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RED HOT: TRAYVON MARTIN
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Afghanistan: Reaction to NATO massacres
By
G. Dunkel
Published Dec 9, 2007 11:18 PM
A NATO air attack on Nov. 28 dropped two bombs on tents where workers were
sleeping in Nuristan, a rugged province in eastern Afghanistan. The bombs
killed 14 workers, with no survivors. These workers had been building a road
for the NATO occupation forces.
NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) admitted it
conducted air strikes against Taliban fighters in the area but denied any
workers were killed. ISAF spokesman Brig. Gen. Carlos Branco claimed at a news
conference a few days later that a “Taliban leader” was targeted
and that “there were no civilian casualties.”
While it may be no surprise that Gen. Branco denied the bombing, it
wouldn’t be the first time NATO forces in Afghanistan have caused heavy
civilian casualties. According to United Nations reports, NATO and Afghan
government forces killed 314 civilians in the first six months of this year.
The same source says 279 civilians were killed by the Afghan resistance.
Mark Herold, a well-respected economist at the University of New Hampshire,
estimates that U.S. forces killed 3,767 civilians in Afghanistan—and
that’s only between October and December of 2001, during the initial
bombing. Many more have been killed in the six years since. The U.S. Department
of Defense admits to 401 military fatalities as of July 2007. Another 278 from
other NATO countries have also been killed. Many more Afghan civilians than
NATO troops have been killed, and most have been killed by NATO troops.
Past examples indicate that even if it were clearly established that the ISAF
air and helicopter attack was aimed the road workers, it is highly unlikely
that any serious charges would be brought against the forces involved,
especially if they are from the U.S. or other big imperialist powers.
U.S. Marines’ impunity
During a routine patrol last March 4, U.S. Marines were attacked by a suicide
bomber. They responded by killing at least 50 civilians and seriously injuring
an unspecified number more. Three weeks later, after large, angry protests,
Marine commanders agreed to open an investigation and announced that they would
keep the platoon implicated in the massacre in Afghanistan even though they
were sending the company involved out of the country.
On May 9, Col. John Nicholson, who commanded the brigade to which the Marine
Special Forces were attached, apologized to the families of the 69 civilians
who were killed or wounded. Nicholson said he was “deeply, deeply
ashamed” about this “terrible, terrible mistake.” On behalf
of the U.S. government, he turned over $2,000 as compensation for the deaths
and injuries.
A few weeks later, the Marine Corp’s top general said that Nicholson was
wrong to apologize because investigators had yet to determine whether any
wrongdoing occurred. As of the middle of November, the Defense Department was
saying that a formal investigation would be opened sometime in December.
Polish troops jailed
The Polish military reacted differently. When the military prosecutors in
Poznan, Poland, became aware that Polish soldiers, who were operating together
with U.S. troops, mortared the Afghan town of Nangar Khel on Aug. 16, killing
six civilians including women and children, they jailed the troops on Nov. 15.
The authorities are holding the Polish troops in separate cells, to avoid
collusion. The investigating judge has held that it is established that the
killings took place.
Poland currently has about 1,200 troops in Afghanistan and 900 in Iraq. The new
prime minister, Donald Tusk, appointed at the end of October after his Civic
Platform party won the parliamentary elections, had run on a platform of
withdrawing from Iraq by the summer of 2008. His platform also included trying
to strengthen Poland’s ties to the U.S. Tusk says he will continue to
keep a significant Polish force in Afghanistan.
According to a recent public opinion poll, 72 percent of Poles want Poland out
of Afghanistan.
The Polish edition of Newsweek ran a front-page headline, “Blood on the
uniform,” the week the news broke of the Aug. 16 massacre. The Polish
Business News Agency raised the charge that Polish army commanders knew about
the massacre and the cover up.
Tusk announced that if the charges were proven, he would apologize to the
Afghani people. The Polish military prosecutor intends to try the soldiers
early in the spring of 2008.
Washington, the imperialist capital with the most powerful military, has
insisted its soldiers be exempt from the jurisdiction of the International
Criminal Court, and that the actions of its occupation troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan are virtually unpunished. Poland is a poor neo-colony of U.S. and
Western European imperialism. More than two million of Poland’s young
workers have left for Western Europe in the past three years. Though
Poland’s youths are also acceptable as cannon fodder for imperialist wars
and occupations, they don’t get the same arrogant protection as the
imperialist troops when they commit war crimes.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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