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mullokintyre said:
A bit more to the story on the US drone strike.
From New York Times and NBC NEWS


U.S. officials said a Reaper drone followed a car for hours and then fired based on evidence it was carrying explosives.
But in-depth video analysis and interviews at the site cast doubt on that account.



Collateral damage they used to call it.
Mick
Click to expand...
And although its taken a little time, the US has finally admitted they screwed up on the drone hit on a car they said was full of explosives and suicide bombers.
They basically killed one of their own workers along with his kids.
from ABC News
A US drone strike in Kabul last month killed as many 10 civilians, including seven children, a senior US general says.

Family accounts suggest Zemerai Ahmadi's car was struck by a Hellfire missile just as he pulled into the driveway.

"It was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology," US General Frank McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, told reporters.

He added that he believed it unlikely the vehicle hit or those who died were Islamic State militants or posed a direct threat to US forces at Kabul's airport.

The Pentagon had initially defended the drone strike, saying the vehicle was struck "in the earnest belief" that it posed an imminent threat.

For days after the August 29 strike, officials asserted that it had been conducted correctly.

News organisations later raised doubts about that version of events, reporting that the driver of the targeted vehicle was a longtime employee at an American humanitarian organisation and citing an absence of evidence to support the Pentagon's assertion that the vehicle contained explosives.

The Pentagon announced a review revealing only civilians were killed in the attack, not an Islamic State extremist as first believed.

"The strike was a tragic mistake," Marine General McKenzie said.

"We now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K, or a direct threat to US forces," he added, referring to the Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate.
Click to expand...
As I said earlier, the US military and intelligence community will see it as collateral damage.
Mick
 
mullokintyre said:
A bit more to the story on the US drone strike.
From New York Times and NBC NEWS


U.S. officials said a Reaper drone followed a car for hours and then fired based on evidence it was carrying explosives.
But in-depth video analysis and interviews at the site cast doubt on that account.



Collateral damage they used to call it.
Mick
Click to expand...

Absolutely tragic about the drone strikes. And there were certainly many more such mistakes made across the thousands of strikes in various theaters of war.

Few points
1) Big ticks to the New York Times/NBC for running down the story and highlighting the horror of the event
2) Thank heavens the military also acknowledged the SNAFU. In theory they had no choice...
3) This makes a change from past US government/military response to drone murders. There are still people sitting in solitary for realising information about shocking attacks on civilians.

And on the other hand there are Black Hawk contracters who killed 14 Iraqi civilians and wounded 17 others in a mad fire fight. They were convicted of various crimes -- and the pardoned by Donald Trump. Great messaging

www.theguardian.com

Wikileaks reveals video showing US air crew shooting down Iraqi civilians

Footage of July 2007 attack made public as Pentagon identifies website as threat to national security
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

www.npr.org

Shock And Dismay After Trump Pardons Blackwater Guards Who Killed 14 Iraqi Civilians

"We were surprised that the American president issued a decision to pardon these criminals, murderers and thugs," says an Iraqi man who was shot in the 2007 massacre at Baghdad's Nisour Square.
www.npr.org www.npr.org
 
Difficult time for Afghan vets at the moment, watching the country fall apart and the Taliban go back to their old games of summary executions and the like, then stealing food aid for the people. This Royal Commission will be difficult for a lot of people.

The United Nations really needed to step up in the transition to Taliban rule and there should have been a blue hat security force put in place as part of the handover the the Taliban. Not sure if that was ever a discussion, but it's bewildering if it wasn't.

Screen Shot 2021-12-07 at 6.39.18 am.png


Screen Shot 2021-12-07 at 6.40.55 am.png
 
If there is any organisation that needs a thorough independent investigation, it is the United Nations IMO.
It comes across to me as a self regulating, self serving, gravy train. All these funded organisation should have a thorough review by an independent body on a regular basis, just my opinion, but they seem to carry a lot of respect that at times is shown to be misplaced.
 
true to form, no one will be charged over the srewed up raid on Afganistan civilians.
From ABC News
The Pentagon says it will not discipline any US troops over a drone strike that killed 10 civilians, including seven children, in Kabul on August 29.

The US has already admitted the attack, which came as foreign forces tried to evacuate Kabul airport in the face of the Taliban takeover, was "a tragic mistake".

At the time the US military said it thought the vehicle it hit was carrying suicide bombers who were on their way to attack the airport.

Two suicide bombings just days earlier outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport had killed 13 US troops and 170 Afghan civilians.

An earlier review by Air Force Lieutenant General Sami Said found the strike was caused by execution errors, interpreting information that supported certain viewpoints, and communication breakdowns.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asked head of Central Command General Frank McKenzie and head of Special Operations Command Richard Clarke to review Lieutenant General Said's findings and provide feedback.

Spokesperson John Kirby said Mr Austin received several recommendations about the strike, but none included accountability measures for specific personnel.

"I do not anticipate there being issues of personal accountability," Mr Kirby said.
Click to expand...
No soldiers will be disciplined, so that means none at the top have to be disciplined either.
a goat covered in an enormous scape.
Mick
 
mullokintyre said:
true to form, no one will be charged over the srewed up raid on Afganistan civilians.
From ABC News

No soldiers will be disciplined, so that means none at the top have to be disciplined either.
a goat covered in an enormous scape.
Mick
Click to expand...

1st casualty of war is the truth... and the last it seems
 
moXJO said:
When you win the war and then hate the life you created:
Almost two years after .... the jihadists who transitioned from the battlefields to paper-pushing government jobs in the city are ready to quiet quit.

https://time.com/6263906/taliban-afghanistan-office-work-quiet-quit/
Click to expand...
and tourism .... 7000 tourists this year. Solo women travellers , not so sure.

www.bbc.com

Holiday in Afghanistan: Taliban wish you were here

Tourism is booming under the Taliban regime as Westerners flock to see its unspoilt sites - but not everyone is winning.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com

define irony? promoting the cultural heritage sites (Bamiyan Buddhas) they destroyed
 
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