Petraeus Apologizes for Deaths of 9 Afghan Boys

[NeoConsSuck]

Source: NY Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — Nine boys collecting firewood to heat their homes in the eastern Afghanistan mountains were killed by NATO helicopter gunners who mistook them for insurgents, according to a statement on Wednesday by NATO, which apologized for the mistake.

The boys, who were 9 to 15 years old, were attacked on Tuesday in what amounted to one of the war’s worst cases of mistaken killings by foreign-led forces. The victims included two sets of brothers. A 10th boy survived.

The NATO statement, which included an unusual personal apology by the commander of the NATO forces in Afghanistan, Gen. David H. Petraeus, said the boys had been misidentified as the attackers of a NATO base earlier in the day. News of the attack enraged Afghans and led to an anti-American demonstration on Wednesday in the village of Nanglam, where the boys were from. The only survivor, Hemad, 11, said his mother had told him to go out with other boys to collect firewood because “the weather is very cold now.”

“We were almost done collecting the wood when suddenly we saw the helicopters come,” said Hemad, who, like many Afghans, has only one name. “There were two of them. The helicopters hovered over us, scanned us and we saw a green flash from the helicopters. Then they flew back high up, and in a second round they hovered over us and started shooting. They fired a rocket which landed on a tree. The tree branches fell over me and shrapnel hit my right hand and my side.”



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/world/asia/03afghan.html?_r=1&hp

[WinkyDink]

1. AN "APOLOGY" IS SIMPLY NOT = TO THE LEVEL OF REMORSE THAT SHOULD BE EXPRESSED.

"APOLOGY"? SHOVE YOUR APOLOGY, YOU &^$$%&^** WAR CRIMINAL.

[NeoConsSuck]

5. But it was a RARE apology..

so clearly the man was upset with the 'accident'.

[roguevalley]

22. wow. I'm glad he cleared that up.

I hope I don't have to put the sarcasm thingie

[Kennah]

2. Winning the hearts and minds. Oy.

[JohnyCanuck]

3. Must look on the positive side I guess.

They'd have probably just grown up to be freedom fighters insurgents anyway. :sarcasm:

[mwrguy]

4. Bradley Manning is in prison, while this murderer just says "sorry"

This is America.

[Newsjock]

13. Looks like Petraeus is the one who's 'aiding the enemy'

And Our Wonderful Media have just told us what that can mean.

[Loki]

6. Yeah, an apology.

That will work just fine. How much more blood for a lie, you sorry ass motherfucker.

[elias49]

7. Miserable, heartless pricks.

Hope they all burn in hell.

[efhmc]

8. That really helps their families feel better. Right?

[Blue Owl]

9. No apology necessary

I thought God was blessing us because we did that good thing.

[wtmusic]

10. Petraeus, get your ass down on the ground and apologize in person

to these kids' parents. And if you're still alive, we'll prosecute you for war crimes.

You miserable fuck.

[jwirr]

11. We are now fighting little boys. As a parent I would not accept their

apology and they could go to their graves carrying the burden. We have no business over there.

[Citizen Worker]

12. When will the senseless, barbaric murder stop?

[bongbong]

14. Apologies happening a lot

These high level apologies are happening a lot lately. With the prospect of fully autonomous robots randomly killing huge amounts of brown people on the horizon, West Point better add a class to their required curriculum.

How To Apologize To Native Populations 101. Class will include how to say "I'm Sorry" in 132 languages & how to sound sincere even when you don't care in the least. Taught by Ollie North & G. Gordon Liddy.

[msongs]

15. war crimes continue. there will be more of them. have a nice day nt

[lib2DaBone]

16. Ya Gen Patraeus.. I know... stuff happens.

9 Boys killed? Eh... they hate us for our freedom.

And the best part.. it's only costing us $436 Million a day.

Up is down.. black is white... nothing makes sense.

[Kelvin Mace]

17. Yeah, "sorry" makes it all better.

As an added bonus, we are turning our own children into murdering thugs.

[frylock]

18. oopsy!

sorry about that. fucking shitters.

[demigoddess]

19. I wish he would say

"it is time for us to go"

[Sam1]

20. oops - Looks like the mission just might be

collateral damage.

[Alamuti Lotus]

21. What, the asshole isn't going to say it was probably the parents disciplining them?

And why not, that flew so well the first few times they tried that lie.

[The abyss]

23. Nuremberg

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[Psephos]

24. Petraeus didn't shoot the kids, but he apologized. So where's Obama's apology?

In other words, who's responsible for the decision to still be there?

[sabrina 1]

25. Another war crime for which no one will be held accountable.

And this is why no one listens to the U.S. anymore on matters of morality and war criminals. And why even facing death by their own government, Libyans, Egyptians, Tunisians, Bahrainians, Yemens and every other oppressed people fighting for human rights against U.S. supported brutal dictators, are demanding that the U.S. stay out of their countries.

Everyone, except apparently the American people, know the suffering, the brutality, the torture, the inhumanity of the U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan that has been perpetrated against so many innocent people.

They need to get out of these countries, no one wants us in their countries, and who can blame them?

And while the U.S. government hypocritically condemns other nations for their treatment of protesters, their puppet government in Iraq has been killing and brutalizing the protesters in that country, while the U.S. remains silent.

The only reason for the apology was because they can no longer deny the slaughter of innocents that is ongoing in Afghanistan and Pakistan of innocent civilians.

They have consistently lied about civilian deaths but that is getting more difficult to do now.