Posted on 10/03/2015 11:41:33 AM PDT by Altariel
KABUL – U.S. forces may have mistakenly bombed a hospital in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least 19 people, including three children, in an incident that will likely raise new questions about the scope of American involvement in the country’s 14-year war.
In a statement, Doctors Without Borders said an airstrike “partially destroyed” its trauma hospital in Kunduz, where the Afghan military has been trying to drive Taliban fighters from the city.
The airstrike killed at least 12 Doctors Without Borders staff members, the group said. Three children were also reportedly killed. At least 37 other people were seriously injured, including 19 staff members and 18 patients and caretakers. Officials warned the death toll could rise as dozens of people remain unaccounted for.
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The United Nations’ top human rights official also called for an independent investigation, while equating the airstrike on the hospital to a war crime.
“This event is utterly tragic, inexcusable, and possibly even criminal,” Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement.
“This deeply shocking event should be promptly, thoroughly and independently investigated and the results should be made public,” he said. “The seriousness of the incident is underlined by the fact that, if established as deliberate in a court of law, an airstrike on a hospital may amount to a war crime.”
Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter issued a statement saying: “While we are still trying to determine exactly what happened, I want to extend my thoughts and prayers to everyone affected. A full investigation into the tragic incident is underway in coordination with the Afghan government.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
While Putin is killing ISIS, Obama is killing doctors.
War is hell. Who brought the shit to Kunduz in the first place? If these folks can hide behind civilians, then there’s no stopping them until there are no civilians left. No more sheep, no place to hide.
That’s right. Who cares what Yahweh thinks? The ends justify the means!
</sarc>
I agree. What are "Doctors Without Borders" doing in a war zone in the first place? It seems to me these "Doctors Without Borders" deliberately establish themselves in war zones where America is fighting in order to get in the way of and impede American military operations. I have no sympathy for them.
It’s those durn ICD 10 codes... It’s confusing for everyone. Mandatory effective 10/1.
I love you (not in that sense!!). When are people going to wake up?
Some years ago, I found myself in a Doctors Without Borders field aid station in Chad. I was being treated by a Lady Belgian doctor. Some joker in the embassy thought I was having a heart attack. So, over my protests, the Admin Officer ordered me to go with a driver to their aid station. She told me to take off my shirt and when she saw my bypass scar, she wanted to call for an aeromedevac. I said no way and left. I had been laying on a filthy sheet, covered in blood stains. This was at the onset of AIDS, and I was in Central Africa. Doctors do a good job but only to sew your head back on your neck until you can get medevaced.
My son, who shall remain nameless, but is the "Ace" in "Ace's Dad" is there and wrote this to me several hours ago. He flies (legally) in the area, that's all I can say.
He writes: "Those docs are behind enemy lines. They are treating the Taliban. Fuck em, comforting and aiding the enemy. The Taliban just went through Kunduz raping and piliging .... ugh"
There is much more to this story than is being reported. You can maybe start with the "raping" part!
See my post #28. You are on the right track in your thinking, it seems!
And if the hospital were behind American lines, it’d be treating Anericans.
That’s what doctors do. Treat the sick and wounded. Treat rape victims. Even if sine of the patients were enemy combatants, it doesn’t follow that all patients were enemy combatants. You have pregnant women secret care, children with various diseases. A man who broke his arm trying to fix a roof.
The reality is, some kid lost his mother, father, or relative in that bombing. That kid is going to grow up in an honor/shame system and decide to avenge his honor.
He knows his father/mother/relative wasn’t a terrorist. He also knows that the attack is attributed to allied forces.
Guess where that potentially leads.
“some”, “seeking”
Not really unexpected as Obama plays one up-manship with Putin. It has been posted in recent days that Russian bombers had attacked civilian targets in Syria..............well, Obama's not going to be outdone, so we hit not just a civilian target but a hospital at that in Afghanistan............that'll show Putin!
I agree. My son was very definite on placing the blame on the Taliban.
I guess the pilots were not all white and the victims all black, so he is awaiting the results of an inquiry before jumping in ( or more likely looking for someone to pin it on in order to leave himself blameless )
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