street, blowing up kids in their homes. If those were our townspeople lying dead in the street and our kids' corpses in the rubble of their home, how do you think we would react?
We all have to share some part of this. Our leaders are determined to wage this war on the cheap. We don't have a fraction of the troops needed for this job. That both increases their vulnerability and limits their options when they do fight back. We're using the indiscriminate overkill of aerial bombardment because it's comparatively cheap and we don't care enough about these civilians to do this job properly.
Remember, this is a war for the "hearts and minds" of the Afghan people. What goes through those hearts and minds when word of these atrocities gets out, and it quickly does? Is this a preview of how we're going to fight the Taliban's spring offensive this year, by waging our war against insurgent and civilian alike?
Just in case you're curious, here's some information on the Mk. 84, 2000-pound bomb used on this house:
The Mk. 84 (pictured above) carries 945 lb of Tritonal, high explosive. It is capable of forming a crater 50-feet wide and 36-feet deep. It generates lethal fragmentation to a radius of 400-yards.
Let's do the math. Anything standing within a 2,400 foot diameter circle of this bomb can be killed. A 50-foot wide crater, 36-feet deep is pretty much going to obliterate a mud house and everyone inside. Now, try dropping two of these.
Trigger happy US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan are going on a spree killing civilians. You could also say they're on a massive recruiting drive - for the Taliban.
Yesterday following a suicide bomber attack, American troops opened fire on a group of civilians, mowing down 16 of them. The US military admits that after first claiming they victims were likely killed by insurgent gunfire.
Today - well today they're killing kids. The way the US military spokesman puts it, they spotted two guys with guns going into a house so they called in an airstrike on the place.
They called in massive firepower on a residence without knowing who was inside because they "saw" or thought they saw a couple of men with guns in a country where people just tend to have guns.
The airstrike killed 5 adults and 4 children between the ages of 6-months and 5-years.
The US military admits the aircraft dropped two, TWO THOUSAND POUND BOMBS, on the residence. What in God's name is anyone thinking when dropping two, one-ton bombs in a residential area? These are "area weapons." They kill everyone - innocent or suspect - within their huge blast area.
If this is the way we - and our allies - are going to conduct this war, it's time we got out because we have lost the moral high ground we like to boast about so much. This isn't warfare, it's butchery. Gunning down civilians in the street, blowing up kids in their homes. If those were our townspeople lying dead in the street and our kids' corpses in the rubble of their home, how do you think we would react?
We all have to share some part of this. Our leaders are determined to wage this war on the cheap. We don't have a fraction of the troops needed for this job. That both increases their vulnerability and limits their options when they do fight back. We're using the indiscriminate overkill of aerial bombardment because it's comparatively cheap and we don't care enough about these civilians to do this job properly.
Remember, this is a war for the "hearts and minds" of the Afghan people. What goes through those hearts and minds when word of these atrocities gets out, and it quickly does? Is this a preview of how we're going to fight the Taliban's spring offensive this year, by waging our war against insurgent and civilian alike?
Just in case you're curious, here's some information on the Mk. 84, 2000-pound bomb used on this house:
The Mk. 84 (pictured above) carries 945 lb of Tritonal, high explosive. It is capable of forming a crater 50-feet wide and 36-feet deep. It generates lethal fragmentation to a radius of 400-yards.
Let's do the math. Anything standing within a 2,400 foot diameter circle of this bomb can be killed. A 50-foot wide crater, 36-feet deep is pretty much going to obliterate a mud house and everyone inside. Now, try dropping two of these.
Makes me think of an abusive father, beating his kid with a baseball bat, telling the kid "it is for your own good" and "you made me do it".
ReplyDeleteSick.