WHAY THE WAR AGAINST AFGHANISTAN IS ILLEGAL ? By Arnold J.Chien, Associate Researcher, Institute for Health and Social Justice........"Stop Genocide in Afghanistan" .....There is no president in Afghanistan only "Puppet President "
>> No hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11<<
Associate Researcher, Institute for Health and Social Justice.
http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/issue46/articles/legality_civilian_toll.htm
A Dossier on Civilian Victims
of United States' Aerial Bombing of Afghanistan:
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/civiDeaths.html
"Civilians Killed in Afghanistan by US Bombs"
http://www.google.co.id/search?hl=id&q=Civilians+Killed+in+Afghanistan+by+US+Bombs+&meta=
GOOGLE SEARCH : " illegal Afghanistan war"
http://www.google.co.id/search?hl=id&q=ilegal+war+in+afghanistan+law&btnG=Telusuri&meta=
http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/civiDeaths.html
The figure of 93 comes from our data compilation [see chart later,
citing reports from Al Jazeera, the BBC, Dawn [November 1, 2001], and
The Hindu]. A detailed on-the-scene account is given in "Merciless U.S
Bombing Obliterates Village: 60 Killed," Dawn [November 2, 2001]. The
U.S organization, Human Rights Watch reported a figure of 35 deaths,
but this was based only upon interviews with survivors in a Quetta
hospital. Commentary from Stephen Gowans, "Our Masters of Propaganda,"
Swans Commentary [November 12, 2001], at: www.swans.com/library/art7/gowans12.html
Murray Campbell, "Bombing of Farming Village Undermines U.S
Credibility," Toronto Globe & Mail [November 3, 2001].
Richard Norton-Taylor, "The Return of the B-52s," The Guardian
[November 2, 2001].
Norman Solomon, "Orwellian Logic 101 -- A Few Simple Lessons," at
FAIR: www.fair.org/media-beat/980827.html
from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1619000/1619332.stm
"Taliban Says 20 Civilians Killed in Kabul," The Guardian [October 9,
2001], ""I Wish God Destroys Their Cities" says 16 year-old bombing
victim," from Torkham [October 9, 2001]
Richard Lloyd Parry, "Tragic Place in History Claimed by Odd-Job Man,"
The Independent [October 10, 2001].
A.J. Chien, "The Civilian Toll," [October 11, 2001] at the Institute
for Health & Social Justice, available at: www.zmag.org/civiliantoll.htm
"37 Killed, 81 Injured in Sunday's Strikes," Pakistan Observer
[October 9, 2001].
"Raids Restart with 76 Reported Dead," The Guardian [October 10,
2001].
Siddarth Varadarajan, "An Ignoble War," Times of India [October 15,
2001].
Chris Kromm, "Week One: Operation Infinite Disaster," CommonDreams
[October 16, 2001], at: www.commondreams.org/views01/1016-03.htm
as for example in Los Angeles Times [October 9, 2001], Derrick Z.
Jackson, "Already, One Smart Bomb Has Proved Dumb," The Boston Globe
[October 10, 2001], The Washington Post [October 10, 2001] and The
Independent [U.K.] [October 14, 2001].
from Geov Parrish, "Where the Bodies Are," Working for Change [October
22, 2001], at: www.workingforchange.com ; and also in The Frontier
Post [Peshawar] [October 12, 2001] and BBC News Online [October 11,
2001]. On October 25th, a U.S bomb hit the mosque and village of Ishaq
Sulaiman near Herat, killing at least 20 civilians [Agence France
Press, October 25, 2001, cited in Dawn [October 26, 2001].
reported in the Robert Nickelsberg and Jane Perlez, "Survivors Recount
Fierce American Raid That Flattened a Village," New York Times
[November 2, 2001].
Agence France Presse, Jabal Seraj, "Dix victimes civiles au nord de
Kaboul," www.cyberpresse.ca/reseau/monde/0110/mon_101100029502.html ;
and "US Bomb Kills 10 Civilians in Opposition-Held Afghanistan:
Medic," The Hindustan Times [October 28, 2001].
"Pattern of Error Emerges as Another US Bomb Misses Target," SABC News
[October 28, 2001].
"They Killed All My Children, Husband," The Times of India [October
29, 2001]. Another detailed example chronicles how a U.S bomb fell on
the mud hut village of Wazir Abad, three kilometers west of Kabul on
October 26, killing two sisters ["Girls Killed as US Bomb Strikes
Village, Red Cross Stores Razed," Relief Web citing Reutersand A.F.P.
[October 26, 2001].].
Robyn Dixon in Bangi, "Living with War: Dying a Way of Like for
Civilians in Afghanistan," Los Angeles Times [November 19, 2001].
see James S. Corum, Professor, SAAS, "Inflated by Air. Common
Perceptions of Civilian Casualties From Bombing" [Maxwell, AL.:
Research Report AU/AWC080/1998-4, Air War College, Air University,
Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, April 1998], 49pp.
James S. Robbins, "Humanity of the Air War. Look How Far We Have
Come," The National Review [October 19, 2001]. Robbins is on the staff
of the National Defense University.
Michael Barone, "The Cost of War: Civilian Casualties and Collateral
Damage Are Inevitable in Any War," US News & World Report [October 30,
2001].
similarly, very little mention was [is] made of the 1000s of Iraqi
civilians who were killed in the U.S bombing during the Gulf War --
Red Cross data [see www.zmag.org/wiseconsist.htm ] . Civilian casualty
figures for the Iraq and Yugoslav wars vary enormously depending upon
sources, e.g., from 300 to 1,200 in Yugoslavia and 3,000 in Iraq. A
long, sordid history exists of covering-up heavy civilian casualties,
see Norman Solomon, "Killing Civilians: Behind the Reassuring Words,"
at: www.change-links.org/KILLINGCIVILIANS.htm . Naturally, some
exceptions exist of individual reporters who have maintained high
standards of journalism, e. g. Robert Fisk, Justin Huggler and Richard
Lloyd Parry of The Independent and, of course, Tayseer Allouni of Al-
Jazeera.
Emphasis added -- M.H. Paul Richter, "Despite Grim Predictions U.S
Battle Toll Still Zero," Los Angeles Times [November 24, 2001].
the mainstream media operated in similar fashion during the Gulf War
and the subsequent air attacks on Iraq. Ali Abuminah and Rani Masri
examined 1,000 articles in major newspapers with the key word `Iraq'
during the month of the December 1998 Iraq bombings, and found only 78
articles using the key words `civilian' or `civilians', see Ali
Abuminah and Rani Masri, "The Media's Deadly Spin Over Iraq," in
Anthony Arnove and Ali Abuminah [eds], Iraq Under Siege: The Deadly
Impact of Sanctions and War [London: Pluto Press, 2000].
James Carroll, "This War is Not Just," The Boston Globe [November 27,
2001]: A17.
26b. photographs of specific incidents are available at RAWA,
"Afghanistan Under the U.S Strikes," October 21, 2001, at:
http://rawa.fancymarketing.net/s-photos.htm
Duncan Campbell, "U.S Buys All Satellite War Images," The Guardian
[October 17, 2001]. Also, "U.S Military Buys Rights to Satellite
Images. The Deal Keeps Other Eyes Off the War Zone and Allows a
Different Look," St. Petersberg Times [October 16, 2001], citing an
A.P. story.
from Felicity Lawrence, "A War Without Witnesses," The Guardian
[October 11, 2001].
633 Civilians Killed, Four U.S Planes Downed: AIP," Dawn [November 7,
2001].
photographs of specific incidents are available at RAWA, "Afghanistan
Under the U.S Strikes," October 21, 2001, at http://rawa.fancymarketing.net/s-photos.htm
Andrew Gumbel, "Who is Winning the War of Lies?" The Independent
[November 4, 2001], but also "U.S Jets Bomb Hospital," The Independent
[October 31, 2001].
a photo of the bombed facility and newspaper report from the A.P., is
available: "Heavy Bombers Over the Afghan Skies," at
www.phillyburbs.com/terror/news/1101taliban.htm
32a. As mentioned in Laura King, "In Bomb-Battered Afghanistan,
An Accurate Count Nearly Impossible to Come By," AP Worldstream
[October 19, 2001].
32b. See "The Sustained U.S Bombing of Afghanistan is Killing
Innocent People," Saudi-Online.com [October 15, 2001], citing Arab
News.
32c. Luke Harding, "Stray Missile Had Wrong Coordinates," The
Guardian [October 15, 2001].
32d. At http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold under October 13th .
The incident was reported in: The Guardian [October 15, 2001], the Los
Angeles Times [October 14, 2001], Out There News [October 13, 2001],
the Frontier Post [October 14, 2001], BBC News [October 29, 2001],
Pakistan Observer [October 14, 2001], and Pakistan News Service
[October 14, 2001].
for example, indiscriminate cluster bombing around Jalalabad on
November 10-11th was commented upon by doctors at the local public
health hospital, "the death toll is countless" ["US Bombing Kills
Countless Civilians," Pakistan Observer [November 12, 2001].
Justin Huggler, "Carpet Bombing Kills 150 Civilians in Frontline
Town," The Independent [November 19, 2001].
"Afghan Hospital System Collapses. Injured Civilians Forced to Cross
Border," Pakistan News Service [October 28, 2001].
"Afghan Hospital System Collapses. Injured Civilians Force to Cross
Border," The Frontier Post [October 29, 2001].
"War Sharpens Suffering in Kabul," The Frontier Post [October 30,
2001]
Fareed Zakaria, "Face the Facts: Bombing Works," Newsweek at
www.msnbc.com/news/662668.asp?cp1=1
Ira Chernus, "Is Afghanistan War Worth the Price?" CommonDreams
NewsCenter [November 19, 2001], at: http://commondreams.org/views01/1119-07.htm
another specious argument advanced by the Rumsfeld-Bush team is that
civilian deaths were caused by Taliban anti-aircraft shells falling
back to earth. The U.S propaganda effort is well illustrated in a
document prepared by the State Department titled "Catalogue of Lies"
disputing Taliban claims and published in "Response to Terror," Los
Angeles Times [November 8, 2001]. My discussion parallels that of John
Nichol, "The Myth of Precision," The Guardian [October 29, 2001].
for a counter, see "Pentagon Says `Taliban Hiding Among Civilians',"
at Indymedia [October 24, 2001], at: www.indymedia.org/print.php3?article_id=78276
Richard Lloyd Parry, "Families Blown Apart, Infants Dying. The
Terrible Truth of This `Just War'," The Independent [October 25,
2001].
From John Nichol, op. cit.
Sayed Salahuddin, "Eight Die From One Family in Kabul Raid," at
XTRAMSN [October 22, 2001], at: http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,5954-831834,00.html
"Cluster Bombs Are New Danger to Mine Clearers," The Times [October
26, 2001] also at: www.landmineaction.org/news78.asp. See also
Mennonite Central Committee, "Clusters of Death," at
www.mcc.org/clusterbomb/report/chapter1.htm#5EB2
an internal British Ministry of Defence report estimated that 60% of
the 531 cluster bombs dropped by the RAF during the conflict in Kosovo
missed their intended target or remained unaccounted for. On average,
between 5-12% of the bomblets fail to explode according to U.N
estimates [from Richard Taylor-Norton, `US Deploys Controversial
Weapon. B-52s Scour Country for Troop Convoys to Attack," The Guardian
[October 12, 2001] ].
see Pakistan News Service -- PSN [October 20, 2001] and Amy Waldman,
"Bomb Remnants Increase War Toll," New York Times [November 23,
2001].
Kathleen Kenna, "Afghanistan Conditions Deteriorating," The Toronto
Star [December 4, 2001].
"3 Afghan Children Killed Amassing Scrap of American Bombs," Pakistan
News Service [November 26, 2001], "One dies, six injured as cluster
bomb explodes," The Frontier Post [November 27, 2001].
The Hindustan Times [November 24, 2001].
Own Brown, "'Bus Hit' Claim as War of Words Hots Up," The Guardian
[October 26, 2001]
Phillip Smucker, "Village of Death Casts Doubts over U.S
Intelligence," The Telegraph [November 21, 2001].
Paul Harris in Chaman, "Warlords Bring New Terror," The Observer
[December 2, 2001].
"UN Says Bombs Struck Mosques, Village as Civilian Casualties Mount,"
Agence France Presse in Kabul [Oct. 24th ], cited in The Singapore
News [October 24, 2001].
Tasgola Karla Bruce in Quetta, "Terminate America: Message from a
Mother in Mourning," Sydney Morning Herald [December 8, 2001].
Times of India [December 3, 2001].
Chris Foley in Quetta, "Kandahar, A City of Misery and Rubble," Agence
France-Presse [AFP}, December 6, 2001.
mentioned in Dawn [December 9, 2001].
John MacLachlen Gray, "The Terrible Downside of `Working the Dark
Side'," The Toronto Globe & Mail [October 31, 2001]:R3.
the Spanish-American War does not qualify as it was waged on the land
of Afro-Cubans.
Tim Wise, "Consistently Inconsistent: Rhetoric Meets Reality in the
War on Terrorism," at ZNET [November 15, 2001], at: www.zmag.org/wiseconsist.htm
mentioned in BBC News Online [October 23, 2001].
from "Bombing Alters Afghans Views of U.S.," Pakistan News Service-PNS
[November 7, 2001].
"U.S Bombs Knock Out Dam, "Imperil Thousands", in Heaviest Raids Yet,"
Agence France-Presse [November 1, 2001] cited in Singapore News
Yahoo.com . Richard L. Parry, "U.N Fears `Disaster' Over Strikes Near
Hydro Dam," The Independent [November 8, 2001]. First-hand account by
Wahab, in The Frontier Post [November 7, 2001].
see "U.S Targeting Journalists Not Portraying Her Viewpoint," The
Frontier Post [November 20, 2001], at: www.frontierpost.com.pk
"Fuel Trucks Lie Low in Afghanistan," Guardian [November 6, 2001].
Suleman Ahmer, "Night of Death in Kandahar: An Eyewitness Account,"
Albalagh [November 4,2001], at: www.albalagh.net/current_affairs/kandahar.shtml
dozens of articles in the non-U.S press point to this, for a sampling,
see "Bombing Alters Afghans Views of U.S.," Pakistan News Service
[November 7, 2001], Jonathan Steele, "Bombing Brings Flood of
Refugees," The Guardian [November 21, 2001], "Afghan Refugees Blame
U.S for Misery," The Times of India [November 21, 2001].
and (3) as John Maclachlan Gray noted, to impress the Pakistanis to go
along, the Taliban to defect, and American viewers [that its
government was doing something] . Maclachlan, op. cit.
Marty Jezer, "We Bomb in Afghanistan," CommonDreams [November 2001],
at: www.commondreams.org/views01/1104-04.htm
Magnus Linklater, "Not News, Just Propaganda. No one reports from
Kabul, and that suits generals fine," The Times Newspapers Ltd.
[October12, 2001]. Actually, that statement is incorrect: the Al
Jazeera news service reported continually from Kabul. The first
"western" broadcast unit to reach Kabul was that of the BBC on
November 8th -- see "BBC Team Reaches Kabul," BBC News [November 9,
2001].
See Richard Norton-Taylor, "The Return of the B-52s," The Guardian
[November 2, 2001]; J. Huggler, "American Aircraft Launch First Carpet-
Bombing on Front Line," The Independent [November 1, 2001].
"U.S Carpet Bombs Kabul; 13 Killed in Kandahar," Dawn [November 1,
2001].
Richard Norton-Taylor, "Taliban Hit by Bombs Used in Vietnam," The
Guardian [November 7, 2001].
"The Evils of Bombing," The Guardian [November 8, 2001].
William M. Arkin, "Civilian Casualties and the Air War," The
Washington Post [October 21, 2001].
Richard Lloyd Parry, "Witnesses Confirm That Dozens Were Killed in the
Bombing," The Indpendent [October 13, 2001], and Nic Robertson and
Marcus Tanner, "Bin Laden is not here, so why are we being bombed? War
Against Terrorism: Koram," The Independent [October 15, 2001].
"Afghanistan's Female Bombing Victims," The Frontier Post [October 17,
2001].
BBC News [October 19, 2001] and Reuters [October 20, 2001]
"UN Confirms Destruction of Afghan Hospital," The Guardian [October
23, 2001].
Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah [Quetta], "Afghan Survivors Recount Bombings:
Civilian Deaths Turn Them Against U.S.," Chicago Tribune [October 27,
2001].
"Taliban Confirm Fall of 7 Provinces," The Frontier Post [November 13,
2001], the Herald Sun [Australia] [November 11, 2001] citing the
Agence France Presse, and DAWN [November 11, 2001].
Justin Huggler, "Carpet Bombing `Kills 150 Civilians' in Frontline
Town," The Independent [November 19, 2001].
statement made by Marine Corps Major Brad Powell, spokesman of Command
Central in Tampa {Fl.], 15 hours after the complete destruction of the
mountain village of Kama Ado [Boston Globe, December 2, 2001]: A30].
for a first-hand report of a journalist, see Richard Lloyd Parry, "A
Village is Destroyed and America Says It Never Happened," The
Independent [December 4, 2001]. See also Chris Tomlinson, "Afghan
Village Riddled With Bomb Craters: 155 Villagers Killed," The
Associated Press [December 3, 2001].
in her "These Refugees Are Our Responsibility," Hezb-e-Islami
Afghanistan [November 22, 2001], at: http://www.hezb-e-islami.org/item.asp?ID=1506
Macer Hall and David Wastell, "Truth and Lies About Taliban Death
Claims," The Sunday Telegraph [November 4, 2001]: 14.
87a. David Rhode, "War Wounded, Too: Grandchildren and Ladies,"
The New York Times [December 12, 2001]. The article is available at:
www.afgha.com/article.php?sid=10593&mode=thread&order=0
www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/cbu-87.htm ; and "Members Fight for
Guns and Butter," Washington Post [May 1, 1990]; and Paul Watson and
Lisa Getter, "Silent Peril Lies in Wait for Afghanistan's People," Los
Angeles Times [December 1, 2001].
Micheal Steen, Reuters, "U.S Cluster Bombs Add to Afghan Landmine
Tragedy," Reuters News Service [December 5, 2001], reports that
somewhere between 7-30% of the cluster bomblets fail to explode
(http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/13573/story.htm).
Marcus Aurelius
Afghanistan, like the War in Iraq, is an illegal,criminal, and
aggressive war. Those that committed the terrible act that resulted in
9/11 should have been targeted for capture and criminal trial rather
than the peoples and government of Afghanistan which knew nothing
about the same nor did they co-operate in the 9/11 criminal attack on
the USA. Therefore, the USA had a right to find, capture, and try,
under international law, those responsible for 9/11 but did not have
the legal right to wage war against the Afghani government nor the the
Afghani peoples. The USA should've immediately sent in forces to
Afghanista to capture Ben Laden and his co-conspirators warning the
Afghanistan government not to interfer with the same such that war
would be declared, if they did. The terrible tragedy of 9/11 was a
false pretext, therefore, for both invading and conquering Afghanistan
and Iraq.
The terrible atrocities committed by the USA and it's allies, as you
correctly have listed, in these two illegal, criminal, and aggressive
wars are reminiscent of those committed by tyrannies of the past such
as the one under Adolf Hitler.
End the current illegal, aggressive, and criminal wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan but support the returning veterans!
Docky Wocky
"Those that committed the terrible act that resulted in
9/11 should have been targeted for capture and criminal trial rather
than the peoples and government of Afghanistan which knew nothing
about the same nor did they co-operate in the 9/11 criminal attack on
the USA..."
___________________________
See why things are a lot easier when evil folks wear distinctive uniforms
and stuff like funny hats in bight colors?
Frank Arthur
"Marcus Aurelius" <alexan...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:87a4aa2d-7f0e-43f0...@w39g2000prb.googlegroups.com...
--
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"Support America proudly. The majority of the American electorate, of
all races, chose Barack Hussein Obama based on their belief that he is
best suited to lead the United States of America as President to
change the status quo and give us hope."
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For those who present the same old, same old worn out bullshit, refuse
to change and offer no hope- "pffffffttttt".