U.S. General Says Afghans Requested Airstrike That Hit Kunduz Hospital
Source: New York Times
WASHINGTON — The American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell, on Monday responded publicly to criticism over the American airstrike that destroyed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the city of Kunduz, claiming that Afghan forces had requested the strike while under fire and conceding that the military had incorrectly reported at first that American troops were under direct threat.
But General Campbell’s comments, in a sudden and brief news conference at the Pentagon, did not clarify the military’s initial claims that the strike, which killed 22 people, had been an accident to begin with. Doctors Without Borders has repeatedly said that there had been no fighting around the hospital, and that the building was hit over and over by airstrikes over a long period of time on Saturday morning.
In the news conference, General Campbell said that Afghan forces had come under fire near the hospital and then called for help. “An airstrike was then called to eliminate the Taliban threat and several civilians were accidentally struck. This is different from the initial reports which indicated that U.S. forces were threatened and that the airstrike was called on their behalf,” he said.
For the first time, General Campbell suggested that American Special Forces personnel with the Afghan forces had a role in coordinating the strike.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/world/asia/kunduz-afghanistan-taliban.html?_r=0
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
mainer
(12,022 posts)We have to blow up a hospital filled with innocents. That's the justification?
uhnope
(6,419 posts)No one in NATO or the US military wanted to bomb this hospital. Word is that the hospital was identified as a Taliban base by local forces on the ground, and then military aircraft saw tracer fire coming from the compound, which sufficed as corroboration. Obviously a big SNAFU
SwissTony
(2,560 posts)I think you know what I meant
SwissTony
(2,560 posts)
bananas
(27,509 posts)
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)General, for whatever reason "your Afghans" lied to you and called down a 30 min. air strike on a "field hospital" flooded, full with 2 days of wounded!!
Any General in charge can surely know exactly, GPS where the Doctors without Borders field hospitals are, everyone else in that country does!
Your Afghans probably wanted to kill-off some of the patients and played you like a fool, General. We need to get out of that country and stop assisting that gov. with their dirty-work.
wildbilln864
(13,382 posts)
m-lekktor
(3,675 posts)
restorefreedom
(12,655 posts)cpwm17
(3,829 posts)MSF is disgusted by the recent statements coming from some Afghanistan government authorities justifying the attack on its hospital in Kunduz. These statements imply that Afghan and US forces working together decided to raze to the ground a fully functioning hospital with more than 180 staff and patients inside because they claim that members of the Taliban were present.
This amounts to an admission of a war crime. This utterly contradicts the initial attempts of the US government to minimize the attack as 'collateral damage.'
There can be no justification for this abhorrent attack on our hospital that resulted in the deaths of MSF staff as they worked and patients as they lay in their beds. MSF reiterates its demand for a full transparent and independent international investigation.
GeorgeGist
(25,320 posts)
Marty McGraw
(1,024 posts)quadruple checking by for targeting publicly sensitive areas?
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)
Xithras
(16,191 posts)MSF had just reconfirmed the coordinates of the hospital with U.S. forces five days before the strikes.
If the Afghans requested that we hit it, our only response should have been: "We're not bombing a hospital."
uhnope
(6,419 posts)Right? Because the last thing NATO & the US military wants is this kind of mistake
Xithras
(16,191 posts)This hospital has been targeted by Afghan forces before, because they are a neutral party in the war and will treat anyone...including wounded Taliban.
I believe that there needs to be an international investigation into the bombing, and that, if it's found that the U.S. military deliberately or negligently bombed the building, then the officers involved should be tried for crimes against humanity and imprisoned for a very, very long time.
It doesn't have to be deliberate to be a war crime.
uhnope
(6,419 posts)You say this:
But then imply that it was deliberate.
Which is it?
Xithras
(16,191 posts)I'm simply also saying that it really doesn't matter if it was deliberate or not. Whether it was deliberate or negligent, bombing a hospital is a war crime.
uhnope
(6,419 posts)So you think Afghan forces deliberately targeted the hospital because it treats all wounded, not just the ones on the side of the Afghani gov. Right?
And do you think the US military deliberately targeted the hospital, knowing it was a hospital?
Xithras
(16,191 posts)Afghan forces have deliberately targeted this same hospital in the past, citing that as the exact reason. The only difference is that this time it was bombs, and last time it was a special forces raid.
And do you think the US military deliberately targeted the hospital, knowing it was a hospital?
The U.S. military has already admitted that the building was deliberately targeted. The U.S. military has been in communications with MSF for many months, and MSF had just reconfirmed the hospitals location with the U.S. military 5 days before the bombing. So yes, I believe that it was deliberately targeted, and that they knew it was a hospital...and both of those facts have already been confirmed.
uhnope
(6,419 posts)Yes they deliberately targeted the building, but not deliberately a hospital. No, they have not "admitted" deliberately targeting a hospital. Why would the US / NATO want to do that? Why would they want to bring this negative attention on themselves?
Xithras
(16,191 posts)The US military has already admitted that it deliberately targeted THE BUILDING.
The U.S. military and the Afghan government both require that foreign groups operating in Afghanistan register their locations. MSF reconfirmed the coordinates of THAT SAME BUILDING only five days before it was bombed. Last fucking Tuesday.
So, yes, that does mean that the U.S. military intentionally targeted a building, after the U.S. military had already been made aware that it was a hospital. Now, is it possible that the left hand didn't talk to the right hand, and that the guys who actually pulled the trigger didn't realize what the building was? Sure, but that doesn't relieve the military of any legal or moral responsibility for this deliberate act. International law assigns responsibility for war crimes at both an individual and a national level. As a whole, there is no way the U.S. military can dodge responsibility for this.
The U.S. military deliberately targeted a building that the U.S. military KNEW was a hospital.
uhnope
(6,419 posts)So we agree. Mistakes are not deliberate. Understand?
No one is saying that they don't have responsibility for the mistake.
Your last line is obtuse. You seem to want to have it both ways. Either there was a snafu (the left hand - right hand thing) or it was an intentional targeting of a hospital. It can't be both.
You wrote this:
The U.S. military deliberately targeted a building that the U.S. military KNEW was a hospital.
Let me fix it:
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)mainer
(12,022 posts)It reminds me of that Keanu Reeves movie where he says that when dealing with a hostage situation, a cop's most logical move is to shoot the hostage. "Take him out of the equation."
Bloofer
(20 posts)Horrible