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Subscribe to RSSMay 22: Rachel Maddow reports on the headlines from the NATO summit in Chicago, including supply routes to Afghanistan through Pakistan.
KABUL - Eight civilians in one family, including six children, were killed in a NATO air strike after a field operation in Paktia province, local government officials told NBC News.
The incident took place at 8pm on Saturday in the Garda Serrai district, according the Paktia government spokesman Rohullah Samoon.
They were all members of one family, he said.
NATO said told NBC News it was taking the reports of the incident seriously and was investigating.
Samoon told Reuters said the air strike was not coordinated with Afghan security forces on the ground in the area.
Civilian casualties have been a major source of friction between President Hamid Karzai's government and U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan, Reuters reported.
NATO is preparing to hand over all security responsibilities to Afghan forces and most foreign combat troops are scheduled to leave the country by the end of 2014.
Khyber Shinwari, NBC News, contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Is NATO not a criminal? Terrorist?..why not condemning it? Is clinton stopping you? Or the AIPAC?..Kill Muslims but the more you kill the triple of your own communities enbrassing Islam!! Your theory is wrong and will remain wrong, the more you try to stop the truth, the more it gushies out with lots of evidences against the oppressed. NATO is as criminal and terrorist as its whole admins.
The 6 children had 10 inch beards, turbans. AK 47s and suicide bomb vests.
I agree with Secretary of State Clinton: "Rule by terror and muder must end." The UN should immediately callfor a resolution demanding sanctions against the US until such time as it's willing to act like a responsible member of the fraternity of nations and stop acting like a rogue state. A good start would be to freeze all US assets held in foreign banks, and a ban on all arms sales to and from the US.
you do know the US is NATO right, they will hot bite the hand that feeds them..anytime something happens that requires UN action who gives the most and keeps their hands from getting dirty..
responsible members of the fraternity...we are the only ones who do anything in the fraternity and get left holding the bag and who do you think buys our arms.....? yup those wonderful UN frat brothers who are always in the rear with our gear
NATO is about as useless as a limp D@#!k in a brothel
Whether Afghanistan or Pakistan, when an incident like this is reported, it is always children and a woman who are reported killed. Always.
First, it needs to be verified by viewing the bodies that there were indeed casualties.
Second, if there were casualties, it is just too convenient that they are always these two groups... children and women... who are the dead. Children and women.. the two throw-away expendables in the Muslim culture.
But they sure are good for getting millions in blood money from the US and for making us look bad.
Thousands Of Innocent People Killed In Terrorist Strikes.
But that's ok, right? And yomama, you are soooo very wrong.
Why are we waging this war, a decade after the terrorist training camps were destroyed? It has nothing to do with terrorism and everything to do with the oil and natural gas in and around the Caspian sea. Afghanistan is apparently on a convenient path from the Caspian to the coast of India. A plan for a pipeline was in place long before 9/11. When some oil companies tried to reach an agreement with the Taliban (in a meeting in Texas), the Taliban refused. That's when the Taliban ceased to be our buddies.
Don't believe it? Do some research.
Until the U.S. Government stops licking the balls of the elite money grubber class and is controlled by honorable men and women, we will continue to read similar stories. OBAMA, BRING HOME THE MILITARY! There's enough for them to do with protecting our border, eliminating drugs, protecting us from police abuse.
Bring the troops home. There's enuff for them to do protecting us from professors, actors, NYC, LA and SF Council members. the UFT, MSNBC and other assorted stealth communists.
leftsux, you do know that soldiers simply follow orders, don't you? Otherwise, they are guilty of insubordination and failure to obey orders merits the worst punishments, including death. So when you are "supporting the troops," what you are really doing is supporting the people who are giving them their orders. Those people are the politicians. So every time you say "Go USA!" and "Support our troops!" what you are really saying is "Hooray for Obama and Boehner!" Of course, since the politicians are only doing the bidding of those who fund their campaigns, you might as well shout: " Hooray EXXON!" and "Go GE!" It's truly amazing that those who most ardently support the military are so critical of the politicians that they serve. Not too many clear thinkers in that camp, I'm afraid.
Anarchists
Just love your own hypocrisy. Tell me.. when you drive to the protest, use your smartphone, plug your charger into an outlet do you not see the irony in how those devices are used by the very people that protest the manufacturer. I have heard this tripe for years about how big corporations control the government. What a crock. Yes there is lobbying power but that comes in all forms. Look at how much the President has caved in the to the minority extremists groups.
Jobs... not campaign dollars is what keep politicians in office.Why do you think earmarks are such a fought after equity in Washington.
The men and women of the Armed Forces are the mindless robots you like to stereo type us as. It is because we believe in something. Trust me, if it was not for them you would not be posting anything on the internet except your love for Big Brother
Its votes that count and since you sell yours yoo are part of the problem too.
Thanks for terrorizing my children while I was deployed. Like all cowards your type wilted away when I returned.
massachuetts,
Your argument does not hold water. Soldiers DO NOT just blindly follow orders from their superiors. If the soldier knows that an order is illegal or immoral, it is that soldiers duty to refuse to carry out the order. If the soldier does carry out the order, he/she is can and will be held responsible under the rules outlined in the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice).
proud and Rich - well said brothers
get out we will not change anything only waste more lives us and afghan as well as national treasure which we don't have after 9/11 special forces and air power unseated taliban and destroyed terrorist training camps which was the goal. Sending in 130000 troops and nation building was not the goal and not in our best interests. Whoever makes these decisions HEAR THIS the USA cannot be the world's policeman nor it's welfare office.
They aren't listening because sociopaths don't care about consequences.
No statements of outrage from the US gov't now or when the US military killed 30,000- GW Bush's words- during Shock and Awe during its assault and invasion of Iraq in 2003. Two-faced USA.
Just love how you guys pull those numbers out of your butt.
Google it military man- It was at a WH press conference. Previously, in December 2005, Bush estimated that 30,000 Iraqis had died in the war. Following the Lancet survey being published, when asked again, Bush said: "I stand by the figure, a lot of innocent people have lost their life."[25]
DOU44, why should there be any outrage? Those who hold the power in this country would have no problem with having any number of Americans die to keep their privileges intact - they do it every day by taking away the resources typical Americans need to lead happy, healthy lives - so why should they care what happens to foreigners? It's no different in other countries. The Isrealis have already done their calculations and have determined that any retaliation from Iran for an attack on their nuclear facilities would be "acceptable" - that is, there wouldn't be enough dead Israelis to inconvenienct the leaders. The Iranians have their own calculations of what would be "acceptable" losses on their own side. Assad has calculated how much he can lose before he suffers and is content to see Syrians die for it. The Syrian "activists" have their own calculations and are just as happy to see Syrians die as long as they are able to take power and gain their own privileges. Those on the lower socio-economic levels are always expendable - and they are also the most gleefully gung-ho about the idiocy of "nationalism" that both enslaves them economicially and kills them in wars. The stupidity of people is incredible.
You are correct. One thing all military regimes do is look after their own survival and infallibility which is why the claims of US-NATO are totally suspect. The designers of these airstrikes do not know with certainty who they are killing.
massachuetts,
" ...they do it every day by taking away the resources typical Americans need to lead happy, healthy lives - so why should they care what happens to foreigners?"
OK, sounds good but prove your point (if you can).
You missed her point. She is more focused on one-third of the deaths than the other two-thirds. To her it was more acceptable to kill twice as many adults as kids.
Hopefully there would be some "tipping point" where she would be angered enough to denounce all deaths equally.
You missed her point. She is more focused on one-third of the deaths than the other two-thirds. To her it was more acceptable to kill twice as many adults as kids.
Hopefully there would be some "tipping point" where she would be angered enough to denounce all deaths equally.
It was done in Vietnam and I have no doubt that it occurs in Afganistan. The question is: are these really casualties of a strike or, as was done in Vietnam, were these people killed by their own countrymen to make it look like an air strike to make NATO look bad?
zj,
You were there I suppose.
This is surprising ? I have witnessed airstrikes. They are not pretty. When you launch one, chances are people will be hurt or killed. (go figure)
If there is a war going on, people are going to be injured and killed. The good guys as well as the bad guys. Bombs are not THAT smart yet.
We talk of planes attacking targets with ' surgical precision'.....yes, we have gotten very good at that. But if I drop hundreds of pounds of high explosive on a 10x10 foot target, chances are that anyone wihin 50 yards will be seriously injured or killed.
Don't want any more bombs dropped on you ? Quit being the enemy !
If you are bombing another country's civilians, you are the enemy.
DOU44....It's called collateral damage...it has happened in every major war! Get over youself! Why don't you discuss the Taliban forcing young men to fight for them by threating them with harm to their families? How about the bombers that blow themselves up in bazaars and public places and kill hundreds of innocent civilians? Oh, I know! Cause your an IDIOT!!
"DOU44....It's called collateral damage...it has happened in every major war! Get over youself!"
Yawwwwwwn. I really don't get why everyone makes a big deal about Nazi death camps. Civilians get slaughtered in armed conflicts. Those judges at Nuremberg should have just gotten over themselves.
And by the way-- the Taliban's atrocities are widely discussed and almost universally condemned. Where do you guys get the idea that no one ever mentions the crimes of others?
LevTolstoy2, There is a big difference in the Nazi death camps and 6 children in Afghanistan! One was an accident, the other was intentional! I'm sure that Neither NATO or the U.S. Military target Children intentionally. But, I'm sure you can figure that out!
The critique was not meant to suggest a moral equivalency, but merely to point out where this reasoning leads-- "if bad things can be expected then they are not to be fretted over or even avoided."
Oh Dou44 ...I forgot..... The United States is in the business of killing innocent people.....that's why we sent troops over in the first place ! Oh we CALL it a 'war on terror" , but thats just code for " Let's kill civilians " !
Nobody in our government or military wants to kill civilians. They avoid it as much as possible. Sometimes it is unavoidable. This does not mean that Americans are bad, uncaring, or evil. I assure you, there are many people trying to keep this from happening.It sometimes happens anyway. Wars are like that. People get killed.n't like the insinuation that we do this for fun, or that we are wrong in taking out a military target because some civilians were killed. Airstrikes have killed our OWN troops. While it is sad and tragic, it sometimes can not be helped. I also don't like it when it is suggested that WE are the enemy.....clearly you have not been there and seen what goes on !
But don't ever forget, we kill innocent people only because the cowardly enemy won't wear a uniform and fight our highly equipped and trained heroes face-to-face. It is only because they operate secretly against us that we have to bomb them seriously with drones operated from bases in Omaha, Nebraska.
Let them fight the way we want them to and we will kill their grownups who dare to disagree with us - then once the parents are dead we can blame them for leaving their children behind as orphans. We can then also bray about how little love they have for their families, how little they respect human life, how bad Islam is compared to Chrisitanity, and so on.
Right on, for the Lord and the AMERICAN WAY!!!!
Would this be the same "Lord" who preached, "But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also?" Would it be the same "Lord" who said, "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you?"
Chitta, another idiot heard from.
Actually Chitta is exposing past and current conservative American attitudes. These Americans have real trouble admitting their gov't is two faced and cannot win a guerrilla war in a far away land.
By the way Chitta, the "Drones" are operated out of Florida, not Nebraska!
Do you recognize sarcasm, dumbo?
You bunch of Anti-American Morons, You want us to stop Assad, you wanted us to stop Hussein, you wanted us to stop Qaddafi! But when the U.S. Military flex a little muscle you scream that its America's fault. Get you heads out of your butts and hear this:
War is not a game...it is war.
War will always lead to collateral damage ie: innocent lives lost!
The objective of war is to demoralize and destroy your enemy!
The media only reports those few missions that go wrong...never the ones that go right!
The media should not be allowed to travel with combat units..this is a war, not a tour!
Where are all you bleeding hearts when a bomber blows himself up in a crowded bazaar or restaurant and kills a bunch of innocent civilians?
If you haven't noticed, the enemy does not allow journalist to travel with their fighters, wonder why? That way you will never know about the atrocities that the commit against the civilian population!
Afghanistan is not our country and their "security force" is a joke wracked with corruption! Kind of like why we didn't consult with Pakistan before we went in and took out Bin Laden! had we told Pakistan what we we're doing, he would have been tipped of and long gone!
This enemy does not where uniforms, so it is hard to distinguish between friend and foe. So there will be mistakes in some cases. However, if any of you can convince the enemy to put on uniforms we could cut down some of the mistaken identity problems!
With this being said, any of you "geniuses" that have a better way to depose these dictators that are killing their own people, speak up!
As I stated above, the US cannot win a political solution unless its opponents dress and behave as the Rand Corporation and WW2 minded strategists theorize, so that the smaller inferior forces of its opponent may be wiped out. Installing Karzai's puppet gov't while the fighting is ongoing is a failure. Tom, maybe you should get your head out your own butt.
Thank you Tom. Well said. Have a beer and let the heart rate come down. Happy holiday.
The reason we can't win is IDIOTS like yourself that think war is fair! The art of war is clear, Destroy your enemy with all means nessessary. In Vietnam that meant the unresticted bombing of Hanoi and North Vietnam, but you bleeding hearts didn't have the stomach for it. Has for installing a government, that was once again you bleeding hearts wanting to help the Afghan people. We were after the Taliban and Al Qidia, not the Afghan people or government. We should have went in wiped them out and left. period!! DOU44, you need to move from this country which you hate so much. May I suggest Afghanistan, Iraq, or Iran.
"The reason we can't win is IDIOTS like yourself that think war is fair! The art of war is clear, Destroy your enemy with all means nessessary. In Vietnam that meant the unresticted bombing of Hanoi and North Vietnam, but you bleeding hearts didn't have the stomach for it."
The purpose of war is not to destroy indiscriminately, but to further defined political goals. Given that the domino theory turned out to be rank nonsense, can you explain to me what the overarching benefits of "winning" in Vietnam by slaughtering even more civilians than we did would have been?
I'm sure that the North Vietnamese still laugh that they could use out of uniform "Viet Cong", mistreat prisoners of war, and had little regard for killing for the South Vietnamese civilian population. The objective of war is to defeat and demoralize your enemy. When you are held accountable while your enemy is not is ridiculous. Your knowledge of the Vietnam war is like most people, media driven! The North Vietnamese army killed more civilians than the U.S. military did and admitted to this. If a village didn't cooperate with the Viet Cong, they we're all killed and the village burned! levTolstoy2, you should be a Fox News reporter..one sided, with little or no knowledge of what you are talking about. War is not a civilized action..it is ferocious and a nasty business not for the light of heart. Wussys like you have no business in it or discussing it!!
Once more: besides "winning," what specific political objectives would an intensified bombing campaign have accomplished? What specific objectives would have been served by continuing to prop up the South Vietnamese leadership?
I am not suggesting that there are no justifiable responses to these questions. However, "defeating and demoralizing the enemy" is not in and of itself a meaningful objective.
Nagasaki and Hiroshima, need I say more? By using the atomic bomb, we prevented an invasion of the Japanese homeland that would have cost over one million lives, US and Japanese. It demoralized the enemy and caused their unconditional surrender. Since then, no other country has ever used an atomic or nuclear device since. It has served has a warning to all and has prevented more wars.
"Nagasaki and Hiroshima, need I say more? "
Uh, yes. You need say more.
I asked you what specific political objectives would be advanced by intensifying our campaign in Vietnam. You respond with a reference to Japan, where (all other debates aside) there were clear political objectives in achieving such a victory. Answer my question in the specific context in which I framed it, please.
WHY is OBAMA KILLING these CHILDREN?
The same reason that Bush-Cheney killed Afghanis and Iraqis: They got the go-ahead from the mega banks, weapons makers, oil companies, foreign interlopers, generals, and just enough of the ill-informed US public.
So you think the banks ordered Barack to kill these 6 children? And he went along with it? What a scumbag.
The US war machine is a combination of social and institutional components all relying on the other for fulfillment in case you have not thought about it. 9 children killed by one Sgt R. Bales recently, another 6 Afghani children by NATO aerial bombing, or 30,000 Iraqis killed as a result of the US bombardment and initial invasion in the admission by Bush at a 12/2005 newsconference. Why are you so selective in your outrage leroy?
Who is the prez?
Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama, and whoever follows are all implicated in funding wars either covertly and illegally as Reagan, or managing wars of choice- Johnson, Nixon, Clinton, Bush, Obama against other countries or mere groups. That is the point dude.
If he is still President next year he can fly there and celebrate the aniversary of this killing.
To all you bleeding hearts, If you want Assad out so bad, go get him yourself. I for one don't want to hear you cry when a few inncocent civilians get killed. DOU44, this means you!! You go be the world's cop!! I'll buy you the plane ticket! maybe if you do it, there won't be any civilian losses. And you being a "small " force, it shouldn't be any problem for you. You won't even need a uniform! And if they capture you, I'm sure Assad and the Syrian military will abide by the Geneva Convention! I'm sure Assad will listen to you and not kill anymore civilians!
Wow, you really hate anyone who is even remotely concerned about innocent people dying, don't you? What a fine specimen of humanity you are.
TomTarbox: The world never asked for a cop, that's why people like you don't understand when people fight back against the US which has self-imposed itself as the world's arbiter of military and social justice and economics since WW2: in other words, who gets to sit at the Big table. You must a right winger.
DOU44, everytime you turn on the TV it has some poor civilian from Syria calling for the US to step in and take Assad out. So give me a break! Iraq wanted Saddam gone, Libya wanted Quaddafy gone, and now Syria wants Assad gone...anyone else gonna step up? I don't think so! China, Russia, Germany, France, Japan, or Canada? DOU44, your the one complaining about these six children being killed accidently in Afghanistan, how about the 100 plus killed in in Syria yesterday? Oh, wait, those don't count cause a despot dictator killed them! Your dumb has a rock!
"Syria" does not want Assad gone. Some Syrians do.
"Iraq" didn't want Saddam gone. Some Iraqis did.
"Libya" did not want Gaddhafi gone. Some Libyans did.
While I think that all three of these "leaders" were/are disgusting murderers, we do ourselves no favors when we approach the world in such simplistic terms. If it was simply a case of "Iraq wants Saddam gone. He is bad. Whoever gets rid of him is good" then we wouldn't have been there so damn long.
Using the logic that the kids deserved to die because they here in the wrong place is the same as saying a kid that dies in a murder suicide deserves to die because he was in the wrong place .
Its so nice to know my fellow Americans can blow off the deaths of innocents so easily , maybe the victims of 9/11 are just collateral damage of the failed US foreign policy that has no problem supporting dictators and Monarch that exploit their own to support American special interest . Wear your blood diamonds and drive you 10 MPG hummer with pride
We supported Saddam Hussein when he was a stabilizing force in the Middle East. That support ended the day he invaded Kuwait. We asked him to withdraw, he refused, and then we forcibly removed him. I suppose you don't think that was justified either. The U.S. has been used as a "World Police Force" by the rest of the world for to long. It is now Russia and China's turn. The difference in this will be that neither of the fore mentioned countries will take action the way we do. They will be brutal and without concern for collateral damage. That's why these terrorist don't attack China, because the retribution would be swift and unholy! Come to think of it, isn't that what I have said we should be doing all along?
Don't get me wrong, I am concerned with civilian casualties. However the fact that Bill Clinton had Osama Bin Laden in his sights and didn't pull the trigger was because their we're woman and children in the compound now seems a little ridiculous! If we had gotten him then there would be thousands of innocent civilians, both American and Afghans alive today. So lets review, if Clinton had pulled the trigger we would still have the World Trade Center, 3000 American Citizens, several thousand U.S. troops, thousands of Afghan citizens today. Collateral damage has a whole new meaning to you now?
"Don't get me wrong, I am concerned with civilian casualties."
Clearly.
Still waiting for you to clarify the political objectives that would have been served by intensifying our bombing of civilian population centers in Vietnam.
Just think how many Afghan children would be alive today if the CIA had just been able to afford to hire a few covert people in the world. Then of course the CIA would have just been able to answer Cheney/Rummy/Blair when they called about picking up Osama Bin Laden and his gang of Muslim Mastermind 9/1//01 planners. A quick sure OBL was just here a few minutes ago, so you want us to pick him up so you can put him on trial in NYC, would have prevented two wars and saved trillions of dollars.
Tom: The hapless Bush Admin. was in power on Sept. 11, 2001 thereby showing glaringly failed leadership and incompetence in national defense and only besting that incompetence by unjustifiably invading and occupying an already economically ruined Iraq.
DOU44, It was Bill Clinton's failue! When he had Osama in his sights and didn't pull the trigger because woman and children were in the compond. If he had, we would still have the World Trade Center, 3000 American citizens, thousands of U.S. service men and woman, and thousands of Afghan civillians! Instead Bill Clinton chose 20 woman and Children!