U.S.-led Coalition Kills 76 Afghan Civilians-Ministry

[Purveyor]

Source: Reuters

KABUL, Aug 22 (Reuters) - U.S.-led coalition forces killed 76 Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan on Friday, most of them women and children, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.

"Seventy-six civilians, most of them women and children, were martyred today in a coalition forces operation in Herat province," the ministry said in a statement. (Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL66220.htm

[Henny Penny]

1. "Most of them women and children".....

Strangely doesn't seem to have made the MSM yet....

[stillcool]

3. Unless it involves..

Russia, China, Iran or Venezuela it isn't important.

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. Its the only thing we know how to do well anymore......

KILL!

[4dsc]

4. Is this terrorism?? eom..

[Henny Penny]

6. I think NATO should be asked to exact some kind of punishment. n/t

[bemildred]

5. Coalition air strikes kill 76 Afghan civilians: Govt

An operation by international forces in western Afghanistan on Friday killed 76 civilians, including 50 children and 19 women, the Afghan interior ministry said.

The US-led coalition confirmed it had carried out an operation, which included air strikes, in the area but said only 30 Taliban were killed, while the Afghan defence ministry said five civilians and 25 rebels had died.

It was impossible to independently verify what happened in volatile Shindand district in Herat province, but the conflicting reports highlight the difficulty in establishing facts in regular clashes between troops and rebels.

"Seventy-six people, all civilians and most of them women and children, were martyred during the operation by coalition forces in Shindand district of Herat province," the ministry said in a statement.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=WorldSectionPage&id=a2e4a9c1-c718-42dc-bf2f-2df744f09f18&MatchID1=4730&TeamID1=2&TeamID2=3&MatchType1=2&SeriesID1=1193&PrimaryID=4730&Headline='Coalition+air+strikes+kill+76+Afghan+civilians'

[420inTN]

7. Hmm...

So, was this an bad operation (faulty intelligence/wrong target), or were the taliban using the women and children as human shields?

[Henny Penny]

8. Yeah, totally justified....

The US fucks up and kills a load of Afghan women and children but its ok because really its the Taleban that killed them.

I get it now.

Thanks.


:puke:

I hope its not in revenge for all those recent coalition casualties....

[420inTN]

13. I'm not saying it's justified at all...

I'm just wondering as to the circumstances as to how all of those women and children were killed. The initial report was terse and lacking in specifics.

[Winterblues]

10. What did the Taliban ever do to America

Other than delay in turning over Bin Laden? :shrug:

[bertman]

12. Hmmm, let's see. They were controlling the opium poppy trade. And they were threatening

the trans-Afghanistan pipeline.

That's enough to cause the CIA (Cheney International Army) to wage war on them.

[Ian David]

16. But our program of paying them not to grow opium was working. n/t

[Deny and Shred]

19. I gues it was the Taliban that recruited...

Rickey Ross, Danilo Blandon, ...

[Ian David]

15. Gave oil contracts to non-Bushies. n/t

[Stern21]

18. And I guess they were using the 15 houses that were destroyed as well

as "human shields?"

That is a poor excuse IMHO. This is nothing more than another typical over-reaction by our forces on faulty or created intelligence.

[kas125]

9. This is absloutely sickening. But what's worse is that

our politicians keep talking about Afghanistan as the "good" or "necessary" war and too many people believe it.

[endthewar]

11. When they say war in Afghanistan

they really mean going after the safe havens across the border in Pakistan. It's just a more euphemistic way of putting it until Pakistan's government cracks down on those tribal areas.

[kas125]

17. I still see no justification in our being in Afghanistan

in the first place. I never did and I never will.

[Ian David]

14. It's the Bush strategy of "Shock and Oops." n/t

[LynnTheDem]

20. USA; #1 for killing women & kids.

But they hate us for our "freedoms".


All I hope for now is that we never suffer what we dish out.