Who killed 120 civilians? The US says it's not a story »
Posted By dissent 6 months, 2 weeks ago in NewsI did not meet survivors but I did talk to a reliable witness, a radio reporter called Farooq Faizy, who had gone to Bala Baluk soon after the attack happened. He said that police and soldiers nearby were frightened of the Taliban and told him it was too dangerous to go on, but he spoke to some village elders, telling them: "Talk to us and we will tell the world." He says he was none too sure who was in control of the three villages – Gerani, Gangabad and Khoujaha – that had been hit and he was careful about what he said. But he did take some 70 or 80 photographs and they bore out the villagers' story: there were craters everywhere; the villages had been plastered with bombs; bodies had been torn to shreds by the blasts; there were mass graves; there were no signs of damage from bullets, rockets or grenades.
I suspected that the US military's claim that the Taliban had run through the village hurling grenades, supposedly because they had not been paid their cut of profits from the opium poppy crop, was just a delaying tactic. Usually the US military delays admission of guilt until a story has gone cold and the media is no longer interested. "First say 'no story'," runs an old PR adage, "and then say 'old story'." By the end of the week the US was admitting that the grenade-throwing Taliban story was "thinly sourced".
Another thesis was that fighting had taken place 500 metres from the villages, and the Taliban had retreated through them, leading to the airstrikes. Farooq Faizy said he had seen signs of fighting in the shape of two burned-out Afghan army or police vehicles and a destroyed US Humvee, but they were seven or eight kilometres away from the site of the bombing. He had taken photographs of them showing the destroyed Afghan vehicles – Ford pick-ups with a machine gun mount over the bonnet. It seemed likely that this was the fight that had led to the Afghan army and their US advisers asking for air support. What the Americans never explain in Afghanistan or Iraq is why they are using weapons designed for world war three against villages that have not left the Middle Ages – which makes heavy civilian casualties inevitable.
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dissent
we live in a culture of war.
let's make it a culture of peace.
"my country is the world. and my religion is to ...
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engineer6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Radiofreeeuropa6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Locky12Comment removed: Spammer, Abusive23 Replies
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kobzikov6 months, 2 weeks ago
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The tactics don't seem to be very different from the tactics that Soviet Union was using against Taliban and other "mujaheddin".
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I wonder if US is hoping to have the same kind of victory that Soviets had before CIA started supplying arms and training to Taliban and Northern Alliance and call Afghanistan pacified.
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soeze-keyser6 months, 2 weeks ago
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FTA
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Usually the US military delays admission of guilt until a story has gone cold and the media is no longer interested. "First say 'no story'," runs an old PR adage, "and then say 'old story'."
Gee I don't feel any bias coming from that reporter...of course waiting for the facts to emerge takes time, time that this investigative report can't waste, so he puts out a story after talking to a guy who was there after the incident took place.-
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dissent6 months, 2 weeks ago
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"of course waiting for the facts to emerge takes time"
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the military didn't seem to need much time at all in putting out the "facts." in fact, it couldn't wait! but as the reporter says, those very same "facts" were by week's end admitted by the military to be..... "thinly veiled." so much for the facts and waiting for them when it seems to be more a race.... to get the first all-important spin in. and the facts be damned
fta
"I suspected that the US military's claim that the Taliban had run through the village hurling grenades, supposedly because they had not been paid their cut of profits from the opium poppy crop, was just a delaying tactic. Usually the US military delays admission of guilt until a story has gone cold and the media is no longer interested. "First say 'no story'," runs an old PR adage, "and then say 'old story'." By the end of the week the US was admitting that the grenade-throwing Taliban story was "thinly sourced"." -
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sonofreasonComment removed: Hard Banned4 Replies
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Mikunited6 months, 2 weeks ago
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The continuing slaughter of civilians,is not only a moral outrage,it also gives extremists a ready built rallying cry.When disenfranchised young men in Afghanistan,see their brethren killed by lets say,"poor targeting",the Taliban and their like seem less an enemy then Western bombs.So when extreme mullahs issue their battle cry,there is always a large "reserve"force waiting for them.This in turn threatens American,British and government forces lives.On goes the deathly merry-go-round.There is a need to win hearts and minds,it isn't going to happen this way.
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With the World in the grip of a major crisis,the effort should be to bring people together,rather than continuously driving people apart.This all starts with considering others a little more.Ordinary families are being slaughtered in Afghanistan,Iraq,Kashmir,Gaza,Southern Israel,central Africa,Sudan etc etc.All in the name of senseless political goals,that are doomed to failure,even before they begin.
It really is time to attempt to live in harmony with each other and nature,before we reach a point of no return.There are so many reasons to work together,like climate change,environmental degradation,pandemics,poverty,financial breakdown.What are we doing?,killing ordinary families!-
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YouStupidFools6 months, 2 weeks ago
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It is simple. The Taliban can put on uniforms, and then we will know who is civilian, and who is military. Now they are all just lying cowards who hide behind women and children and if that is how they desire to treat their women and children, then I have no sympathy for them.
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SandmonsterComment removed: Hard Banned12 Replies
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Icantwait6 months, 2 weeks ago
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My Fellow Americans: It saddens me to report that on 9/11/09 at precisely 12 noon a nuclear explosion exploded in the middle of New York City, at 12:05 another nuclear explosion occurred in Las Angeles, at 12:10 a third nuclear explosion leveled Chicago, at precisely 12:15 Miami was disintegrated followed by a final nuclear blast in Dallas. Floods, Fires, Searing Heat, Smell of Human Flesh, Buildings Melted, All Communications Cut Off, Complete Devastation covering the Continent of America. How did it Happen? The Talibans advance into Pakistan, the Accumulation of Nuclear Weapons upon the Pakistans retreat, No American recognition of Danger, American Open Borders, No Profiling Border Checks, The Belief that The Moderate Taliban were becoming our Friends, The Lack of Enemy Recognition and the Presidents Belief that The Most Vicious Race of Terorist could not be a Threat to American Soil. While on the home front, The End of the Most Powerful Country the World has ever Known, has Finally Arrived. Need One Say Any More? The Real American
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meddlesomj6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Even if they captured the bombs from pakistan they cant deliver them to us soil. If they came close to taking the nukes, the us know where they are and would destroy them once the legitimate govt fell. that fear mongering dog dont hunt
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most_reasonable6 months, 2 weeks ago
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You don't get it do you?
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You are dealing with a mentality that prizes murder and destruction in the name of Allah over all. Even if it means killing other Muslims.
Think you are safe, turn your head on the suffering in Darfur?
Want a Nuclear conflict on the Indian subcontinent? Want to wait for the development or SALE of missiles to the Sunnis and the development of the same by the Iranian Shiites. From the constant murder of each other they will have NO problem in hurling those missiles.
During the war between the Iraqis and the Iranians, the Iraqis used gas warfare against Iranian population centers (I don't recall any arab state complaining any more than they do today about the massacres in the Sudan), while the Iranians marched their children across Iraqi mine fields in order to clear them. A medal with a promise that it was a coin to enter Paradise was made by the Mullahs.
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Icantwait6 months, 2 weeks ago
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My Fellow Americans: The Taliban is less than 30 Miles from Nuclear Retribution. The President sleeps peacefully in his bed. His Administration sleeps peacefully in his bed as well. The Fate of America is not an issue and Americans are unaware of the danger. The Taliban comes to Bury America not to Praise it. The Evil will live after him, (Obama). There is No Good to be Intered with His Bones. For The Poets. The Real American
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