Video shows dead Afghan children after US raid-- AP

[chill_wind]

Video shows dead Afghan children after US raid

By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer 59 minutes ago

KABUL, Afghanistan - Two videos that appear to show the bodies of at least 10 children and many more adults covered in blankets and white shrouds lend weight to Afghan and U.N. allegations that a U.S.-led raid killed scores of civilians last month.


One video, obtained by The Associated Press on Monday and apparently taken by a cell phone, is grainy and details such as a precise body count are difficult to make out. But it appears that several dozen bodies, all covered by blankets, are lined up one next to another in a mosque.

Wailing Afghan women and men occasionally lift the blankets to show dead children or the disfigured faces of men.

A second video shows three young children wrapped in white shrouds. A fourth child has gruesome head wounds. In total, the bodies of at least 10 children can be seen.

The two videos, both obtained by The Associated Press, give weight to Afghan and U.N. findings that scores of civilians, including 60 children and 15 women, died in the Aug. 22 U.S.-led raid in the village of Azizabad. U.S. special forces and Afghan commandos carried out the operation.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080908/ap_on_re_as/afghan_civilian_deaths;_ylt=AhgGMoiCSMF5GoA9iPH4qa1BXYh4

(edited to remove ad)

[chill_wind]

1. Rights group condemns U.S., NATO air strikes in Afghanistan (McClatchy)

Rights group condemns U.S., NATO air strikes in Afghanistan

By James Rosen, McClatchy Newspapers Mon Sep 8, 6:00 AM ET

WASHINGTON — U.S. and NATO air bombings in Afghanistan have killed more than 500 civilians since 2006, fueling a public backlash against the coalition's war effort, a prominent human rights group said Monday.

(...

Violence in Afghanistan

More than 3,000 civilians have died since 2006 in the Afghanistan war, nearly two-thirds of them in attacks launched by Taliban or al Qaida insurgents. Mainly U.S. airstrikes have killed almost half of the civilians slain in assaults by U.S. and NATO forces.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080908/wl_mcclatchy/3038990

[JohnyCanuck]

2. Dick(head) Cheney and George his sock puppet say "blunt force" is ok when we use it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3943197

[chill_wind]

3. Blunt force-- "One child has half of a skull blown off." (A/P article). Sickening monsters.

eom

[chill_wind]

4. They're being forced to review

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3476592&mesg_id=3477236


Imagery prompts review of Afghan air strike: Pentagon (AFP)
"There is some evidence to suggest that the evidence the United States military used in the conduct of its investigation may not have been complete," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said on Monday.

Whitman said the evidence was "imagery," but would give no details. A spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul said it was cellphone imagery taken by a villager.


(...)


"In this particular incident we put out the best information we had on that particular incident, and we conducted an investigation," Whitman said.

"While we attempt to do very thorough and comprehensive investigations, we also try to do them in an expeditious fashion, particularly in this case because it had a lot of interest and there were some conflicting reports," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080908/pl_afp/afghanistanusunrestcivilianspentagon_080908155112




Sound familiar?

[lpbk2713]

5. The brass has a figure for how many civilian casualties are acceptable on each strike.

Obviously this fell within the 'acceptable' parameters.

Particularly since it didn't involve their own families. :eyes:

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[JohnyCanuck]

6. Here's a link to an excerpt from the video from a BBC report

(BBC says some of it was too gruesome to show)

Video Shows US Carnage In Afghanistan

Harrowing video film backs Afghan villagers' claims of carnage caused by US troops

By Tom Coghlan in Kabul

08/09/08 "The Times" -- - As the doctor walks between rows of bodies, people lift funeral shrouds to reveal the faces of children and babies, some with severe head injuries.

Women are heard wailing in the background. “Oh God, this is just a child,” shouts one villager. Another cries: “My mother, my mother.”

The grainy video eight-minute footage, seen exclusively by The Times, is the most compelling evidence to emerge of what may be the biggest loss of civilian life during the Afghanistan war.

These are the images that have forced the Pentagon into a rare U-turn. Until yesterday the US military had insisted that only seven civilians were killed in Nawabad on the night of August 21.

Click link to go to web page with embedded video (all 3 videos posted appear to be the same BBC report):
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20706.htm

[chill_wind]

7. ...