Posted on 09/04/2009 9:58:46 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Nato has promised a full investigation into an air strike on two fuel tankers that killed up to 90 people in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province.
The alliance said many Taliban insurgents who had hijacked the tankers were killed but it admitted it had reports of many civilian casualties.
The Nato-led forces said they regretted "any unnecessary loss of human life".
President Hamid Karzai said targeting civilians was "unacceptable" and announced his own investigation panel.
A statement from his office said the president expressed "deep sorrow for the loss of our compatriots" and "emphasised that innocent civilians must not be killed or wounded during military operations". Sensitive issue
Gen Stanley McChrystal, issued new guidelines recently saying much more still needed to be done to avoid civilian casualties.
If it emerges that a number of civilians have been killed then that will obviously be very disappointing to Nato. The issue of civilian casualties caused by international military action is extremely sensitive here. It has caused great anger. It is something military commanders have said they are determined to clamp down on, because they say if they win territory and not the people then they are not doing their job.
Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said an investigation had been launched.
"Certainly, a number of Taliban were killed. There is also the possibility of civilian casualties as well." He added: "Civilian casualties caused by Isaf are down over 95% from last year's levels. But, as we all know, in conflicts like these, mistakes can happen. In this case, let us now see what the investigation concludes." European governments expressed concern at the scale of civilian casualties in Kunduz and urged a prompt investigation.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Leftist response: *crickets*
Maybe we should now all go anti-war and finish off his presidency.
The talibs are civilians who base themselves among civilians and launch their attacks from among civilians, and when they aren’t killing soldiers they are killing their fellow civilians. They see no distinction between civilian and military.
It is impossible to fight such an enemy without killing civilians. If you are going to let that hamstring you, then you may as well surrender now. The only way to fight such people is to recognize the tragic nature of what you have to do, to exercise such prudence as you can, but get on with it. Understand that these civilian deaths are the fault of the talibs who use them as shields, they are not your fault. The quicker you wipe out the talibs, the more merciful you are in the long run and the sooner peace comes.
If you do not have the stomach for this fight you have already lost. The cruel win because the only people with the strength to stop them don’t have the grit to stop them.
To kill the terrorists, you have to be a terrorist.
Correction: Leftist AND CONSERVATIVE response: *crickets*
Obama can do whatever he wants in foreign policy and neither leftists nor conservatives have the courage to stop him.
And the sooner the civies get sick of being human shields and start their own “antics” on the Taliban...like what happened to AlQaeda in Iraq....
Good morning Viet Nom!
“We’ve got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we’re not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there.”
—Barak Obama, August 2007
There is blood money payed out on any “innocent” deaths. This is a big part of the reason they claim civilian deaths.
Where is Code Pink and Cindy Sheehan? Waiting...waiting....
I have a question. Were the Taliban members in uniform?? If not, how the h@ll are you going to be able to tell who was Taliban and who were “civilians” since all were supposedly burned beyond recognition.
The Left will rationalize any use of force if it is sanctioned by their own leaders and oppose any use of force if it sanctioned by their opponents.
It's all perfectly consistent.
Cindy Sheehan was up in Martha's Vineyard somewhere nearly Obama's residence. The drive-by media decided not to cover her protest.
...an air strike on two fuel tankers that killed up to 90 people in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province. The alliance said many Taliban insurgents who had hijacked the tankers were killed...I guess the bad news is, Karzai wasn't one of them.
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