NATO was never really disputing the idea of a civilian death toll in the January 15 US air strikes in Parwan Province, but officials are now implying that the Karzai government fabricated the incident, noting that one of the photographs included in the report, nominally of a funeral, was actually several years old.
“I would hope that we would get back to a relationship that’s based on, first of all that’s based on fact, insisted US Ambassador James Cunningham, who claimed “facts have been distorted” in the incident.
NATO refused to even address the fact that on January 19 they had confirmed civilian deaths in the strike, apparently pretending that statement never even happened.
The Karzai government is standing behind the report, and brought villagers from the site of the US air strikes to confirm the report. US officials keep going back to that photo, however, saying it is proof that the Afghans didn’t do a proper investigation.
USg waxes Fetzerian! Or, could recall Annie Machon's mention of what's called a Straw Man Operation. Rather than making up an unrepresentative summary of an opponent's position so as to attack it, you try to 'really' put-it-in-their-mouth so to speak. Hence, you feed them crappy material so as to discredit them when they take the bate. That could explain a seven year old (if that were the case) photograph used as evidence for a more recent episode. Or it could've been an honest mistake.
My bias, admittedly, is that Karzai is a good man with the Afghan interest at heart. And that the occupation has something else at heart entirely…
One photograph matters very little.
The FACTS are that civilians were killed in the air strike.
That is NOT in dispute.