Posted on 01/23/2002 2:31:34 PM PST by kattracks
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KABUL Relatives of people killed in the September 11 attacks in the US yesterday handed over compensation claims by Afghan civilians who were victims of Washington's retaliatory bombing campaign.
The handover of the claims to US officials was the culmination of an eightday visit to Afghanistan by four Americans who lost family members when terrorists rammed jetliners into the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon, killing more than 3000 people. Kelly Campbell whose brother-in-law Craig Amundson was killed in the Pentagon attack, said the group had met dozens of Afghan victims since they arrived in the country. "We've met with people who have lost their loved ones to the US bombing, we've met children who've lost limbs to US cluster bombs, people whose homes were destroyed, who have no income, nowhere to go ... and do not know what to do next," she told reporters. "The US government needs to take responsibility for the direct effect on these people's lives," she added. "We owe it to them to do what we can to help them rebuild their homes and give their children health care and an education so they can get on with their lives." Among those making a claim was Harafa Ahmad, who lost eight members of her family when her home was hit by a wayward bomb on November 7. The US began waging the war on October 7 to flush out Osama bin Laden, the Saudi dissident believed to have masterminded the September 11 atrocities, and to help topple the Taliban regime which sheltered him. The head of the Global Exchange nongovernmental organisation which organised the visit, Medea Benjamin, handed over the claims from 12 families to the commanding officer of the US Marines in Kabul, Captain Ferral Sullivan, at the US embassy here. She said there had been precedents in Lebanon, Grenada and Panama for Washington paying compensation to families of people accidently killed in US bombing campaigns. The 12 families making the claims, she added, were not angry at the US and accepted the bombings of civilians had been unintended. They were also pleased the campaign had resulted in the Taliban's ouster. "But they feel they were (also) innocent victims of September 11 and they have such great need and nowhere to turn." Benjamin said one study had indicated that at least 4000 civilians were killed in the bombings. Members of Global Exchange would stay in Afghanistan for several months in a bid to get a more accurate picture of the effect of the bombings on civilians. Those returning to the US would urge Washington to create a compensation fund for Afghan victims, she said. Rita Laser whose brother died on the 24th floor of the World Trade Centre, said that witnessing first-hand the results of the US bombings had made her "mad as hell." Sapa-AFP. Jan 23 2002 12:00:00:000AM Business Day 1st Edition |
Any funds found in banks the belong to OSBL should also be divided amoung all the victims American and Afghan.
You might check this link:link
Moral equivalence has often trumped the idea of the just war in the media coverage of our bombing campaign in Afghanistan. We have listened to suggestions that we are “killing babies.” In fact, we do know that thousands of innocent civilians were murdered on September 11, but we do not have sure knowledge of how many Afghani citizens have been killed from the air by misplaced American bombs, Taliban shells falling back among their citizens, or Taliban executions and terrorism against their own people. We do know that it was the deliberate policy of the Taliban to put their combatants among mosques, hospitals, and schools to ensure their survival out of the expectation that Americans, unlike them, would not deliberately kill civilians. If our enemies know that moral difference, why do not our own citizens?
The dead, of course, are the dead, and their loss is tragic. But there is a difference, a very moral difference, between deliberately targeting civilians in peace and deliberately trying not to in war.
This is not the same as aiming civilian jetliners at civilian targets with no warning.
Global Exchange is a San Francisco guilt liberal group. The demeanor of the trip, via its reporting, was to highlight American guilt and blame. The american relatives of WTC victims were dupes. Note the whole demeanor of the trip was focused on alleged victims of American bombing, rather than sympathizing on a variety of compelling issues.
I have little doubt that "Medea" suggested and cajoled the Afghans to make "claims", probably had ready-made claim forms, all with the target of a Media friendly confrontation with an American authority where the claims were handed over. Apparently her group will be there for many months to highlight America's perceived faults.
Keep an eye on this group's future propaganda.
Have the names and home towns of these useful idiots been made public?
I think ridicule and ostracism is the best remedy for blatant cluelessness.
Their 15 minutes of fame is more important than the feelings of the other 3000 victims.
Had they gone quietly and anonymously on their trip of moral superiority I would have admired them and their memory.
Having Done it for the publicity of some "green" losers has earned them nothing but my contempt.
Uh, right. I suppose her visit to Afghanistan would have been more pleasant if we hadn't done anything and the Taliban/Al Qaeda were still in charge.
Being related to a terror attack victim obviously isn't a guarantee of basic intelligence.
Imal
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