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Relatives of Afghan family killed in U.S. strike want face-to-face apology

26 Comments
By James EDGAR

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26 Comments

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I don't think that is too much to expect from the US under the circumstances.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Maybe we can take whoever approved the drone strike and ship em off to live in Kabul and bring the rest of the victims’ families to live in the US.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

McKenzie said the U.S. government was studying how payments for damages could be made to the families of those killed.

Good, the deserving family members should be compensated.

This was a tragic mistake and it is good the Pentagon admitted to it.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

This is a War Crime as defined not only by the ICC but the Geneva Convention.

I think the ICC has a backlog, the Russian crimes in Crimea, the Ukraine border, shooting down of the MH 17 are yet to be prosecuted!!!

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

Incompetence at its highest. This is crazy. You can kill people with a joystick, and because you work for the government you can simply say, Sorry. It was a mistake. I don’t know what’s more evil, the murder or the apology.

What a refreshing thought dear sir.

Civilian deaths in air strikes increased 300% under the former president. So was that incompetence too or should he get a pass?

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

These people should be compensated, the people of Afghanistan had 20 years to get their act together, they fail themselves

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

This one got publicity because of the circumstances but there were surely numerous similar mistakes resulting in the deaths of non-combatants. There will not be proper accountability or consequences.

if the did get to meet Milley he could use his white rage as an excuse for ordering this

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Wakarimasen, the US had serve it purpose in Afghanistan, the people of Afghanistan fail themselves, you people are naive that Americans could be station in Afghanistan, without further casualties, it time for us to leave Japan, Japanese show no willingly to defend themselves with their paper tigers policies

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Why is nobody being held accountable?

This is a War Crime as defined not only by the ICC but the Geneva Convention.

It was an honest mistake. Tragic but honest. I am sure everyone involved feels horrible right now. There was no intention to kill innocent civilians. That truck was tracked for over eight hours and observed loading things into the bed that analysts mistakenly thought were bombs. They turned out to be water jugs and propane tanks. Keep in mind this was just a day or two after over 100 Afghan civilians were killed by bombers outside Kabul Airport and the US was hearing chatter indicating more to follow from ISIS-K. The propane tanks exploding in the bed after it was hit by a missile appeared at first to be secondary explosions that, to the analysts, confirmed their fear it was a truck bomb. Those drone strikes use pretty capable optical sensors and a legal team has to sign off on every attack before a weapon can be launched. They made a bad mistake but it is not a case of the US deliberately killing civilians or engaging in the sorts of organized barbarities perpetrated by the Serbs in Kosovo or by Daesh wherever they operate. The US however should apologize to the family and provide adequate compensation.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Incompetence at its highest. This is crazy. You can kill people with a joystick, and because you work for the government you can simply say, Sorry. It was a mistake. I don’t know what’s more evil, the murder or the apology.

If the attacking aircraft was manned the result would not have been any different. The weapon went where it was aimed. It could have just as easily come off a launch rail on a helicopter or KC-130 (Marine Corps KC-130s fire several different missiles). The intel justifying the attack was incorrect. Everyone involved is using remote optics, low light cameras and such and feeding the imagery to people back in the US who look at the live video feed and decide if the target is legitimate and who have to authorize weapons release. There are attorney's who have to sign off on any attack. It's the same if the launch platform is manned or unmanned.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

No accountability from “buck stop here” Biden. Not a “righteous” strike at all. Resignations needed.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

"The number of civilians killed by international airstrikes increased about 330 percent from 2016, the last full year of the Obama Administration, to 2019, the most recent year for which there is complete data from the United Nations," a December 2020 report from the Costs of War Project at Brown University explained.

Ok, but I’m confused how does that rectify what happened that the White House screwed up majorly on identifying exactly what the target was? (Something that I personally don’t buy for a second, but that’s my personal opinion) there was no justification and someone needs to be held accountable. They can identify OBL from satellites we had drones and spy planes and now all of a sudden they just can’t identify the target and just accidentally mistook 7 kids and 2 adults for ISIS fighters? Again, no one believes that with a straight face.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

where were moral standards when Afghan civilians were murdered and killed during the Trump administration?

The Pentagon screwed up on its intelligence and the general took responsibility for that.

As I said, as if that’s comforting to the families. If the General were really sorry, he would step down, but he won’t. We have the capability and technology that could have prevented this, there is no excuse for that, at least not the families and a US aid worker on top of that. Just doesn’t get much worse.

OBL wasn't identified from satellites.

Uh-huh…lol

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/to-hunt-osama-bin-laden-satellites-watched-over-abbottabad-pakistan-and-navy-seals/2013/08/29/8d32c1d6-10d5-11e3-b4cb-fd7ce041d814_story.html

But now it might be over since Biden finally withdrew all the troops.

Over for him and his party for sure now. So there is a bit of a silver lining in all of this mess.

I heard there are talks in closed rooms between America and the Taliban about how to use American drones to attack ISIS-K which will need Taliban intelligence on the ground.

Ok, this WH is going to look worse than they already do if they give any legitimacy to this new group of thugs. I mean, how much more damage and humiliation does this President want to put the US through?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Terrible unnecessary tragedy....

But I recommend we send Mike Pompeo - he is already BFFs with the Taliban leaders from his negotiation of the surrender agreement in Feb 2020....

Mike showed he knows how to grovel...

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Except you don't. Without boots on the ground, tragic mistakes can happen and did ever since the drones were used in the war including the killing of wedding parties.

Well, we all can thank Biden for that. We had them at the time of the strike, but yeah, no one is buying their spin on that.

Without intel from the doctor, OBL would never have been located.

That wasn’t the issue, the issue was that satellites were used in large part to get this filth that’s undeniable and irrefutable.

But you supported Trump's Taliban deal last year including the release of 5,000 terrorists. You didn't call them thugs last year.

I always called them thugs.

Again, without boots on the ground, the Taliban, America can not use drone strikes against the ISIS-K.

Again, we had the capability at the time to avoid that situation, but after the suicide attack, the WH panicked, 13 young soldiers died, the parents were distraught and the US needed to show contrition and to take some sort of military action and in their haste, they indiscriminately bombed these people. That’s pretty much what happened and now they’re trying to make excuses that it was an accident when everyone knew that could have been avoided by properly identifying the target. If they can’t do that then the US military is completely useless. Then a lot of people at the top should resign immediately and probably train these people. This just continues to reflect badly on Biden and the Pentagon and military senior leaders as to totally incompetent.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

On the 26th of October 2020, a United States airstrike on the Taliban killed three children and a Taliban commander. Four days earlier, an airstrike targeting a religious school is reported to have killed 12 children and wounded 14 civilians.

We are talking about Biden and how this administration left a country in the most idiotic way, not to mention giving them billions in military hardware. No one other than a few people on JT is blaming the former President.

As Biden said, “the Buck stops with me!” For once he’s right about that and we all will take that to heart. Once the GOP retake the House, it’s pretty much a “fait accompli.”

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

It was an honest mistake. Tragic but honest. I am sure everyone involved feels horrible right now. There was no intention to kill innocent civilians.

Hollow comfort for those people. THIS is how terrorists are born. Do you honestly expect them to just take the blood money and move on? 7 dead children and they get an "oopsie poopsie, my bad'. And it didn't even stop the attack anyway. ISIS launched their rockets anyway. Those people didn't die because someone made a mistake. They died because the American military was moments away from the most humiliating defeat since the Fall of Saigon and they wanted to show off that they were still big and strong. This wasn't about stopping a terror attack: this was about trying to save even the tiniest bit of face. And all it cost was 10 dead and countless others forever traumatized.

THIS is how terrorists are born.

If, someday, we hear about one of these victims' relatives blowing themselves up, along with a bunch of Americans, I won't be shocked in the slightest.

All chickens eventually come home to roost.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

On the 26th of October 2020, a United States airstrike on the Taliban killed three children and a Taliban commander. Four days earlier, an airstrike targeting a religious school is reported to have killed 12 children and wounded 14 civilians.

We are talking about Biden and how this administration left a country in the most idiotic way, not to mention giving them billions in military hardware. No one other than a few people on JT is blaming the former President.

Wouldn't have happened if Trump and Pompeo hadn't signed the surrender document in Feb 2020...and freed 5K Taliban, ISIS, and Al Qaeda terrorists...for nothing in return...

As Biden said, “the Buck stops with me!”

Sure a change from this guy;

“I don't take responsibility at all,” Trump said defiantly

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/13/trump-coronavirus-testing-128971

For once he’s right about that and we all will take that to heart. Once the GOP retake the House, it’s pretty much a “fait accompli.”

"Fait accompli" - what the NYSD Attorney said about Trump's upcoming indictment for tax and insurance fraud...

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

This is the strike on ISIS that General Milquetoast actually smugly referred to as "a righteous strike," right?

From a "righteous strike" to a "tragic mistake", huh? Better get some more advice from your Chinese counterparts, General Milley, because the unforced errors of this inept current American administration continue to be simply appalling...and increasing in number...and it's only been nine months!

1 ( +2 / -1 )

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