Gen. McChrystal Issues Apology #2 for Bombing Afghan Civilians

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On Sunday, Feb 21st, NATO planes fired on what they mistook for a convoy of 3 insurgent vehicles in central Afghanistan, during the biggest offensive of the war, called “Moshtarak,” (“Together”) near Marjah.

When the bombing was over, and the scene looked at more closely, at least 27 civilians had been mistakenly killed, including 4 women and a child, and 12 others were injured.  According to another account, the dead included 2 children, a 3 year old boy and a 9 year old girl.

General Stanley McCrystal has issued an apology to the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

“We are extremely saddened by the tragic loss of innocent lives,” McChrystal’s statement said. “I have made it clear to our forces that we are here to protect the Afghan people, and inadvertently killing or injuring civilians undermines their trust and confidence in our mission. We will redouble our efforts to regain that trust.”

http://www.miamiherald.com/201…

President Karzai had called for NATO forces to try to protect more civilians from harm on Saturday.

“We need to reach the point where there are no civilian casualties,” Karzai said. “Our effort and our criticism will continue until we reach that goal.”

 That was the day there was another civilian death, which came after the initial NATO bombing mistake which took the lives of 12 civilians on Feb 14th, the day after the start of the Marjah operation.  There was an apology  for the single death also.            

The civilian was killed Friday after he dropped a box which soldiers feared contained a bomb and began running toward a coalition position, NATO said. The box contained materials that could be used to make a bomb but no explosives NATO said.

“This is truly a regrettable incident, and we offer our condolences to the family,” said a NATO spokeswoman, Navy Capt. Jane Campbell, said in a statement.

Per the BBC, NATO (British) Lt. Gen Nick Parker said that an investigation is underway.

 video transcript (warning, advertisement before Lt Gen Parker is bizarre in context)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sou…



Lt Gen Parker:

“I have to say these are very difficult incidents. Our people are not doing this deliberately. They have to make snap judgements, and sometimes these incidents occur.   General McCrystal had all his junior commanders in this morning,

and he made it absolutely clear to them, that he expects commanders on the ground to make these difficult judgements as clearly and as carefully as they possibly can, in order to minimize the risk of casualties to civilians.  We’re clear, if we kill the people we’re trying to protect, our credibility is undermined.”  

On Sunday, according to McClatchy, via the WAPO today, US Army General David Petraeus said the Afghanistan Marjah operation is just the beginning of a hard effort that will last 12 to 18 months, and the level of United States casualties will be “tough to bear.”            http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

The day before, Saturday, Princeton University awarded Gen. Petraeus (GS ’87) the James Madison Medal.  It also awarded former US Congressman Jim Leach (’64)  the Woodrow Wilson Award.   Leach is a former Republican representative from Iowa.  He spoke about the need for using civil language in the currently polarizing political climate, the Supreme Court decision Citizens United vs. FEC that says restricting corporation donor money = restricting free speech, and the “quality of legislative debate, rather than the outcome.”

Petraeus spoke about “strategic leadership” –  and communicating.  He also said that the Afghanistan war may end up being the nation’s longest.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.c…

Petraeus added that the commitment of University graduates to addressing current issues, fostered during their undergraduate education, is what makes them such strong leaders.

“Remember the fire we all felt as we became citizens of Tiger Nation, a fire that always propels us forward in our commitment to service,” he said.

In response to questions from the audience, Petraeus also addressed some current issues surrounding the U.S. involvement in Iraq, particularly last year’s decision by the military to restrict air-based attacks.

“Before you drop a bomb on a house, if you don’t know who’s in that house … you do have to think about whether it might be wise to break contact and fight another day or risk that there might be a civilian in that house and hand the enemy a propaganda tool,” he said, referring to the increase in civilian casualties which can result from air attacks. “In the end, we’re going to be able to beat the enemy about the head with the casualties that he had caused.”

Hopefully Gen. Petraeus will communicate to us when he believes there have been enough casualties to end the longest war in the nation’s history.  On both sides.