US commander in Afghanistan Gen. John Campbell continued to revise his narrative on the weekend US attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in northern Afghanistan, telling the Senate Armed Services Committee today that it was “mistakenly struck.”
“We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility,” Gen. Campbell insisted, though the rest of his testimony he conceded that the US chain of command had indeed made the decision through “a rigorous procedure” to attack the hospital, a strike that killed 22, including 12 Doctors Without Borders staff.
Yesterday, Gen. Campbell backed off previous reports that US troops had come under attack from the area, saying it was in fact Afghan troops who claimed they were under attack. Today, he split the difference, saying the Afghan troops reported it to the US troops, who claimed that they, and not the Afghan troops, were under fire even though they weren’t.
And even though Campbell tried to present the whole thing as some unfortunate accident, he announced plans for more in-depth training for the special forces on the rules of engagement, emphasizing not ordering attacks against hospitals in the future.
The UN human rights body and Doctors Without Borders both condemned the strike as a “war crime” and are demanding an independent investigation beyond the one carried out by the Pentagon. The White House rejected the suggestion that bombing a hospital full of civilians was a “war crime,” and Campbell decliend to offer a timeline on the former Pentagon probe.
If US Special Forces claimed to be under fire when they were not, then somebody need to see a court-martial. Doesn't matter what the "rules of engagement" are. A lie is a lie.
"We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility,"
So what about the "unprotected" ones? Whatever that is? Lies seep out of their every sentence.
The hospital in Fallujah was "unprotected" and attacked. There's been others as well.
It's getting harder and harder for the US Command structure to continue to deflect criticism. They thought they'd figured it out by keeping the press from hound-dogging the field troops by "embedding" them or just plain old outright killing them – kind of a process of discouragement phase. The problem is that the US can't control everyone who comes and goes in the Afghan war zone. To have attempted to keep an organization like Doctors Without Borders from working in-country would have raised red flags all over the place. But to stupidly attack a hospital is beyond cover-up. This one is not going to go away no matter how many times General Campbell "revises" his statements.
when anybody else we don't like does it it is a war crime, but when we do it is is a terrible mistake, …you see. …because we are the good guys, …you see.
When we shot down that Iranian Jetliner over the gulf it was a terrible mistake, …you see. When we bombed the Chinese Embassy in Sebia, that was a terrible mistake, you see.
It's always a terrible mistake, you see.
That is a mental disorder they have and it is called American Exceptionalism.
This country bombed a hospital in Fallujah 10 yrs ago & cruise missled one in Libya not 5 yrs ago. We attacked at least one hospital in Serbia in 1999. We attacked the entire capacity of Iraq to provide medical care via sanctions through the 90s, killing a million people. So screw that noise.
And don't forget the missile that slammed into the Chinese embassy in Serbia in 1999.
This is precisely the sort of criminal conduct Vladimir Putin had in mind when he made the statement;
“We can no longer tolerate the state of affairs in the world.” Let us all hope he is successful in reining in the US Empire of Chaos.
Round and round the narrative goes. What utter BS. When are US officials lying? When their lips are moving.
But GUYS!!! The AC130 is a gunship, not a bomber. The whole article, carefully describing the role of the gunship, makes it plain that it doesn't drop bombs; but the damage is still routinely referred to as a 'bombing', and that's what the witnesses report. How uninformed do we have to be?
I listened to some silly "expert" on the BBC World Service gleefully explain how the gunship precisely lays down "fireplace log size" artillery shells "at the point of a cone", yada yada. He gushed about all the "high tech" gear on board that guarantees accuracy. If they hit the hospital, then that was the target.
Two minutes later he blithely explained how one has to expect some shells will miss the mark. He never noticed how that completely contradicted his earlier claims. And neither did the interviewer.
My point is that everything we hear from the PR hacks and the media is total gibberish by design. If one tosses out a dozen different contradicting stories, the actual perps can sneak out under cover of confusion and distraction.
Any half idiot can see it was a mistake. The mistake because of the backlash. But what i can't work out is when say the Syrian troops make a mistake its Assad's fault. In this case do we hear its Obama's fault??
WACO— and Sept 11 2001 bombings–no problem move along suckers
That General could know by now whether that hospital had the internationally recognized red cross painted on its roof or flew a red cross flag (alternative: red crescent or both). All he needed to do is ask one of the surviving doctors. The fact that he did not report on this crucial issue means that he is either incompetent or that he deliberately withholds the fact that there was a red cross. In the second case the attack was a war crime perpetrated on people protected by the red cross regardless of whether there were also non-protected persons on the premises.
Just imagine how different Mr Ditz's discourse would be if Putin's rickety and incompetent air force had attacked a Syrian hospital by mistake. Pretext politics!
Rickety? Are you overdosing again?
Putin isn't as incompetent as your war criminals in DC are.
Filthy liars…