Think before you follow.
Here, here!
No more normalising the idolatry of war criminals!
As reported in the New York Times last week, a significant number of innocent Afghans continue to be killed by US and NATO forces despite new rules issued by Gen. Stanley McChrystal meant to help reduce civilian casualties. Indeed, the number of Afghans who have been killed or hurt by troop shootings at convoys and military checkpoints has basically remained the same since McChrystal announced his directives.
“We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat,” said McChrystal during a recent video-conference with troops, the Times reported.
Talking Points Memo has obtained a longer transcript of McChrystal’s statements, which you can read in full here.
McChrystal spokesman Tadd Sholtis tried to place the general’s comments in context in an email to TPM: “The general was urging his forces to exercise courageous restraint (by suggesting that it is unlikely that erratic behavior at a checkpoint constitutes a threat) while also expressing sympathy for the confusing and threatening situations in which both soldiers and Afghans find themselves” Sholtis wrote.
From McChrystal’s remarks:
We really ask a lot of our young service people out on the checkpoints because there’s danger, they’re asked to make very rapid decisions in often very unclear situations. However, to my knowledge, in the nine-plus months I’ve been here, not a single case where we have engaged in an escalation of force incident and hurt someone has it turned out that the vehicle had a suicide bomb or weapons in it and, in many cases, had families in it. That doesn’t mean I’m criticizing the people who are executing. I’m just giving you perspective. We’ve shot an amazing number of people and killed a number and, to my knowledge, none has proven to have been a real threat to the force.Since taking command last summer, McChrystal has worked to limit the killing of innocent civilians, which fuels resentment among Afghans and threaten to undermine local support for NATO’s mission in the country.
And yet the numbers remain essentially the same year over year:
From the Times:
Shootings from convoys and checkpoints involving American, NATO and Afghan forces accounted for 36 civilian deaths last year, down from 41 in 2008, according to the United Nations. With at least 30 Afghans killed since last June in 95 such shootings, according to military statistics, the rate shows no signs of abating.Despite McChrystal’s efforts, Michael Cohen of Democracyarsenal.org argued earlier this week that the news that civilian deaths remained high shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that a directive from even a top commander or a more people-focused counter-insurgency strategy is unlikely to be able to fundamentally alter the reality on the ground.
The incessant mantra we’ve heard about population centric counter-insurgency and making “protecting civilians” the top priority of US efforts in Afghanistan is just incredibly deceptive.It’s not that we shouldn’t try to protect civilians - or even that the American military shouldn’t take the issue incredibly seriously. We should and we do. But by placing 100,000 troops in Afghanistan we are actually increasing the likelihood that ordinary Afghans will be killed - no matter how much effort is expended to spare their lives. Our soldiers are trained to protect themselves and use overwhelming force when they are threatened.
(Source)
What they’ basically saying is “we’re gonna keep our troops there even tho’ by doing that more civillians are going to get killed but we’re just going to justify that by saying the troops protect themselves because they have the right to do so when they “feel threatened” & we’re just gonna pretend protecting civillians is our top priority because people believe what we say anyway”.
I love this.
General Dannatt (x)
Libya, Syria and in the future Iran.
The Few. The
Ashamed. TheMurderers. Opps, I mean Marines…I will gladly ‘murder’ people to defend my family, country, and that which I hold dear to my scarlet red heart. Umad? Get in line, you androgynous douche.
Defend your country against who? Nobody is threatening your freedom or your country. If you still believe that 9/11 was done by Muslims then please stop watching Fox News, CNN, or any of the propaganda shit.
You are nothing but a slave, sweetheart. What did Afghanistan do to you? Most of the Afghan people don’t even know about 9/11 TILL THIS DAY. What did Iraq do to you? Where were the weapons of mass destruction? Most of the Iraqis WISHED that Saddam could come back because that’s how horrible it was to live under the American occupation. You ruined Iraq. You didn’t free the people. You destroyed them.
And even if Iraq really did have weapons, YOU GAVE IT TO SADDAM. Remember the Iraq-Iran war? Remember when YOU and YOUR fucking government supported Saddam and gave him billions of dollars of aid and weapons to kill millions of innocent Iranians. I have 3 uncles who fought in that war. I had 2 Uncles who DIED in that war.
Not to mention that the fact war could happen with Iran any minute. Get this straight. Iran is not Vietnam, Iran is not Afghanistan, Iran is not Iraq. You bomb/invade/attack Iran, you won’t be complaining about 9/11 any more.
If war does happen, BOTH sides will be affected. And I’m NOT just talking about your gas prices.
You want to defend your country? Fight against your government, not us.
pwned.
May I recommend that the US go home and leave Pakistan alone?
![theatlantic:
Suicide Has Killed More Troops Than the War in Afghanistan This Year
154 active duty troops have committed suicide in the first 155 days of the new year—a rate alarmingly close to one per day. The number dead from suicides eclipses the U.S. forces killed in Afghanistan by about 50 percent.
Read more at The Atlantic Wire. [Image: AP]
This is what happens when war is portrayed as a game, when the media talks about “liberation” when in fact there is only indiscriminate killing.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5au9z3Q7A1qcokc4o1_500.jpg)
Suicide Has Killed More Troops Than the War in Afghanistan This Year
154 active duty troops have committed suicide in the first 155 days of the new year—a rate alarmingly close to one per day. The number dead from suicides eclipses the U.S. forces killed in Afghanistan by about 50 percent.
Read more at The Atlantic Wire. [Image: AP]
This is what happens when war is portrayed as a game, when the media talks about “liberation” when in fact there is only indiscriminate killing.
For any British followers who want to know a little more about the history of Afghanistan, starting with the first British invasion in 1939, and how the country we inflict our iron hand upon today has changed after repeated British attempts to invade, Soviet attempts to invade and finally the situation now, watch this documentary.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01jb9fn/Afghanistan_The_Great_Game_A_Personal_View_by_Rory_Stewart_Episode_1/
It’s actually good for something by the BBC, and as far as I can tell, pretty factually accurate too. :)
Handy for anyone who wants to dust up on their history of the conflicts we’re in today.
