NATO Supreme Commander Gen. Philip Breedlove a top US Air Force general, became the first high-profile official to back a call by Doctors Without Borders for an independent investigation into last weekend’s US attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in northern Afghanistan, a strike which killed 22.
Gen. Breedlove told interviewers that Doctors Without Borders had every right to ask for the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC), set up by the Geneva Conventions, to conduct such an investigation, adding that he and NATO are “going to support it.”
The actual investigation may not be so easy, however, as the IHFFC was called for in 1949, established in 1991, and so far hasn’t actually done anything. For the IHFFC to actually be empowered to investigate, some Geneva signatory would actually have to sponsor the call for the probe, and so far there’s been no indication any such request is forthcoming.
Despite Gen. Breedlove’s comments, most signatories would likely fear diplomatic retaliation from the US if they did sponsor such an inquiry, and very few are liable to be willing to take that sort of risk over a US strike on a hospital, particularly when the US continues to tout its own internal inquiry into the matter.
I agree with the general, although I suspect that as far as MSF is concerned, it's a "beware of what you wish for" situation. They probably called for such an investigation in the firm belief that they wouldn't get it and calling their bluff is the best way to find out just what MSF did and did not do. Equally, Putin is certainly going similar in Syria and an independent investigation here will set a precedent.
Not sure why you think that MSF would have anything to hide. Strange….
Breedlove is a problem of his own but he has a serious problem the Doctors were Europeans and they were murdered by Americans! I bet whilst Breedlove makes the words he isn't going to hand the Pilots names to the Hague War Crimes commissioners, of who ordered the hits to the Hospital!
I am also sure that there will be the argument that the doctors were helping terrorists, and the NEW ARMY Manual allows for the Military to attack and kill anyone helping the enemy even doctors and journalists!
US army manual is a domestic document. If there is an independent investigation then international obligations would be binding.