Violations? By WHO?
Group Decries Marines in Afghan Shooting April 14, 2007 By FISNIK ABRASHI (AP)
— A U.S. Marine unit broke international humanitarian law by using excessive force during a shooting spree last month that left 12 people dead, an Afghan human rights group said in a report Saturday.
The troops fired indiscriminately at pedestrians, people in cars, public buses and taxis in six different locations along a 10-mile stretch of road in Nangahar province after an explosives-rigged minivan crashed into their convoy on March 4, according to the report by Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission.
Six people were killed near the blast site, while the other six died on the road as the troops sped away, said Ahmad Nader Nadery, the group's spokesman.
The dead included a 1-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and three women, the report said. Thirty-five people were wounded in the shootings.
"In failing to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets the U.S. Marines Corps Special Forces employed indiscriminate force," the report said. "Their actions thus constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law standards."
The group said its report was based on interviews with victims and their families, witnesses, local community leaders, hospital officials and police.
A U.S. military commander has also determined that the Marines used excessive force and referred the case for possible criminal inquiry, a senior U.S. defense official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
U.S. military officials said after the incident that the suicide attack was part of an ambush that included militant gunmen shooting at Marines, which may have caused some of the civilian casualties.
Oh my goodness! 12 civilians killed in a fire fight started in their country by their countrymen.?
"In failing to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets the U.S. Marines Corps Special Forces employed indiscriminate force," the report said. "Their actions thus constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law standards."
What about the terrorist's attacks against civilians? Where are these "Afgan human rights groups" and others when these attacks take place? Where were they when the Taliban forces siezed control of their country, hijacked their religion, subjugated their population? Most importantly. when are we going to learn that no matter what we do to help, we will not be appreciated, but reviled, not only by those who asked for our help, but by our own citizens? One cannot "support the troops" without supporting their mission, which is decided by their leaders, who are chosen by a representative majority of Americans. Like their decisions or not, our leaders are duly elected and we should support them until such time as they are replaced by lawful elections. Anything else is NOT "supporting the troops." It is merely lying to disguise an agenda. You decide whose it is, and what they plan.
— A U.S. Marine unit broke international humanitarian law by using excessive force during a shooting spree last month that left 12 people dead, an Afghan human rights group said in a report Saturday.
The troops fired indiscriminately at pedestrians, people in cars, public buses and taxis in six different locations along a 10-mile stretch of road in Nangahar province after an explosives-rigged minivan crashed into their convoy on March 4, according to the report by Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission.
Six people were killed near the blast site, while the other six died on the road as the troops sped away, said Ahmad Nader Nadery, the group's spokesman.
The dead included a 1-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and three women, the report said. Thirty-five people were wounded in the shootings.
"In failing to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets the U.S. Marines Corps Special Forces employed indiscriminate force," the report said. "Their actions thus constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law standards."
The group said its report was based on interviews with victims and their families, witnesses, local community leaders, hospital officials and police.
A U.S. military commander has also determined that the Marines used excessive force and referred the case for possible criminal inquiry, a senior U.S. defense official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
U.S. military officials said after the incident that the suicide attack was part of an ambush that included militant gunmen shooting at Marines, which may have caused some of the civilian casualties.
Oh my goodness! 12 civilians killed in a fire fight started in their country by their countrymen.?
"In failing to distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets the U.S. Marines Corps Special Forces employed indiscriminate force," the report said. "Their actions thus constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law standards."
What about the terrorist's attacks against civilians? Where are these "Afgan human rights groups" and others when these attacks take place? Where were they when the Taliban forces siezed control of their country, hijacked their religion, subjugated their population? Most importantly. when are we going to learn that no matter what we do to help, we will not be appreciated, but reviled, not only by those who asked for our help, but by our own citizens? One cannot "support the troops" without supporting their mission, which is decided by their leaders, who are chosen by a representative majority of Americans. Like their decisions or not, our leaders are duly elected and we should support them until such time as they are replaced by lawful elections. Anything else is NOT "supporting the troops." It is merely lying to disguise an agenda. You decide whose it is, and what they plan.
posted by Dalt Danyon at 9:45 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home