US and Afghan forces, backed by a US Apache helicopter attacked a medical clinic in the Paktika Province of Afghanistan yesterday after receiving reports that a wounded Taliban commander had “sought treatment” at the facility.
The attack sparked a gunbattle which according to provincial officials left at least 12 militants and two policemen killed. The US denied that anyone had died in the attack but claimed to have injured their target, though since he was already injured in the first place it’s probably hard to be sure about that.
The US defended the attack on the clinic, insisting that it had ensured the building was cleared of civilians before the helicopter began firing and that since the clinic was occupied by Taliban it lost “its protected status” as a civilian location.
The Pakitika Province borders Pakistan’s Waziristan Agencies, and is no stranger to major clashes. Attacking a medical clinic, however, particularly when health care is in such short supply in rural Afghanistan, is likely to fuel resentment among locals. Likewise, the attack on a relatively minor Taliban commander when he was already injured and seeking medical treatment is probably going to raise further suspicions as the Afghan government continues to talk about reconciliation.
"lost its protected status" is bulls**t. The US makes up the rules as it goes along. This is bad policy, because in warfare, what goes around comes around. Idiots!
Attacking a medical facility is a war crime, pure and simple, but this isn't the first time FedGov troops have done this sort of thing. And so the booboisie will continue to think that "their boys" can do no wrong and that the "terr'ists" only hate us for our freedoms, most importantly the freedom to be strip-searched at the airport.
Wait until they start saying that about you and your neighbors.
i guess in the election this province is still a "swing" state
what a health care debate they must be having
If, in the case of a health care debate , you mean they discussed how they managed to escape being gunned down by armed choppers then I guess you're right.
no i think the dabate is being limited to private gunning down or keeping the "public option"
Obama promised to restrain the actions of the US within international laws and conventions. This attack is clearly a violation of the Geneva convention.
Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949.
"Art. 19. The protection to which civilian hospitals are entitled shall not cease unless they are used to commit, outside their humanitarian duties, acts harmful to the enemy. Protection may, however, cease only after due warning has been given, naming, in all appropriate cases, a reasonable time limit and after such warning has remained unheeded.
The fact that sick or wounded members of the armed forces are nursed in these hospitals, or the presence of small arms and ammunition taken from such combatants and not yet been handed to the proper service, shall not be considered to be acts harmful to the enemy."
This is a war crime that Gen. David Petraeus will be very concerned about. Someone's not getting the message of effective counter-insurgency warfare, the change that Petraeus brought about when Rumsfeld resigned and Tommy Franks and his rodeo cowboys were moved aside. These sorts of tactics are conventional open-battle field tactics historically used since Napoleon but absolutely detrimental to the objective of the primary counter-insurgency strategy of winning the civilian population and playing the roll of their protector. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
This news article was also printed on the MSN webpage, and was quoted from an AP source.
However, the information on this anti-war website left out several key facts in order to spin it.
1. Insurgent Snipers fired on soldiers from a tower near the clinic and then hid in the clinic.
2. The US made sure the clinic was cleared of civilians before firing.
3. The clinics doctor gave the US forces permision to fire on the clinic.
4. Afterward US forces met with villagers and discussed rebuilding the clinic.
5. Villiagers expressed disgust that the militants used the medical center to fire from and understood the action was nessasary.
Now a couple points about the Geneva Convention and rules of engagement. First off, solders are authorized to return fire when someone is firing on them, and if they are in a mosque hospital, school, whatever, they can still return fire if fired upon.
The persons they are fighting are not real soldiers, but militants or terrorists. They do not wear uniforms, they do not represent any country in a formal declaration of war, and they hide amongst women and children in order to avoid getting shot at, and to increase sympathies when a noncombatant is injured or killed.
Also this resulted in the capture of the wounded commander and 7 insurgents, and the local police chief stated 2 militants died in the encounter.
In this case, the solders took great pains to avoid civilian non-combatant casualties, they captured their targets, and they are working with the villagers to make repairs to the clinic.