[Homestead] Unintended consequences of war

Gene GeRue genegerue at ruralize.com
Wed Nov 5 13:20:31 EST 2008


The election news subdued reporting from the Mideast. We know it is  
still bad over there but we are largely disconnected. We have become  
accustomed to bad news from Iraq and Afghanistan, as we did from Viet  
Nam and Korea before that. We must not become inured to the tragedies  
of war. We must always remember that all wars have unintended  
consequences. That is but one of the reasons why I hate unnecessary  
wars.

These things must never be forgotten:

U.S. Airstrike Reported to Hit Afghan Wedding
By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and MARK McDONALD
Published: November 5, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan — An airstrike by United States-led forces killed  
40 civilians and wounded 28 others at a wedding party in Kandahar  
Province in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Wednesday. The  
casualties included women and children, the officials said.

The United States military and Afghan authorities were investigating  
the reports about the latest attack, the American military said in a  
statement, but it gave no confirmation of the strikes or any death toll.

The reports of the strike, in a region that has become a renewed front  
line in the battle against the Taliban, showed the raw tensions  
between the United States and Afghanistan over the toll suffered by  
civilians in the war, and came just hours after the election of Barack  
Obama as the next American president.

The reports recall an assault in August in western Afghanistan that  
was initially disputed by the United States, in which an American  
gunship killed at least 30 civilians. On Wednesday, at a news  
conference called to congratulate Mr. Obama, President Hamid Karzai  
said his first request to Mr. Obama would be “to end the civilian  
casualties.”

The American military statement said an investigation was under way in  
the village of Wech Baghtu. “If innocent people were killed in this  
operation, we apologize and express our condolences to the families  
and the people of Afghanistan,” said the statement, issued by Cmdr.  
Jeff Bender, deputy public affairs officer of United States forces in  
Afghanistan. But it also said that the facts were “unclear at this  
point.”

Zalmay Ayoby, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar, said the  
strike took place on Monday afternoon, when Taliban and American-led  
forces engaged in a firefight near the village, which is in Sha Wali  
Kot district. An airstrike was later called in and hit a compound  
where a wedding party was being held, he said.

The rest of the story is at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/world/asia/06afghan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin


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