Afghan girl holds poster with photos of her family members, who were killed on August 22, 2008 during a US led raid in Azizabad village of Shindand district of Herat province west of Kabul, Afghanistan(AP Photo/Fraidoon Pooyaa)
by Frank James
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been bashing Sen. Barack Obama for a statement he made in August 2007 when he told an audience in New Hampshire:
"Now you have narco drug lords who are helping to finance the Taliban, so we've got to get the job done there, and that requires us to have enough troops that we are not just air raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there,'' Obama said.
At a campaign stop yesterday in Jacksonville, Fla., Palin hit Obama with the following line:
... And he said too that our troops in Afghanistan are just, quote, "air raiding villages and killing civilians." (Boos.) I hope Americans know that is not what our brave men and women in uniform are doing in Afghanistan.
The U.S. military is fighting terrorism and protecting us and protecting our freedom. (Cheers, applause.) They're protecting our democratic values and all that it is that we stand for. They're also building schools for children in Afghanistan so that there is hope and opportunity there, too.
Palin's right that U.S. and other NATO troops in Afghanistan are risking their lives to help rebuild that country as they fight the Taliban. And Obama probably wishes he had chosen his words more carefully back in 2007.
But his concerns about the adverse effects that arise from accidental civilian deaths at the hands of the U.S. military came to mind today because of this story in today's New York Times.
30 Civilians Died in Afghan Raid, U.S. Inquiry Finds
By ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON -- An investigation by the military has concluded that American airstrikes on Aug. 22 in a village in western Afghanistan killed far more civilians than American commanders there have acknowledged, according to two American military officials.
The military investigator's report found that more than 30 civilians -- not 5 to 7 as the military has long insisted -- died in the airstrikes against a suspected Taliban compound in Azizabad.
The investigator, Brig. Gen. Michael W. Callan of the Air Force, concluded that many more civilians, including women and children, had been buried in the rubble than the military had asserted, one of the military officials said.
The airstrikes have been the focus of sharp tensions between the Afghan government, which has said that 90 civilians died in the raid, and the American military, under Gen. David D. McKiernan, the top American military commander in Afghanistan, which has repeatedly insisted that only a handful of civilians were killed.
The report was requested by General McKiernan on Sept. 7, more than two weeks after the airstrikes, in response to what he said at the time was "emerging evidence" about the raids. While American commanders in Afghanistan have contended that 30 to 35 militants were killed in the raid, the new report concludes that many among that group were in fact civilians, the military officials said...
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Comments
Not only that, but if drug lord A want's to put drug lord B out of business, he gives the U.S. this great "intelligence" of a "high ranking" Al-Qaeda leader over in the next village. Mr Predator Drone pays a visit--Mission Accomplished. U.S. duped again. But at least Sarah has her 5th grade talking points.
Posted by: dt | October 8, 2008 1:35 PM
Palin = Truthiness on 'roids.
Posted by: C.Morris | October 8, 2008 2:06 PM
This is no big deal to McCain. I'm sure he killed many more civilians than that in North Vietnam. It's all in a days work for him. Nothing to get upset about. They're not Americans so their lives have no value, It's collateral damage, not a tragedy in his world view.
Posted by: MMG | October 8, 2008 2:38 PM
This is why the GOP method of wrapping every important issue in the flag will be their ultimate downfall. You can't fix anything if you don't admit it's a problem. And if it's unamerican to admit a problem, then it's an endless loop and nothing gets done.
Sounds like the last 8 years.
Posted by: Joe | October 8, 2008 2:38 PM
More blathering nonsense from Frank James. Frank, most of the times the claims about us killing innocent civilians have proven to be lies. They weren't civilians, they were terrorists. Also, the terrorists tend to hide out among the good people. Just like the media's hysteria over the Marine's "slaughter of innocent people" in Haditha has been proven to be false, so do most of these stories.
Obama only wishes he chose other words because he is trying to portray himself as something he isn't. The real Obama is the one who dissed the military. The real Obama is not the one who is now for drilling offshore, the one who is now for nuclear power, the one who is now for tax cuts. The real Obama and his handlers like the LIBune's David Axelrod are people determined to destroy the U.S., not better it.
Posted by: John D | October 8, 2008 2:42 PM
John Devola,
Yeah, just like in Vietnam, right! 'If they run they're VC, if they stand still they're smart VC, and if they're dead they're VC.
Posted by: C.Morris | October 8, 2008 8:54 PM
Hey, Johnny Dimwit,
Maybe you missed this:
Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of international forces in Afghanistan, had said earlier that the chronic shortage of U.S. troops in Afghanistan is forcing commanders to rely more on air combat. U.S. airstrikes that kill civilians have angered and embarrassed the U.S.-backed Afghan government.
Gates said the U.S. military takes extraordinary precautions to avoid civilian casualties, but added, "It is clear that we have to work even harder." He told Afghan officials that he would discuss the issue with American commanders and pilots on Wednesday.00
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-09-17-gates-afghanistan_N.htm
Also, please tell us how the Republican Party is "bettering" America.
Posted by: dt | October 8, 2008 11:29 PM