Posted on 04/13/2010 8:38:59 AM PDT by yoe
American troops raked a large passenger bus with gunfire near Kandahar on Monday morning, killing and wounding civilians, and igniting angry anti-American demonstrations in a city where winning over Afghan support is pivotal to the war effort.
The shooting, which killed as many as five civilians and wounded 18, occurred on the eve of the most important offensive of the war. In coming weeks thousands of American, NATO and Afghan troops are expected to try to take control of the Kandahar region, the spiritual home of the Taliban.
It was the latest case in which NATO or American forces fired on and killed civilians near a checkpoint or military convoy because they were perceived to have come too close or to be approaching too fast.
Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the American and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has made reducing civilian casualties a priority, and they have gone down over the last year. But checkpoint and convoy shootings have not declined, worrying commanders who believe that such killings are turning Afghans against foreign forces.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I strongly urge all registered Democrats to vist the Afghan front...and see their allies in the Taliban....hang out with them...have some quality time...
That sounds positively xenophobic and like Islamic supremacist hate speech. The NY Times needs to send the protesters to diversity training.
Hogwash. Pure propaganda.
The locals get death threats from the Taliban for cooperating with the Westerners. The NY Times is doing an incredible diservice by giving a one sided slam against the US military.
Which side is it that is using landmines and IEDs to kill civilians deliberately again?
Where are the musicians and royalty who hold public rallies to denounce the use of landmines? Why are they stone silent on the Taliban's tactics?
“Reporters Oppel and Shah are slanting the news again...misleading the public. Leaving reporters like these in the field and removing Michael Yon is more “control” by the Obama administration over what is released from that theater of war. You will not find truth from these reporters.”
Which part is not true?
Hank
Where was the NYT when the Russians were busy slaughtering 1.3 million Afghani’s in the 80’s? Oh, that’s right-5 deaths are a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.
And by all means take the bus tour...
Our troops have been given orders by Hussein, demanding they literally SACRIFICE THEMSELVES rather than engage a supposed “civilian”. Members of the US military are EXPENDABLE! Hussein’s fellow Muslim terrorists are not!
Those type of orders have been POLICY since LBJ. That is why men were facing Court Martials under the Bush Administration as well. It's wrong! I was having a discussion with a Freeper on this very matter. One day they must attack a bus because it has enemy. The next morning their C.O. will likely have them building a school.
You can not fight nor win wars under such conditions. They are done like this and some still can not understand why troops crack in combat? Liberals can't have it both ways. The job is to kill period. Then comes General PC and says no, no, you did wrong shame on you private. Now go paint someones house, build a school, hospital, etc. Repeat process next patrol. It's wrong and sad to say some of America's finest are being taught this is how the military is supposed to function.
“Those type of orders have been POLICY since LBJ”
BUT the ROE changed and narrowed drastically after 0dumbo.
Reasing mcchrystal’s memo where he said he would instituting new ROE, thast he felt the USMilitary had been “preoccupied with the safety of our own troops) I wanted to puke. I wanted to tell mcChrystal and 0dumbo to go there and walk through a village without weapons.
NO we narrowed the ROS so much that our troops are getting killed in greater numbers
Did this happen?
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