This story is tragic. As the US military rained down bombs in a failed attempt to target Islamic extremists in Afghanistan, they mistakenly bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital. Medics at the hospital frantically called NATO and Washington trying to get the military to stop the bombings, but it was too late. 19 people, including several medical staff and 3 children, died in explosions.
from Sky News:
Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) frantically phoned NATO and Washington as bombs rained down on its staff working at the trauma centre in Kunduz.
One medic described how patients unable to escape “burned to death as they lay in their beds”.
Three children were among the dead, and 37 people were seriously wounded. The 12 medics killed all worked for MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders.
Many patients and staff are still missing, as about 200 people were in the building at the time.
Mr Stoltenberg said: “A US investigation into this tragic incident is underway in co-ordination with the Afghan government.”
UN’s human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein called the airstrikes “utterly tragic and inexcusable”.
The US military later admitted it carried out airstrikes “in the vicinity” of the hospital, and was targeting Taliban fighters firing at American soldiers.
It said they “may have resulted in collateral damage to a nearby medical facility” but details were still not clear.
These are not adequate excuses we’re hearing. The details are still fuzzy, but if I had to venture a guess, I would say this kind of imprecision is the natural outgrowth of Obama’s “war but not a war” in Afghanistan.
How the fuck do you mistakenly bomb someone who has routinely given you gps coordinates so you don’t bomb them for 30 minutes AFTER THEY CALL YOU AND SAY STOP FUCKING BOMBING US? That’s not a mistake. That’s a decision to murder wounded people and aid workers. That is a war crime. That is a humanitarian law violation.
