The Wedding Crashers: U.S. Jets Have Bombed Five Ceremonies in Afghanistan

[babylonsister]

The Wedding Crashers: U.S. Jets Have Bombed Five Ceremonies in Afghanistan

By Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com. Posted July 15, 2008.

We have become a nation of wedding crashers, the uninvited guests who arrived under false pretenses, tore up the place, offering nary an apology.


It was a tribal affair. Against a picture-perfect sunset, before a beige-colored cross and an altar made of the very Texas limestone that was also used to build her family's "ranch," veil-less in an Oscar de la Renta gown, the 26 year-old bride said her vows. More than 200 members of her extended family and friends were on hand, as well as the 14 women in her "house party," who were dressed "in seven different styles of knee-length dresses in seven different colors that match the palette of… wildflowers -- blues, greens, lavenders and pinky reds." Afterwards, in a white tent set in a grove of trees and illuminated by strings of lights, the father of the bride, George W. Bush, danced with his daughter to the strains of "You Are So Beautiful." The media was kept at arm's length and the vows were private, but undoubtedly they included the phrase "till death do us part."

That was early May of this year. Less than two months later, halfway across the world, another tribal affair was underway. The age of the bride involved is unknown to us, as is her name. No reporters were clamoring to get to her section of the mountainous backcountry of Afghanistan near the Pakistani border. We know almost nothing about her circumstances, except that she was on her way to a nearby village, evidently early in the morning, among a party 70-90 strong, mostly women, "escorting the bride to meet her groom as local tradition dictates."

It was then that the American plane (or planes) arrived, ensuring that she would never say her vows. "They stopped in a narrow location for rest," said one witness about her house party, according to the BBC. "The plane came and bombed the area." The district governor, Haji Amishah Gul, told the British Times, "So far there are 27 people, including women and children, who have been buried. Another 10 have been wounded. The attack happened at 6.30AM. Just two of the dead are men, the rest are women and children. The bride is among the dead."

more...

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/91457/?page=entire

[RC]

1. Just as we had no business invading Iraq, we had no business invading Afghanistan either.

9/11 needs to be exposed for what it really was. A False Flag attack. Richard Bruce Cheney and his cohorts are guilty of Treason. War crime charges need to be brought against the Bu$h administration.

BTW,on a related subject, how long is this over seas trip by Karl Rove? He missed an important appointment and needs to answer fro it.

[getmeouttahere08]

15. Winning hearts and minds the world over!

We'll be paying for this kind of stuff for generations.

and speaking of KKKarl Rove...

"Karl Rove denies political ties taint his Fox News analyst role"

How's that for the most ridiculous headline of the day!!!

[groovedaddy]

2. Bad way to fight a guerilla war

This doesn't exactly win hearts and minds!

[mwb970]

3. What do we have against weddings? Are Afghanis all gay or something?

Every time we misfire some of our Big Bombs over there, we end up blowing up a wedding party. How the people there must love us and our Great Leader!

[billyoc]

4. There's a "sanctity of marriage" joke in there,

if it weren't for all the dead people. :hide:

[beam me up scottie]

5. U.S. military response:

U.S. military spokespeople flatly denied the story. They claimed that Taliban insurgents had been "clearly identified" among the group. "his may just be normal, typical militant propaganda," said 1st Lieutenant Nathan Perry. Despite accounts of the wounded, including women and children, being brought to a local hospital, Captain Christian Patterson, coalition media officer, insisted: "It was not a wedding party, there were no women or children present. We have no reports of civilian casualties." The members of an Afghan inquiry, appointed by President Hamid Karzai, later found that, in all, 47 civilians had died, including 39 women and children, and nine others were wounded.

Right.

Because all dead Afghanis are Taliban insurgents.

[babylonsister]

6. Bunch of hooey; that's what they always say, even when we see pics

to the contrary.

[beam me up scottie]

7. Just like Vietnam.

And Iraq.

Imagine how much goes on that we don't find out about.

[babylonsister]

8. VN at least had journalists there covering what was going on.

Now, not so much, or at all.

[beam me up scottie]

9. That's what scares me.

Since many journalists refused to be "embedded" with our troops, our government has made it obvious that they're on their own in Iraq. We even "accidentally" killed several.

And the 'war' in Afghanistan/Iraq is old news, the msm has much more important issues to cover, 9 dead soldiers barely get a mention, so who knows what the hell is really going on.

[jberryhill]

10. "It was not a wedding party, there were no women or children present. "

I gather this guy is not all that familiar with wedding celebrations in these countries.

[beam me up scottie]

12. -among a party 70-90 strong, mostly women, "escorting the bride to meet her groom as local tradition

I imagine any surviving children will be eager to join the Taliban after witnessing this massacre.

And on and on it goes...

[jberryhill]

17. The point being

....that any large gathering associated with a wedding is going to be either mostly men or mostly women and children, since they don't tend to congregate in mixed-sex groups for social occasions.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. Just like all dead Vietnamese were Viet Cong or at least, Viet Cong sympathizers

I've seen this movie before.

[beam me up scottie]

14. No wonder so many vets are coming back traumatized.

They know what's going on over there and we've all seen what happens to service men and women who tell the truth.

[formercia]

11. Any more than 3 people and it's a Taiban unit.

Some dweeb monitoring a feed from overhead spots a group of people, some of them carrying weapons and orders an air strike from half way around the world.

Just about every male beyond puberty and still able to walk carries a weapon in that culture. It does not make them Taliban.

[CHIMO]

16. US Intensifies Air Campaign in Afghanistan

USA Today reports the Pentagon has significantly intensified its air campaign in Afghanistan to the highest levels since 2003. US-led coalition warplanes dropped over 1,800 bombs and missiles in Afghanistan over the first six months of the year. That’s a 40 percent increase from the same period last year. Last week, the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln was repositioned to the region to supply more attack planes. The increase in air strikes has also led to a spike in civilian deaths. A recent Afghan government probe found that a US air strike on July 6 killed forty-seven civilians.

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/15/headlines#5

[Karenina]

18. Nasty karma...

Amis have never had BOMBS dropped on their heads. As a result of being incapable of learning from others' experiences, the chickens are now coming home to roost. The contaminated fecal droppings rival nookular waste in every way imaginable...