Risking death, 2 Afgan Women Collect and Detonated

[burrowowl]

U.S. Cluster Bombs in 2001

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/22/international/middleeast/22AFGH.html?ex=1392786000&en=13524174ea8eb03f&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND

AJI BAI NAZAR, Afghanistan — Two women in this poor farming village have emerged as heroines after they witnessed the horror of two small boys being killed as they played with little cluster bombs from an American jet. The two cleared dozens of the bombs with their bare hands and detonated them, protecting the village.

Mine removers learned of their feat when surveying the area for cluster bomb strikes a few weeks later. "We told them they were crazy, that they could have been killed," said Dr. Nasiri, who is with the the Halo Trust, a nonprofit British organization that specializes in removing mines.

The women, Khairulnisah, 50, and Nasreen, 40, started to gather the dangerously volatile yellow canisters after the bombing in 2001 and after they had witnessed the explosion that killed the two boys and badly injured another child. The children had been playing with the two-pound bombs that littered the village.

Over several days, the two women cleared 60 or 70 of these cluster bombs from the immediate area and detonated them in a hollow at night, according to the villagers' accounts, which the Halo Trust vouched for.

....

The men said the women just did not understand the dangers of the bombs. "We see the incidents and repercussions of warfare, but the women don't know," said Abdullah, 18, Ms. Nasreen's son.

But his mother dismissed that idea. "That's not true," she said. "I saw the dead bodies of those children. I knew exactly the consequences but I thought we should clean the village of them and protect our children."

I remember while touring Turkey, a truck had a flat, the women were repairing it while the men watched. Her son saying she didn't know the danger is pretty amazing.
Also, wonder what the liquid was? Any ideas?

[burrowowl]

1. Kick

I think this story raises some important issues.
Also would like to know what the liquid in the canisters could be.

[eissa]

2. War is so stupid

I can't say it any more eloquently than that. I remember listening to Howard Zinn on C-Span reflecting on how, as a bomber during WWII, all he and his comrades cared about was "hitting the target." You didn't hear the screams of horror, you did not witness the devastation -- you hit the mark, came back to base, high-fived your pals, and went on the next run.

Stupid wars, and stupid people leading us into war, for stupid reasons.