8 Americans Killed in Afghan Bomb Attack

[Purveyor]

Source: CBS NEWS

(CBS) A suicide bomb attack on a military base in Afghanistan killed eight Americans Wednesday, a U.S. official told CBS News correspondent David Martin.

All the victims were civilians, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan tells CBS News.

The attack occurred at a forward operating military base in Khost province.

According to a CNN, the suicide bomber wore an explosive vest, though reports conflicted over whether the attacker struck the dining room or gym.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/30/world/main6038072.shtml?tag=breakingnews

[tekisui]

1. Tragic.

[Soylent Brice]

2. .

[izquierdista]

3. What kind of 'civilians' are in Afghanistan?

Or is that the new word for mercenaries? I will bet large sums of money these people were not tourists on a package deal or skiers checking out some new runs.

[robo50]

7. Civilians, code word for hired mercenaries. N/t

[24601]

47. Bullshit - they were CIA Officers - public servants doing the bidding

of President Obama and CIA Director Panetta.

Your sympathy and concern for their familiies is truly touching.

[Shanti Mama]

68. This is so not true.

I've written before. I have two friends and many acquaintances in Afghanistan working for various aid agencies. My friends are with USAID, coordinating army efforts to re/build. My friends worked HARD for Obama and are liberal progressives. They believe the work they're doing is necessary.

For what it's worth -- they're a couple in their early 30s, not yet married but together for about a decade. They are not together. He is in a more dangerous location than she is.

My acquaintances work got UN agencies and other aid/development organizations.

Generalizations such as "they're all mercenaries" are rarely accurate.

[harun]

10. Yep, merc's.

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Pavulon]

50. Really. That is pretty shitty.

even by the low standards of the internet. You have no idea who these people were or who they were employed by.

[psychopomp]

63. CNN just reported they "worked for the CIA"

so, unless the CIA is using mercenaries, they were spooks. I don't think the CIA is employing mercenaries.

[sabra]

14. could it also mean State Dept? not sure...

[MissDeeds]

16. Or contractors?

Terrible news, and heartbreaking for family and friends.

[LibDemAlways]

22. Defense contractors like Raytheon currently have lots of openings for

jobs in Afghanistan. The job listings never mention the horrific working conditions and the likelihood of getting one's head blown off. The positions are no doubt filled by desperate unemployed workers willing to do anything to avoid losing their homes.

[Ikonoklast]

38. Support personnel. The vast majority of contractors ARE NOT mercenaries.

They may have been drivers, cooks, carpenters, electricians, or one of the dozens of other classifications in a supporting role.

It may have even been a guy that helps run a gym, or the guy that runs the library or media center.

People here have only a vague idea as to how important civilian contractors are to any military effort, anywhere, not just a war zone.

They cannot even carry a firearm to defend themselves.

[katty]

4. geezus - and more of this on the way

[Gregorian]

5. We're fighting terrorism. We should be fighting fascism.

Instead of dropping bombs all over the place, we should be insuring valid elections all over the world. Putting money into schools in Afghanistan, instead of ammunition manufacturers in Arizona.


It's sadly ironic that those people paid for the bombs that killed them.


Fascism killed far more people than terrorism ever will. People, you've been duped. It's just a scheme to make our military industry more money.

[NeoConsSuck]

23. My sig line says it all (nt)

[JDPriestly]

35. Terrorism is just as bad as Fascism.

In fact, they use similar techniques to acquire power.

[Zhade]

36. I think that's debatable, especially since the latter fosters the former.

I don't think anyone could support the claim that terrorism is more far-reaching than fascism, for example. Hitler versus al Qeada? Not even a contest.

Both are bad, but fascism spawns terrorism... which then tightens fascism's grip, thus creating more who are willing to turn to terrorism. Eliminate fascism and you'll reduce terrorism. Probably never completely, but it's still a win-win -- no fascism, less terrorism.

Step one: stop bombing innocent civilians whose government we want to punish. That's the kind of shit the Nazis did. We're supposed to be better that that.

[winyanstaz]

57. yes, Fascism uses terror to gain power....

And it has worked very well so far wouldnt you agree?

[winyanstaz]

6. We should not be invading other countries...

That would be the fastest and smartest and cheapest way to end the terrorism...stop invading other people's countries.
End the war and bring our troops home now......if we had did something to end these illegal wars when we could have..these 8 people would still be alive.

[Deep13]

17. Um, we didn't invade Afghanistan until after we were attacked.

Those who attacked us used Afghanistan as a base.

Granted, that war should have ended a long time ago, but we were not initially the aggressors, at least not there.

I accept that the USA has a lot to answer for all over the world. Still, most of those aggrieved people do not strap on explosive vests for suicide bombing. And the 9/11 hijackers? In what way were we oppressing them? All of them were college-educated, middle class men. Most were from Saudi Arabia, a country we never invaded.

[liberation]

24. There was not a single Afghan among the 9/11 hijackers and Afghanistan as a nation never attacked us

I find the mental contortions that some Americans engage, in order to desperately retain any sense of moral higher ground regarding a war of choice and aggression, to be amusing to say the least. There must be something in the character of our nation, because most of my citizens seem to be entitled to have everything both ways.

[Deep13]

30. They were an Al Queda operation supported by the ...

...government of Afghanistan. It doesn't really matter where their henchmen came from. Al Queda sponsored and planned it and if those hijackers were not available, they would have found more. The Taliban gave material support. Wars are fought among nations and nations act through their governments. Saudi Arabia did not attack us. Neither did Egypt or Yemen. It was materially supported by Afghanistan. As a non-nation Al Queda had to be somewhere and the Afghan govt. welcomed them.

[liberation]

39. That is still not a reason to attack a whole country, whose citizens have done nothing to us

Seriously, attitudes like yours certainly prove my point regarding the need to have it all both ways: conduct an illegal war of aggression, and yet blaming the victims for our deeds.

Following the ultimate stop for your "logic" we should have bombed ourselves back to the stone age, after all... it was American intelligence and personnel which helped Bin Laden et al during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Thus by supporting, training and arming a group which ultimately became Al-Quaida, we're as responsible for 9/11 as the average citizen of Afghanistan. Do you really want to play this game?

[winyanstaz]

58. Didnt the BBC just announce there is no such thing as Al Queda?

I am sure you can find the link on you tube.

[New Dawn]

54. If the KKK murdered a bunch of Mexican citizens...

Would Mexico then have the moral right to invade the USA? After all, the US harbors the KKK, a notorious terror group.

I think most people who support the Afghan War would hypocritically yell "NO" in response to my question.

[winyanstaz]

56. Those that attacked us used Afghanistan as a Base?

Since most of the people that were named as the attackers are alive and well and therefor could not have been the real terrorists......we really don't know WHO attacked us now do we?..
The government also claims, as you do,that most of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia...so why didn't we attack Saudi Arabia instead? The answer to that can be seen in Bush Jr's kiss.
No one from Afghanistan attacked us...nor did the hijackers come from there...nor did we ever find any "al quada" there including Bin Ladin. Nor were the British or Americans or any of our allies able to find a single "terrorist cave".
For a theory to hold water..there must be some facts.

[Socal31]

8. It is time.

95% of combat troops need to leave. There is no "victory" in Afghanistan. The Russians taught us this many years ago.

[robo50]

9. Evidently 99% of American leadership doesn't learn from history.

There are so many failed states, so many havens for terrorists with an agenda, or a crazy interpretation of some religion.

The price will be paid by Americans for so many injustices of unregulated world-wide capitalist greed, so much foolish paranoia.

[jmowreader]

26. Thank you for using "some religion" instead of "Islam"

Googling "Kach" or "Kahane Chai" will lead you to a pair of Jewish terrorist organizations. Googling "Christian terrorists" will lead you to such wonderful groups as the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda and most of the anti-abortion groups in the United States. Any religion that can work its adherents into such a lather they'll go out and kill people (yes, Scott Roeder, I'm talking to you) is capable of producing terrorists. (I cannot imagine a Hare Krishna terror group, but someone may invent one. Weirder things have happened.)

[Arrowhead2k1]

11. How many people would die if we just left these nutters in Afghanistan and the Middle East alone to

begin with?

[liberation]

27. You already know the answer, so why are you asking.

Check the mortality rates for Afghanistan between the Soviet retreat and 2001, and do the same for Iraq in between the end of the Iran-Iraq war and the beginning of the First Gulf War.

Wether you like the answer (or care for it) is another matter altogether though....

[Arrowhead2k1]

42. And most of it being an after effect of foreign invasion/meddling.

And let me be more specific. How many Americans would die if we had just left these people alone to begin with? I'm not ignorant to the fact that they will want revenge on us now and well into the future no matter what we do. I'm just thinking out loud of how our situation might be like if we hadn't stuck our noses into these peoples affairs to begin with. Maybe in the future, we should stop trying to reform the world because it does little but backfire on us and end up in spilt blood everywhere.

[EFerrari]

12. Bring them home.

[David Zephyr]

13. Americans dying to keep Karzai and his brother rich and prosperous.

Give Afghanistan back to Afghanistan.

[Barack_America]

15. Would I be a bad person if I were a little less sad....

...if I found out these were Xe mercenaries?

I'd still feel bad for their families, I promise.

[Deep13]

18. Feelings don't make a person good or bad.

How we act does. We really need to get away from the religious idea of being sinful through thought.

[pjt7]

19. I'm still upset that Obama

went deeper into this occupation.

[Deep13]

21. Yup. We are tapped out. nt

[EFerrari]

51. They were CIA. n/t

[freddie mertz]

20. We really do not belong there anymore, if we ever did.

I feel very bad for their families.

[blueberrypickn]

25. you'd almost think

they didn't freaking want you there, now wouldn't you?

garsh, & how can they resist the allure of the AmeriKKKan Dream??

bend over, here comes the USA!

[girl_interrupted]

28. Afghans shout ‘death to Obama’ over killings

Investigator says most of dead were teen students, but NATO disputes that

msnbc.com news services
updated 1:22 p.m. ET, Wed., Dec . 30, 2009
ASADABAD, Afghanistan - The head of a presidential delegation investigating the deaths of 10 people in eastern Afghanistan concluded Wednesday that civilians — including schoolchildren — were killed in an attack involving foreign troops, but NATO officials disputed that. A NATO official had said that initial reports from troops involved in the fighting on Sunday indicated that those killed were insurgents — all young males.

Afghans protested the deaths Wednesday in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad and in the capital of Kabul.

In the capital of Nangahar province, which borders Kunar, around 200 university students took to the streets to protest against the raid, demanding those responsible be brought to justice.

"Death to Obama. Down with Karzai," they shouted.

Wafa said he was convinced all those killed in the Kunar incident were innocent civilians.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34629216/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia


And in other news: "US troop death in Afghanistan doubles toll for 2008"



KABUL (AFP) – The death of a US service member in Afghanistan reported by NATO Sunday doubles the number of American soldiers killed in the country this year compared with 2008, according to an AFP tally.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091227/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestustollKABUL (AFP) – The death of a US service member in Afghanistan reported by NATO Sunday doubles the number of American soldiers killed in the country this year compared with 2008, according to an AFP tally.

With four days remaining of 2009, this year has proved the deadliest so far in the battle against the Taliban-led insurgency which followed the 2001 US-led invasion to oust the militia's extremist regime in Kabul.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091227/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestustoll

I wish we could get out of there.

[humbled_opinion]

29. "Graveyard of Empires"

How many more have to die, when will enough be enough? More meat to the grinder is what our President has ordered.

Our President had an opportunity to disengage and end this senseless suffering but he didn't do it.

I fear there is no hope in ending it now, this war is going to spread, already Yemen blossoms on the horizon as a potential for U.S. agressive response being sanctioned by the man that WE elected President.

To those innocent men, women and children that will die in the coming rain of good Ol US made shrapnel, I say I am sorry, had I known where my country would be today, I certainly would have voted differently last year. Why is it that my tax dollars are used to spread this senseless and anti-human destruction on our planet? What can I do? I feel like I was lied to, I feel betrayed, has Obama now retained counsel from NEOCON'S?

At least with Bush I could always say I never voted for him, he is not my President, don't judge me on his evil actions but what can I say now?

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Zhade]

37. Feel bad for their kids, though.

Of course, at least THEIR kids are still alive.

[Name removed]

53. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Flaneur]

33. We shouldn't be too quick to assume they were mercenaries.

Perhaps they were. But perhaps they were civilian contractors doing development work. You could say they are all part of the war effort, but I'd feel a lot worse if it were people trying to dig wells than if it were Blackwater mercs.

[JDPriestly]

34. Very sad!

My condolences to the families.

[democrank]

40. Sad....

End this madness.

[KewlKat]

41. The Army Corp of Engineers

have a lot of civilians stationed in FOBs to aid in the rebuild effort that started years ago, engineers, etc. I know one of their employees that got back not too long ago from over there.

[RedRubberBall]

43. Twice the number of Americans & allies have been killed

in Afghanistan in 2009 than in 2008

[AlphaCentauri]

52. It supposed to be more secure by now with the deployment of more troops n/t

[undeterred]

44. UPDATE: All 8 were CIA Agents

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The eight American civilians killed in a suicide bombing at a military base in southeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday were all CIA agents, U.S. officials said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BU06B20091231

[IndianaGreen]

46. and they were specifically targeted by Taliban

which means they have their own spooks in our military bases.

[Artie Bucco]

55. No doubt

This reeks of an inside job. Attacks coming from turncoat Afghan police and soldiers happened throughout 2009.

[Arrowhead2k1]

48. That is a HUGE blow to our forces. Training those guys is NOT cheap.

How the heck did this bomb get in there in the first place?! What a mess!

[undeterred]

49. Suicide bomber walked into the gym.

[Stinky The Clown]

45. There were also 4 Canadians killed

Let us not forget them.

[NewLIfeArea]

59. Attacks kill 8 purported CIA employees, 5 Canadians in Afghanistan December 30, 2009 9:43 p.m. EST

Source: CNN

CNN) -- An attack by a suicide bomber at a military base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday killed eight Americans believed to be CIA employees, a senior U.S. official told CNN.

Also Wednesday, four Canadian soldiers and a Canadian journalist were killed when a roadside bomb hit their armored vehicle in southern Afghanistan, Canada's defense ministry said.

The suicide bombing happened at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province, Afghanistan. The senior U.S. official who spoke to CNN said information indicates the bomber walked into a gym facility at the base and detonated a suicide vest. It is believed six Americans were wounded in addition to the eight killed. It's not known how the bomber got past security.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/12/30/afghanistan.us.casualties/index.html

[placton]

60. CNN doesn't mention the reports of

school kids killed by US troops - hmmmm - wonder why?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4204929

[RedCloud]

61. Too close to Christmas before the loved ones call their own kids.

[JDPriestly]

62. This is absolutely tragic for our intelligence operations as well as

for the families of the victims. Losses on all sides are tragic, but the loss of these individuals could prolong the violence, not curtail it. I don't know any more specific details of the situation than what I have heard in news reports, but that is enough for me to know that this is a very tragic event.

[bonniebee]

64. This war has finally touched our family personally.

One of the eight was my husband's nephew. Jeremy was a Navy seal. He had been to Iraq &
Afghanistan several times. I thought he had left the military. We are gathering with family
today. I pray everyday this war will end.

[bemildred]

65. Please accept my condolences.

It's always hard to lose family. I've had a bunch over there, been lucky so far.
:hug:

[polly7]

66. 4 Canadian soldiers, 1 reporter, killed in Afghanistan

Four Canadian soldiers, along with a Canadian reporter, were killed Wednesday by a powerful improvised explosive device on the outskirts of Kandahar city in Afghanistan.
http://www.ctv.ca:80/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091230/Kandahar_deaths_091230/20091230?hub=TopStoriesV2

[bemildred]

67. CIA workers killed by 'Afghan soldier'

A bomber wearing an explosive vest entered Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost Province, near Pakistan.

A Taliban spokesman said a member of the group working for the Afghan army had carried out the attack.

It has raised questions about the coalition's ability to protect itself against infiltrators, analysts say.

The bombing was one of at least three deadly incidents across Afghanistan on Thursday. Elsewhere:

* Taliban militants beheaded six men they suspected of being spies for the government in the southern province of Uruzgan, police said
* Four Canadian soldiers and a journalist died in a roadside bomb attack in Kandahar, in the most deadly attack on Canadians in the country for more than two years
* Two French journalists were kidnapped in Kapisa province, north-east of Kabul, along with their Afghan driver and interpreter, reports say

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8435502.stm

[IndianaGreen]

69. New Year's Day news reports are that the Afghan was CIA informant

Good way to gain someone's trust is to become their reliable informant, until the day comes in which the informant becomes the attacker.