Deeply, Deeply Ashamed - Or Not

US and NATO forces in Afghanistan have to stop killing so damned many civilians.

A US Army Colonel did the latest mea culpa today, meeting with and apologizing to the families of 19-dead and 50-wounded Afghans mowed down when a force of Marines opened up on the locals in response to a suicide bomber.

These incidents are happening with such regularity that it's nearly impossible to keep track of them. There is, however, an ugly pattern to them. Word first leaks out from local Afghan officials angry at the needless deaths of innocent civilians. Our military then responds claiming the dead were Taliban but they'll investigate. Weeks or months later there's an admission that most of the dead were innocents who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time but, hey, don't worry - we gave their families $2,000 per corpse so everything's cool. We'll do better next time, for sure.

Afghan officials assert that, in an incident earlier this month, dozens of civilians were killed after a joint American and Afghan Army patrol was ambushed near Shindand and called in airstrikes. About 40 civilians, including women and children, were killed and 50 were wounded in the attacks, officials from Herat Province have told reporters.

Who's to blame? It's easy to condemn the soldiers in the field, much too easy in fact. They're not responsible for the decision to deploy them in such paltry numbers that they're constantly vulnerable to suicide bombers and ambushes. They're not responsible for being thrown into conditions where their very survival often depends on calling in artillery or air strikes on residential areas.

Lamentably, it's the soldiers who are "deeply, deeply ashamed" at this carnage, not the suits in Washington, London and Ottawa who are pulling the strings.

Let's see - we've got President Karzai pissed off, we've got the Afghan Senate pissed off, we've got the people thoroughly pissed off at us and at the government we're propping up. Guess who's not pissed off? That, of course, would be the Taliban.