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.