Outrage is spreading across Afghanistan yet again, after an incident early today in the Helmand Province where US Marines attacked and killed a four-year-old boy.
The US has shrugged off the incident so far, saying that the weather was “dusty” that day and they just assumed the four-year-old was probably the enemy. NATO has said it will “investigate,” but reiterated that the US had taken “all possible measures” to avoid civilian deaths, except for apparently the measure of not shooting at children.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was quick to condemn the killing, saying they have repeatedly warned the US against military operations against civilian homes and villages.
Though the young age of the child makes this a particularly major outrage, it is not uncommon for US troops to kill random civilians in this manner, and NATO investigations, to the extent they’re ever completed and announced publicly, virtually always exonerate the killers as having acted “appropriately.”
The USA always excuses its troops no matter what happens or where it happens. Since the USA is a superpower, no foreign country can fight wars there nor kill adult or child civilians.
No one ever takes ANY responsibility…. It's anything goes…. in Afghanistan but schools in the U.S. have zero tolerance for the more serious crimes of being in possession of an asperin or a plastic knife..
What goes around comes around…Prolly more 'copters with mechanical problems falling from the air soon…
And more suicides…
Why are U.S. troops in a front line operation? We hear often in corporate media the U.S. is pulling back and only operating in a reserve capacity. Obviously it's not true. The U.S. is fully engaged as the Taliban are reversing gains.
And six U.S. soldiers killed in a helicopter downing a few days ago. 17% support for the war by the public. But Obama continues to pressure for endless war for Afghanistan.
Why are U.S. troops in a front line operation? We hear often in corporate media the U.S. is pulling back and only operating in a reserve capacity. Obviously it's not true. The U.S. is fully engaged as the Taliban are reversing gains.
And six U.S. soldiers killed in a helicopter downing a few days ago. 17% support for the war by the public. But Obama continues to pressure for endless war for Afghanistan.
They are busy killing. It's the only stuff they know how to do.
The worst crime is this incident will be buried by the U.S. corporate press. The government will issue it's usual denial and no one in the U.S. corporate press will print one word about this incident.
Even the liberal Democracy Now regularly ignores casualties from drone strikes and today completely ignored the six U.S. soldiers who died when their helicopter was destroyed by the Taliban last week.
Vietnam and Lt. Calley, kills 400+ civilians and is court martial-ed. In Afghanistan it is just one child at a time, so its okay.
Did the marine heroes urinate on the boy's corpse, too? Now we really can call them baby killers.
And then the heros come home and start shooting US civilians on our police forces. There are ways an educated public could cure the trigger happy.
This latest tragedy illustrates or calls into focus the fact that Afghanistan was not involved in 9/11. Our stated justification for attacking them. In addition, the Taliban offered to extradite Osama bin Laden to the US on numerous occasions only to be ignored. Then there is the Berlin conference where Pakistan's Foreign Secretary was told by US officials that "we will attack Afghanistan before the snow flies in October." Again, months prior to 9/11, the US had planned war in Afghanistan. Why? A growing number of researchers have stated that the war was for regime change as the Taliban were seen to be favoring an Argentine firm, Bridas over the US firm UNOCAL, for the Trans-Afghan Pipeline contract. SO, strategized the US, put our hand picked politician Karzai in the president's chair. Karzai was once a lobbyist for UNOCAL. While in Kandahar in 1997, Taliban Foreign Minister Wakhil Mutawakhil told me that he thought that "your country wants war with Afghanistan." A prophetic statement for sure. It reads as a classic case of "Blood for Oil."