Thursday, February 25, 2010

Mistakes of War


We heard the tragic news that ten children, eight schoolboys from one family, were killed because of faulty intelligence. They died last December when troops raided a mountain compound, thinking they were known insurgents. They weren't and Nato says the raid should never have been authorised.
Two men whose children and other relatives were killed provided pictures of their dead sons, a sketched map of the compound and copies of the compensation claim forms signed by local officials. Their story was supported by Western military forces. Farooq Abdul Ajan lost eight members of his family in the raid, two sons, two brothers, three nephews and a cousin.
Anger is growing over civilian casualties. The Independent Human Rights Commission said that 63 civilians have died in the past 2 weeks. Assadullah Wafa, who led an Afghan investigation into the incident, said that relatives would get $2,000 compensation for each person killed. What an insult.
We can't shrug off these tragic events as being part of the ugliness of war, these mistakes have got to stop.

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