US Military's Latest IED Weapon: Human Shields

[unhappycamper]

Afghan Civilians Allegedly Forced Onto Mined Roads
by Quil Lawrence
October 20, 2011

Villagers from a violent part of southern Afghanistan say that Afghan troops, along with several American mentors, forced civilians to march ahead of soldiers on roads where the Taliban were believed to have planted bombs and landmines.

~snip~

Mahmud said scores of villagers came to the district meeting hall in Panjwai to complain last month. Along with their village elders, people from the hamlets of Zangabat, Talukan and Mushan all told a similar story. They said Afghan troops, accompanied by American soldiers, pulled them out of their homes one evening in early September.

Mahmud said the soldiers detained a group of villagers, lined them up and forced them walk in front of the soldiers for over a mile, through areas believed to be mined by the Taliban. Mahmud's story was corroborated by local residents, including a truck driver from Tulukan who goes by one name, Hamidullah.

"They brought in people from all the villages on the sides of the main paved road. The Taliban had told us not to go through this way because there were a lot of mines. All of the road to the next village was mined. But the soldiers told us to keep walking in front of them," Hamidullah told NPR.

[piratefish08]

1. jesus. fucking. christ.

what have we become?

[Capitalocracy]

2. Winning hearts and minds

One human shield at a time. :patriot:

[Cid_B]

3. My bullshit meter is spiking...

Guarantee there is more to this...

[peacebird]

5. It is reported on NPR, so I wonder ..... They usually are honest.

[lunatica]

6. They can only report what they're told. They weren't anywhere near there

[lunatica]

4. So where are all the dead civilians?

This story doesn't make any sense. They claim the roads were full of mines and that entire villages were forced to walk on them, but no explosions and no deaths? This is fishy.

[Capitalocracy]

8. First of all, we usually don't see the bodies in Afghanistan.

Second, using human shields just in case is still a pretty bad idea if you're trying to win over hearts and minds (or, you know, be a decent human) whether or not those roads are actually mined. It's probably easier for the Taliban to tell the locals a road is mined than it is for them to actually bother with mining it.

[lunatica]

13. I agree with your points, but this particular story sounds off to me

I think the villagers would be talking about deaths of their family members and friends if it had happened. Unless the reporter has just left that out then it seems they're reporting on rumors. I have learned in this age of very fast and furious news to be a bit skeptical about breaking news. That's all. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be true, but I don't want to just assume it is.

[Capitalocracy]

14. The article actually says nobody was hurt

And it says this is according to the villagers, and they're reporting it as an isolated incident. I don't know the truth of the matter either... I suppose it's possible that the villagers all got together and decided to make up a story, but the most likely thing is that this is just a group of soldiers who came up with a bright idea. Hopefully that's the long and short of it.

[chrisa]

11. That doesn't necessarily matter.

The very act of forcing civilians to walk through minefields is a war crime. It doesn't matter if any of the mines went off or not.

[lunatica]

12. That's part of my point

I'm certainly not defending anything about this war. But if people are coming in from very remote villages and saying this happened those same people would certainly be screaming about dead relatives wouldn't they? Yet there's no mention of anyone being blown up on these marches. This doesn't make sense. When something happens and it comes out mostly as rumor if it doesn't make sense then there's either something missing or it's just a rumor.

That's all I'm saying. So for now I think the US military only 'allegedly' did this.

And if they did do it then I agree it's a war crime. But then I believe war is a war crime.

[madokie]

7. Leave these poor people alone,

gawddamnit leave these folks alone. Bring our troops home. There is no honor in what we're doing there just the same as it was in our war, no honor to be had. Rough'n up an already down people is not what I want us to be.

[Capitalocracy]

9. From the comments section...

Like cutting out a cancer, you are going to remove good flesh as well. Those who don't like it move.

:puke:

[Enrique]

10. sounds like a war crime

if true.