Wednesday 30 December 2009

Monday 28 December 2009

Nato End the Year As They Started It


A statement from Mr Karzai's office said initial reports indicated the civilians had died in "a series of operations by international forces" on Saturday 26th December.
It said he "strongly condemns the operation which caused civilian deaths and has appointed a delegation to investigate the incident".
The AFP news agency quoted a senior Afghan official as saying the death toll could change as investigations take place.
An unnamed Western official told AFP that US special forces had been conducting operations in the area, close to the border with Pakistan, and had killed and captured "a lot of Taliban". 30 Taliban by any chance? The usual number they claim after every bungled operation or massacre.

Friday 18 December 2009

Afghanistan War Casualties Christmas Quiz


Generous cash prizes to all who can spot the familiar weasel words from NATO/ISAF spokesmen in this AFP report from earlier today. The Obama surge seems to be bringing more of the same. The bit that gets me is the reference to the 'IED Site' which wasn't there:


KANDAHAR (AFP) – A NATO air strike against suspected militants in troubled southern Afghanistan killed three civilians and wounded one other, local government and hospital officials said Friday.The civilians were in a minibus travelling just before midnight on the main southern highway when they were attacked by helicopter gunships in Shah Wali Kot district of Kandahar province, the provincial governor's office said.
"Three male civilians have been killed and a woman has been wounded as a result of this attack," a statement read.Their bodies were taken back to their home province of Uruzgan, the provincial health director told AFP.
"Three dead bodies were brought to us in Uruzgan today and the wounded woman has been taken by the foreign forces for treatment," Uruzgan's health director Khan Agha Miakhail said.NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said they were targeting militants planting roadside bombs, and were investigating reports that civilians were killed in the strike."Initial operational reports indicate that men were emplacing an IED (improvised explosive device) next to the road," ISAF said in a statement."After firing on the men from a helicopter, ISAF forces discovered civilians in a car adjacent to the IED site."Civilian casualties are highly sensitive in Afghanistan, where officials say it creates animosity against the Western-backed government and 113,000 NATO and US forces fighting against an escalating Taliban insurgency.President Hamid Karzai has long called on foreign troops to avoid civilian casualties during operations.

Saturday 12 December 2009

Murder By Contractor - Sound Familiar?


Mirza Mohammed Dost at the grave of his son, Raheb, 24, who was shot by Blackwater (now Xe) security contractors in May as he walked in his neighborhood. Another man was also shot fatally and a third was wounded. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Afghan Massacre Protesters Gunned Down


KABUL, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Afghan troops fired on protesters in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing two people and wounding a third, at a demonstration sparked by reports of civilian deaths in a NATO-led operation, a provincial official said.
NATO said no civilians had died in its raid in Laghman province, northeast of Kabul, saying its forces had killed seven 'militants' and arrested four.
The Afghan soldiers shot at a crowd of villagers protesting against the attack, which President Hamid Karzai's office said killed six civilians, including one woman.
"Three people were shot. One died on the spot, one died in hospital, one is in a coma," the acting head of Laghman's provincial council, Gulzar Sangarwal, said of the demonstrations.
Sangarwal said 13 civilians were killed in the pre-dawn raid by NATO-led forces in Armul village. Angry at the raid, the villagers took to the streets to march and chant slogans against the provincial governor, Karzai and foreign troops in Afghanistan, when Afghan troops opened fire.
The Nato spokesperson Captain Jane Campbell said no 'operational' reports confirmed civilian casualties. Of course this would be the perpetrators condemning themselves so it's hardly likely that there would ever be 'operational' reports of massacres by the 'operational' culprits.

Wednesday 2 December 2009

Now It Really Is Obama's War


Just like LBJ made Vietnam his legacy, Obama has been (neo)conned by the militarists into the abyss.




A few predictions:






- More villages air-bombed/civilians killed by NATO boneheads.
- No chance of withdrawal in 18 months barring a cosmetic one.
- Much talk of ‘Mission Accomplished’ once the debacle intensifies and a withdrawal(tail between legs) becomes unavoidable in 2 years hence.
- The corrupt ‘Mayor of Kabul’ Karzai gone (assassinated)within 2 years.