Liberty Star
09-05-2009, 07:45 PM
This is quite unprecedented.
YouTube - ISAF Commander Announces Investigation to Afghan People (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zQK3rbSuCw)
General McChrystal goes on Afghanistan TV to promise airstrike death inquiry
The commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChyrstal, has promised to investigate fully the airstrike which killed at least 80, many civilians, and injured more.
By Ben Farmer in Kabul and agencies
Published: 8:13PM BST 05 Sep 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6143748/General-McChrystal-goes-on-Afghanistan-TV-to-promise-airstrike-death-inquiry.html
Is Afghanistan turning into Obama's Vietnam/Iraq?
Obama's numbers have been falling steadily in almost direct proprtion to public support of Afghan war :
Quote:
September 6, 2009
Barack Obama rattled as Afghanistan's decision day approaches
The allied commander wants greater effort, but the war looks ever more likely to poison Barack Obama’s presidency
Tony Allen-Mills in Washington
...
As he spends his Labor Day holiday weekend at the Camp David retreat in Maryland, Afghanistan is confronting him with what may prove the defining decision of his presidency. “It’s an issue he understands could be a danger to his administration,” said one of the historians who attended the presidential dinner.
The completion of a comprehensive strategy review by General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and other Nato forces in Afghanistan, has brought to boiling point a long-simmering stew of military, diplomatic and political conflicts over America’s faltering mission in Kabul.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6823409.ece
UPDATE 1:
After Afghan strike, charred flesh and burning rage
Fri Sep 4, 2009 1:45pm EDT
By Maria Golovnina
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The desperately poor Afghan villagers heard that the Taliban had abandoned loaded fuel tankers by the river and thought it was their lucky day. Hundreds ran to fill jugs of the valuable stuff.
Suddenly, a U.S. F-15 fighter jet roared over and opened fire. Mohammad Deen heard the explosion. When the flames died away by Friday morning, charred corpses were still strewn on the riverbank.
An AFP photographer described the atmosphere as tense, as anger at the foreign military presence bubbled under at the memorial prayer ceremonies.
The European Union fiercely criticised NATO over the bombing, saying it undermined efforts at nation-building they had begun to focus on.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner yesterday had described the air strikes as “a big mistake” and stressed that the West’s strategy in Afghanistan must be to “work with the Afghan people, not bomb them.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE58356F20090904
UPDATE 2:
And now German Chancellor will also go on TV:
Quote:
Merkel to give Afghan speech, outcry over airstrike mounts
Mon Sep 7, 2009
By Noah Barkin
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will go before parliament on Tuesday to explain the government's Afghanistan strategy in the face of mounting criticism from opposition parties weeks before a federal election.
Berlin has come under intense pressure following a decision by its troops on September 4 to call in an air strike on two fuel trucks near Kunduz which an Afghan rights body has said killed 60-70 civilians.
The strike was the most deadly operation involving German troops since World War Two and was condemned by several European foreign ministers at the weekend.
http://www.reuters.com/article/gc05/idUSTRE58634X20090907
YouTube - ISAF Commander Announces Investigation to Afghan People (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zQK3rbSuCw)
General McChrystal goes on Afghanistan TV to promise airstrike death inquiry
The commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChyrstal, has promised to investigate fully the airstrike which killed at least 80, many civilians, and injured more.
By Ben Farmer in Kabul and agencies
Published: 8:13PM BST 05 Sep 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6143748/General-McChrystal-goes-on-Afghanistan-TV-to-promise-airstrike-death-inquiry.html
Is Afghanistan turning into Obama's Vietnam/Iraq?
Obama's numbers have been falling steadily in almost direct proprtion to public support of Afghan war :
Quote:
September 6, 2009
Barack Obama rattled as Afghanistan's decision day approaches
The allied commander wants greater effort, but the war looks ever more likely to poison Barack Obama’s presidency
Tony Allen-Mills in Washington
...
As he spends his Labor Day holiday weekend at the Camp David retreat in Maryland, Afghanistan is confronting him with what may prove the defining decision of his presidency. “It’s an issue he understands could be a danger to his administration,” said one of the historians who attended the presidential dinner.
The completion of a comprehensive strategy review by General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and other Nato forces in Afghanistan, has brought to boiling point a long-simmering stew of military, diplomatic and political conflicts over America’s faltering mission in Kabul.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6823409.ece
UPDATE 1:
After Afghan strike, charred flesh and burning rage
Fri Sep 4, 2009 1:45pm EDT
By Maria Golovnina
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The desperately poor Afghan villagers heard that the Taliban had abandoned loaded fuel tankers by the river and thought it was their lucky day. Hundreds ran to fill jugs of the valuable stuff.
Suddenly, a U.S. F-15 fighter jet roared over and opened fire. Mohammad Deen heard the explosion. When the flames died away by Friday morning, charred corpses were still strewn on the riverbank.
An AFP photographer described the atmosphere as tense, as anger at the foreign military presence bubbled under at the memorial prayer ceremonies.
The European Union fiercely criticised NATO over the bombing, saying it undermined efforts at nation-building they had begun to focus on.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner yesterday had described the air strikes as “a big mistake” and stressed that the West’s strategy in Afghanistan must be to “work with the Afghan people, not bomb them.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE58356F20090904
UPDATE 2:
And now German Chancellor will also go on TV:
Quote:
Merkel to give Afghan speech, outcry over airstrike mounts
Mon Sep 7, 2009
By Noah Barkin
BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will go before parliament on Tuesday to explain the government's Afghanistan strategy in the face of mounting criticism from opposition parties weeks before a federal election.
Berlin has come under intense pressure following a decision by its troops on September 4 to call in an air strike on two fuel trucks near Kunduz which an Afghan rights body has said killed 60-70 civilians.
The strike was the most deadly operation involving German troops since World War Two and was condemned by several European foreign ministers at the weekend.
http://www.reuters.com/article/gc05/idUSTRE58634X20090907