Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Afghan killings by U.S. and NATO

arabnews.com, May 31, 2011

This war is only fueling anti-Western anger in the region and across the Muslim world

A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths a statistic, argued the late Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. For the United States and its NATO allies, the killing of 52 Afghan civilians, at least 12 of them young children and two women, Saturday night in another airstrike is merely another statistic in the “war on terror.”

And if the killing of civilians in the bombing of a residential compound in Helmand drew angry protests and “warnings” by President Hamid Karzai, they were predictably followed by “sincere apologies” by the coalition saying “top priority is given to prevent civilian casualties and it takes such cases very seriously.” Karzai thunders he has repeatedly warned the coalition against air raids that kill innocents and this is his “last warning” to the coalition.  And White House says it takes “Afghan concerns very seriously,” adding, “We work very hard to avoid civilian casualties.”

Continues >>

No comments: