Villagers in Afghanistan’s Logar Province are condemning an overnight air strike by NATO, saying that it killed 18 civilians, including a number of women and children. The strike, leveled several homes in the area, and locals say none of those inside survived.
Afghan officials confirmed the attack, saying that it had killed seven “insurgents” in one house but also killed a large number of civilians in the surrounding area. They confirmed that many of the dead were women and children as well.
NATO rejected the claim, saying that everyone who had been slain in the attack was a known “militant.” They did not address the women and children who were killed, saying that they would conduct a “follow-on assessment.”
If confirmed this would be one of the deadliest single NATO attacks in months, and a major blow to claims that the occupation forces have gotten better at limiting civilian casualties. It will likely also harm relations with the Afghan government, which has repeatedly demanded an end to strikes in populated areas.
A wedding party enroute in a pickup truck, a shephard boy carrying a staff, a suspected militant's abode, oblivious and or indifferent to the possibility of innocent civilians to include children in the home or in proximity, these are the real as opposed to the rhetorical targets of NATO bombers and US drones. This is a "war of aggression" and under the Geneva and Hague statutes, the most serious of war crimes. The Afghans had no role in 9/11. Months prior to 9/11, at a summer conference in Berlin, US officials told Pakistani Secrfetary that "we will attack Afghanistan before the snow flies in October." Also, the Taliban offered to negotiate with the Bush Administration over the extradition impasse of Osama bin Laden. The Bushies ignored the overtures.
9/11 therefore is no excuse or justification for waging war aganist this tiny poor nation that has endured invasion and occupation from both the world's superpowers…Russia and the U.S.