The charity group Swedish Committee for Afghanistan expressed outrage today in reporting a US attack on a remote hospital being operated by the group. The troops burst in to the hospital without explanation and conducted a full and rather violent search of the facility.
The troops reportedly tied up several employees and the family of some of the patients, ordered the bed-ridden patients out of their rooms and smashed down several doors, including the door to the malnutrition ward. They did not arrest anybody, but upon leaving ordered the staff to report anybody coming to the hospital to seek treatment before the treatment was provided.
NATO spokesmen confirmed the raid, but said they had no information about why it was done and refused to speculate. The United Nations cautioned that the raid was a potential violation of the Geneva Conventions, which insist that military personnel avoid operating inside medical facilities.
The charity says that the same hospital was involved in an incident in July, when private contractors escorting a supply convoy forced their way in and used the hospital to hide from insurgents. A US helicopter also attacked a small medical clinic in Paktika Province last week on the basis of a report that a wounded insurgent might be inside.
Looks like the Winning Hearts and Minds Campaign is in full swing.
Is this the "holistic" war that Gen. Stan was on about?
Ah, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Fallujah, anyone?
"The charity says that the same hospital was involved in an incident in July, when private contractors escorting a supply convoy forced their way in and used the hospital to hide from insurgents. A US helicopter also attacked a small medical clinic in Paktika Province last week on the basis of a report that a wounded insurgent might be inside."
I cannot express adequately my disgust toward a military that abuses the Red Cross so flagrantly and so cowardly. Forcing your way into a hospital to hide from an engagement? What kind of garbage is that? A military with any sense of correct behavior would throw such cretins in front of a firing squad for cowardice in the face of the enemy. But not our dear FedGov! Instead, such despicable behavior is favored and rewarded. And the Taliban only needs to point to such things to prove that their cause is right.
If you’re all so sick of the U.S. military being corrupt and incompetent, why don’t you join and try to change it instead of whining all the time? Maybe when YOU are in the field you can judge for yourselves instead of believing everything you read on the internet. Safe behind your country’s military, you’re all a bunch of spineless worms. Isn’t freedom grand!?