Isn’t it precious that the apology comes from NATO. What a crock of shit. Every country with any brains pulled out of Afghanistan years ago. The U.S. Military killed two 7 year old boys because they looked like insurgents. What does an insurgent look like? Get prepared for this storyline. You will be seeing stories about mistaken drone attacks in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas in the next few years. Just an honest mistake. I wonder how many new terrorists we created by killing two little boys?
NATO says its troops shot dead two Afghan boys
(Reuters) – NATO said on Saturday its forces had accidentally shot dead two Afghan boys, in the latest of a series of reports of civilian deaths at the hands of international troops.
The shooting in the southern province of Uruzgan could further strain the relationship between the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has demanded U.S. special forces leave another province over allegations of torture.
The two boys were shot dead when they were mistaken for insurgents during an operation in northwest Uruzgan on February 28, ISAF commander, U.S. General Joseph Dunford, said in a statement.
“I offer my personal apology and condolences to the family of the boys who were killed,” Dunford said.
“The boys were killed when Coalition forces fired at what they thought were insurgent forces,” he said, adding that a team of Afghan and ISAF investigators visited the village on Saturday and met local leaders.
The area, Lowar-e-Dowahom, was often patrolled by international troops, a spokesman for provincial governor Amir Mohammad Akhundzada said.
“They saw two young children who were apparently listening to a radio and they shot them – it is not yet clear why,” the spokesman said.
Australian forces deployed in Uruzgan said earlier there had been an “operational incident” in the province’s northwest but gave no details except that no soldiers were harmed.
On February 13 a NATO air strike requested by Afghan forces killed 10 people – including five children and four women – in the eastern province of Kunar, prompting Karzai to ban his troops from requesting foreign air strikes.
Two weeks later he halted all special forces operations in the central province of Wardak after a series of allegations involving U.S. special forces soldiers and Afghan men said to be working with them.
(Reporting by Mirwais Harooni, Ismail Sameem and Dylan Welch; Editing by Andrew Roche)
Administrator says:
To a Neo-Con this is just collateral damage.
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2nd March 2013 at 5:48 pm
Administrator says:
Winning the War on Terror
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2nd March 2013 at 5:50 pm
Administrator says:
These helicopter pilots deserve a medal for such bravery.
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2nd March 2013 at 5:53 pm
Steve Hogan says:
I don’t think it’s possible to have a more retarded foreign policy than the one the US government is pursuing. Obama took a stupid policy from his predecessor and doubled down. Good job, Barack, you dumb fuck.
I’m beginning to believe, much like the drug war, the war on terror’s real purpose is not to win but to have unending war. What better way to suck the American people dry than to scare the shit out of them with stories about Muslims blowing them up?
And what better way to give that narrative credibility than to have soldiers killing innocent children overseas? It’s the Pentagon’s version of the self-licking ice cream cone.
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2nd March 2013 at 6:18 pm
ncognito1959 says:
We forgot the lesson of Vietnam. Go all in or don’t go at all.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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2nd March 2013 at 6:51 pm
Llpoh says:
The US has lost its moral compass, and has burnt its map.
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2nd March 2013 at 7:10 pm
Zarathustra says:
ncognito1959, Let’s examiner where we’d be today if we had “gone all in.” We’d have invaded North Vietnam, defeated the NVA and installed a puppet government. The vietcong would turn into an insurgency that would last for decades, perhaps even to this day. The Vietnamese people would despise their tyrannical regime and the country that empowered it. Vietnamese terrorist attacks in the US would probably be commonplace by now.
Instead, the US left with it’s tail between it’s legs in 1975. Today, we have good relations with the Vietnamese people and government and we trade with them. The right thing would have been to leave them to their own devices after they drove the French out, but having failed to do that, and other for the 50k Americans who died pointlessly after our invasion, not to mention the millions of Vietnamese, things haven’t turned out so bad.
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2nd March 2013 at 7:22 pm
Drowning in Parasitism says:
Our usurped, Western governments ARE what we purport to defeat.
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2nd March 2013 at 7:47 pm
howard in nyc says:
heartbreaking. i can only imagine what we as a nation will reap from having sown such death and misery.
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2nd March 2013 at 9:05 pm
card802 says:
After spending the evening playing with my grandchildren, I read this.
Goddamn our military leaders to hell.
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2nd March 2013 at 9:39 pm
Bruce says:
Howard,
No need to wonder. We will reap what we sow. It’s death and destruction for us all and probably everyone else as misery loves company as so does unnatural death. We are doomed.
By the way it’s good to see you posting again. Seems like you were out of sight for awhile.
Since you are on the ground in NYC what are the general feelings and reactions you have observed over the tough new gun laws? Will anybody in State or local government pay the political price come election time or are a majority voters in lock step with the ban program?
Don’t think we will have stuff like that put on us here in Texas at least not by the State. Even our dumb ass Governor supports gun rights here. Here’s a picture of the idiot Rick that demonstrates the point.
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2nd March 2013 at 10:50 pm
napari says:
Ive already posted this opinion but this thread merits people hearing it again. Here in the USA we need massive amounts of fossil fuel or our economy grinds to a screeching halt. Anything that gets in the way of our fossil fuel consumption gets slammed to the ground with our boot heel on its neck.
Solution…we need INDEPENDENT RESEARCH funded by “we the people” in alternative energy.
What our government is doing wrong is funding PRIVATE COMPANIES and SUBSIDIZING foreign nations with BILLIONS of tax payer dollars in the name of green energy.
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2nd March 2013 at 5:52 am
Gayle says:
Card-
While we’re Goddamninfg, let’s not stop at our military leaders. The Department of Offense gives them their missions and objectives. The Department of State implements the foreign policy as set out by the President. The House and Senate go along. We the people re-elect them. So Goddamn us.
In this era of history, it’s not only embarrassing to be an American, it’s morally perilous.
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2nd March 2013 at 10:42 am
DaveL says:
I have little doubt that Janet Napolitano has a Heinrich Himmler inside of her and would not blink at droning you.
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2nd March 2013 at 10:50 am
Stucky says:
” … i can only imagine what we as a nation will reap from having sown such death and misery.”
—- howard
This?
And, this?
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2nd March 2013 at 11:11 am
sensetti says:
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2nd March 2013 at 11:42 am
Thinker says:
Howard and Stucky, it’s amazing, isn’t it, that we consider the debt burden we’ve leaving to our children and grandchildren, but there’s never a discussion of the legacy of our foreign policy?
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2nd March 2013 at 11:59 am
Thunderbird says:
In reality all those killed by drones (women and children included) are insurgents because they hate us and help those against us. The insurgents are committing hate crimes against our soldiers.
We are there to spread the teaching of democracy, build schools to teach the children about our ways, and develop their economy. Those that fight us and our good intentions are insurgents.
When will they learn to be good subjects?
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2nd March 2013 at 12:02 pm
sangell says:
The article seems to indicate these were Australian troops that did the shooting. In an earlier post on this topic the posted article failed to mention that a US airstrike that hit civilians was called in by Afghan Army forces. Hamid Karzai, in response, has forbidden his own army from calling in air strikes apparently well aware of the propensity of his people to settle private scores through military means. I would not even put it past Afghans to deliberately have their own children killed in order to get ISAF compensation for their loss. Why do an ‘honor’ killing and get in trouble when you can simply have ISAF forces kill the offending relative and receive thousands in compensation.
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2nd March 2013 at 12:48 pm
howard in nyc says:
Bruce, the anti-gun laws in new york city were tight and repressive prior to the new state law. so, i haven’t heard much reaction (i rarely read the local papers). most folks i speak with suffer from the delusion that such laws can put a practical dent in the number of guns in society, or the criminal use of guns. sadly, this delusion transcends liberal and conservative alike among my social contacts.
I go over to jersey to shoot.
I have no idea if Cuomo or any legislators will face fallout at the ballot box.
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2nd March 2013 at 2:53 pm