Posted on 09/13/2006 3:51:29 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - The U.S. military acknowledged Wednesday that it considered bombing a group of more than 100 Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan but decided not to after determining they were on the grounds of a cemetery.
The decision came to light after an NBC News correspondent's blog carried a photograph of the insurgents. Defense department officials first tried to block further publication of the photo, then struggled to explain what it depicted.
NBC News claimed U.S. Army officers wanted to attack the ceremony with missiles carried by an unmanned Predator drone but were prevented under rules of battlefield engagement that bar attacks on cemeteries.
In a statement released Wednesday, the U.S. military in Afghanistan said the picture a grainy black-and-white photo taken in July was given to a journalist to show that Taliban insurgents were congregating in large groups. The statement said U.S. forces considered attacking.
"During the observation of the group over a significant period of time, it was determined that the group was located on the grounds of (the) cemetery and were likely conducting a funeral for Taliban insurgents killed in a coalition operation nearby earlier in the day," the statement said. "A decision was made not to strike this group of insurgents at that specific location and time."
While not giving a reason for the decision, the military concluded the statement saying that while Taliban forces have killed innocent civilians during a funeral, coalition forces "hold themselves to a higher moral and ethical standard than their enemies."
The photo shows what NBC News says are 190 Taliban militants standing in several rows near a vehicle in an open area of land. Gunsight-like brackets were positioned over the group in the photo.
The photo appeared on NBC News correspondent Kerry Sanders' blog. Initially military officials called it an unauthorized release, but they later said it was given to the journalist.
NBC News had quoted one Army officer who was involved with the spy mission as saying "we were so excited" that the group had been spotted and was in the sights of a U.S. drone. But the network quoted the officer, who was not identified, as saying that frustration soon set in after the officers realized they couldn't bomb the funeral under the military's rules of engagement.
Defense Department officials have said repeatedly that while they try to be mindful of religious and cultural sensitivities, they make no promises that such sites can always be avoided in battle because militants often seek cover in those and other civilian sites.
Mosques and similar locations have become frequent sites of violence in the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they have often been targets of insurgents and sectarian fighting in Iraq.
wow, whatta post! thanks!
bttt
Do you think Bill Clinton worried about bombing Christian Serbs on Orthodox Easter? Of course not.
WWPD?
Meanwhile, the Moo's suicide bomb each others funerals, mosques and weddings.
If we are not serious here about fighting and WINNING what the hell are we doing there at all?
Why not? In Iraq they blow up each others' mosques! Any massing of 200 Talibans needs to be obliterated, no matter where they are. Appropriate "regrets" to be issued in due course through diplomatic channels. Of course.
The corpses are not going to get any deader.
Sometimes I think everyone in Washington is a blithering idiot.
>>Are we serious about this being a WAR or not?????<<
No.
Exhibit A: Open borders.
There's one good reason why you wouldn't bomb a gathering like that: Not everyone there was necessarily the enemy.
So, either the inmates are running the asylum at the Pentagon, or we don't have all the facts.
No, you are not the only one who is so angry he could spit blood.
I'm glad to find out I'M not the only one.
I am so sick and tired of being told PC crap. I believe the truth is, this war is being fought with one hand tied behind our back, because the leaders are liberals.
The buck used to stop at the President's desk. I guess that was back in the good old days. We won't leave Iraq while George Bush is President, but don't expect a full court press to win the war, either.
I could vomit right now.
>>Of course later in the war Washington went into the enemy camp returning the British general's hunting dog that had got lost during the day's battle (and that Washington had recognized). After drinks and talking about their dogs the two parted company.
<<
The British General wasn't fighting to win the war, or he would have arrested General Washington. No wonder the British lost.
That was about as bright as letting the insurgents go.
****
They're burying one ............. might as well bury two hundred and one.
We must get serious ......... or our civilization is cooked.
If only Hitler had been smart enough to place his headquarters on a German cemetary, he could be leading the EU today!
Bump for anyone who missed this.
Regards, Ivan
I double posted this. SORRY. Now, they are saying it was cause there were women and children nearby. It's hard to trust spokesmen who are just PR men. This really makes me mad. Dead Taliban are more valuable than living Americans I guess.
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