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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: Homestead <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] Unintended consequences of war
  • Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2008 11:20:31 -0700

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


  • [Homestead] Unintended consequences of war, Gene GeRue, 11/05/2008

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