Ollie North Rides Again – To An Afghan Massacre
lc
http://firedoglake.com/2008/09/08/ollie-north-rides-again-%e2%80%93-to-an-afghan-massacre/#more-31459
By: Siun Monday September 8, 2008 7:30 am
Remember the recent report of 90 Afghan civilians killed by a US
airstrike – which was roundly denied by the US forces but led to
Karzai firing two generals for their involvement.
Well, there’s more.
The UN, a leading Afghan human rights group and the Afghan government
all investigated and issued reports backing the claims of the
villagers in Nawabad. The US forces continued to deny any such
killings – saying at most 7 civilians were killed – until this past
Saturday. As The Times of London reports:
Last night the Pentagon announced that it was reopening the
investigation in the light of “emerging evidence” and was sending an
officer to Nawabad to review its previous inquiry. Villagers and the
UN insist that 92 were killed, including as many as 60 children.
Emerging evidence? The previous reports which UN sources privately
stated were "conclusive" did not lead to a reconsideration by the
Pentagon - even though the Financial Times notes these reports were
available prior to the Pentagon's report on the event.
It was only when a video – shot by an Afghan doctor on his cell phone
the morning after the killings – became public knowledge that the
Pentagon decided to reconsider. The doctor supplied the film to the UN
and the Times of London has seen the footage and reports what it
shows:
As the doctor walks between rows of bodies, people lift funeral
shrouds to reveal the faces of children and babies, some with severe
head injuries.
Women are heard wailing in the background. “Oh God, this is just a
child,” shouts one villager. Another cries: “My mother, my mother.”
A second film was reportedly shot by Afghan forces which corroborates
the doctor’s film but has not been made public according to The Times.
The Financial Times also describes the doctor's video, saying:
The UN estimates that at least 40 bodies are under white funeral
shrouds shown in the video.
The mutilated remains of 10 children are also visible in the video
which officials say convinced the UN to support the claims of the
Afghan government that the incident was one of the worst atrocities
committed by western forces in the country since 2001.
Evidence compiled by a UN team that visited the site also included
testimonies of villagers and lists of names that were cross
referenced.
”This video really brought home the magnitude and psychological
horror of what happened in Shindand,” an official said on condition of
anonymity.
…The UN has not yet made the evidence public, saying it is too
disturbing to be generally released.
Before the leak to the media of this video the Pentagon repeatedly
“strongly denied” the mass slaughter of civilians and backed up its
claims with the eyewitness report of “an embedded independent
journalist." On Sunday, the Times of London identified that
“journalist:”
The US military said that its findings were corroborated by an
independent journalist embedded with the US force. He was named as the
Fox News correspondent Oliver North, who came to prominence in the
1980s Iran-Contra affair, when he was an army colonel.
Pardon me while I throw up.
Today, Human Rights Watch is issuing a new report on civilian deaths
in Afghanistan - Troops in Contact’: Airstrikes and Civilian Deaths in
Afghanistan. Amongst the findings:
In the first seven months of 2008, at least 540 Afghan civilians
were killed in fighting related to the armed conflict. Of those, at
least 367 died during attacks by the various insurgent forces and 173
died during US or NATO attacks. At least 119 were killed by US or NATO
airstrikes. For all periods cited, Human Rights Watch uses the most
conservative figures available.
Human Rights Watch criticized the poor response by US officials
when civilian deaths occur. Prior to conducting investigations into
airstrikes causing civilian loss, US officials often immediately deny
responsibility for civilian deaths or place all blame on the Taliban.
US investigations conducted have been unilateral, ponderous, and
lacking in transparency, undercutting rather than improving relations
with local populations and the Afghan government. A faulty condolence
payment system has not provided timely and adequate compensation to
assist civilians harmed by US actions.
“The US needs to end the mistakes that are killing so many
civilians,” said Adams. “The US must also take responsibility,
including by providing timely compensation, when its airstrikes kill
Afghan civilians. While Taliban shielding is a factor in some civilian
deaths, the US shouldn’t use this as an excuse when it could have
taken better precautions. It is, after all, its bombs that are doing
the killing.”
COMMENT:
These villagers were told we were their friends.
Interview with Evan Wright author of “Generation Kill”...
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.royalty/msg/8427ff62f1f12d2d
[]
US, NATO Air Strikes Triple Civilians Deaths in Afghanistan
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/8/us_nato_air_strikes_triple_civilians
September 08, 2008 [rush transcript]
Civilian deaths in Afghanistan from US and NATO air strikes have
nearly tripled from 2006 to 2007, according to a new report by Human
Rights Watch. Air strikes killed at least 321 civilians in 2007,
compared with at least 116 in 2006. The tally for this year is
expected to be even higher. We speak with Kathy Gannon, an award-
winning Associated Press correspondent who has covered Afghanistan and
Pakistan for over two decades.
lc
Deaths»
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/08/military-oliver-north/
Sep 8th, 2008
or weeks, the U.S. military has denied charges that its Aug. 22 attack
on Azizabad, Afghanistan killed scores of civilians, despite the fact
that Afghan witnesses, the United Nations, and other human rights and
international officials all say roughly 90 villagers were killed.
Yesterday, the military reversed course and requested an investigation
into the strike in light of “emerging evidence.” Part of that evidence
is cellphone images showing “at least 11 dead children,” according to
the New York Times.
As Firedoglake points out, the Times of London revealed that the U.S.
had been relying on accounts from an embedded journalist: Fox News’s
Oliver North:
The US military said that its findings were corroborated by an
independent journalist embedded with the US force. He was named as the
Fox News correspondent Oliver North, who came to prominence in the
1980s Iran-Contra affair, when he was an army colonel.
On Sep 8, 10:16 am, lc <lol7...@msn.com> wrote:
> Ollie North Rides Again – To An Afghan Massacrehttp://firedoglake.com/2008/09/08/ollie-north-rides-again-%e2%80%93-t...
> Interview with Evan Wright author of “Generation Kill”...http://groups.google.com/group/alt.royalty/msg/8427ff62f1f12d2d
>
> []
> US, NATO Air Strikes Triple Civilians Deaths in Afghanistanhttp://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/8/us_nato_air_strikes_triple_civil...