{"id":195691,"date":"2015-10-30T22:19:13","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T22:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=195691"},"modified":"2015-10-30T22:19:13","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T22:19:13","slug":"americas-civilian-killings-no-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/americas-civilian-killings-no-accident\/","title":{"rendered":"America\u2019s Civilian Killings Are No Accident"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>America and its allies make modern war in a way that assures \u201cmistakes\u201d<br \/>\ndestroy hospitals, and civilian lives are taken by drones. These horrors are<br \/>\nall too often strategic decisions, or the result of the profligate use of needlessly<br \/>\ndestructive weapons. They are typically far from accidents.<\/p>\n<p>The destruction of a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, including the deaths<br \/>\nof physicians from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.msf.org\/topics\/kunduz-hospital-airstrike\">Doctors<br \/>\nWithout Borders<\/a>, has become the celebrity example of America\u2019s conduct<br \/>\nof war. It is the one that made the news, much like a single <a href=\"http:\/\/www.middleeasteye.net\/columns\/where-americas-response-middle-east-refugee-crisis-89876193\">child<\/a><br \/>\ndead on the beach stood in for five years of unabated refugee flows out of the<br \/>\nMiddle East. But Kunduz is more important than just a dramatic news story, in<br \/>\nthat it stands as a clear example of a sordid policy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Target Kunduz<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After a series of cascading explanations, the United States settled on <a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/senators-ask-us-general-troop-levels-afghanistan-042022165.html\">blaming<\/a><br \/>\nthe Afghan military for demanding a strike on the building which was the hospital.<br \/>\nThere is truth in that \u2014 the request likely did initiate with the Afghans<br \/>\n\u2014 but it ignores the larger story of how \u201caccidents\u201d really<br \/>\nhappen.<\/p>\n<p>The strike was conducted by an American AC-130, a flying gunship. A retired<br \/>\nAir Force Special Operations officer explained to me that the AC-130 is considered<br \/>\na \u201cfirst hit\u201d weapon; its ordnance hits where it is designated to<br \/>\nhit on the first try. The targeted hospital was marked by a U.S. Special Forces<br \/>\noperator alongside the Afghans, using a laser. The AC-130 fired on the hospital<br \/>\nfor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/articles\/2015\/10\/05\/how-a-u-s-gunship-slaughtered-doctors.html\">over<br \/>\none hour<\/a>, in 15-minute paced barrages.<\/p>\n<p>How could the US have known the target was a hospital? Easily. Kunduz had been<br \/>\ncontrolled by the Afghans alongside their embedded Americans for some time.<br \/>\nIt was a mature battlefield, with landmarks such as the hospital well-known<br \/>\non the ground. In addition, NGOs employ organizations such as The International<br \/>\nNGO Safety and Security Association (<a href=\"http:\/\/ingossa.org\/\">INSSA<\/a>)<br \/>\nspecifically to coordinate with armed forces working around their sites, to<br \/>\ninclude providing <a href=\"https:\/\/activist1.wordpress.com\/2015\/10\/04\/kunduz-hospital-had-complained-of-threats-from-afghan-special-forces-in-july-a-full-and-independent-investigation-into-bombing-is-essential\/\">precise<br \/>\nGPS<\/a> coordinates to avoid \u201caccidental\u201d targeting. Doctors Without<br \/>\nBorders also directly provides combatants their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.msf.org\/topics\/kunduz-hospital-airstrike\">locations<\/a>;<br \/>\nin Kunduz, as recently as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/articles\/2015\/10\/05\/how-a-u-s-gunship-slaughtered-doctors.html\">September<br \/>\n29<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/original.antiwar.com\/peter_van_buren\/2015\/10\/29\/americas-civilian-killings-are-no-accident\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>America and its allies make modern war in a way that assures \u201cmistakes\u201d destroy hospitals, and civilian lives are taken by drones. These horrors are all too often strategic decisions, or the result of the profligate use of needlessly destructive weapons. They are typically far from accidents. The destruction of a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-195691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195691\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}