statism watch

Good for them, though this is a bit of eyewash considering it’s hardly the sort of isolated case here implied. The ISAF is continuously dropping bombs on wedding processions, throwing laser-guided bombs into residential buildings to kill ‘suspected’ insurgents, etc. Note also that, once again, you have to go to the foreign (well, British) media to get this news as it’s blockaded here.

Related: US drone attack ‘kills Pakistan insurgents’ | CIA Drones No Longer Need a Name to Kill | Pakistan air strike ‘kills 71 civilians’ | WikiLeaks releases video of alleged U.S. helicopter attack on Reuters reporters | 1 in 3 Killed by U.S. Drone Attacks In Pakistan Are Civilians | Afghan ministers voice anger as civilians killed in Nato air strike | Five civilians killed in Nato rocket attack in Afghanistan | Suspected US drone ‘kills 12′ in Pakistan | U.S. prods Pakistan to expand offensive | Pakistan anti-Taliban offensive in South Waziristan ‘over’ | U.S. Military Joins CIA’s Drone War in Pakistan | US Air Force confirms new ‘Beast of Kandahar’ drone | German army chief resigns over Afghanistan air strike | Clinton confronted by Pakistanis over attacks by aerial drones | UN: Drone attacks may violate international law | US drone ’shot down over Somalia’ | Refugee flood reveals human cost of South Waziristan’s invisible war | ‘Taliban’ resist Pakistan onslaught | Pakistani troops assault ‘Taliban’ stronghold | Militants attack Pakistani cities | Pakistan launches air strikes before offensive | NATO pledges probe of deadly Afghan air strike; civilians killed | Pakistan remains silent as U.S. air attack kills 80 | Afghan Airstrike Video Goes Down the Memory Hole | Homing chips are CIA’s latest weapon against ‘al-Qaida’ targets hiding in Pakistan’s tribal belt | CIA: Our Drones are Killing Terrorists. Promise | US air strikes kill dozens of Afghan civilians | NATO denies air strike killed Afghan civilians | Don’t-ask-don’t-tell Policy: Pakistan and U.S. Have Tacit Deal On Airstrikes | Death toll climbs after U.S. air strike in Pakistan

David Fox, Reuters
May 29, 2010

The US military acknowledged today killing 23 civilians and wounding 12 others earlier this year after mistaking them for a convoy of Taliban insurgents.

The US report into the incident, which happened in Uruzgan, said the crew of a remote-controlled drone aircraft had “provided inaccurate reporting” ahead of the incident and local command posts “failed to properly analyze the situation”.

“Information that the convoy was anything other than an attacking force was ignored or downplayed by UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) personal,” it said.

The Taliban are responsible for the majority of civilian conflict deaths in the country, but the issue is a sensitive one for US-led foreign troops, who are frequently accused of using indiscriminate firepower – even in civilian areas – to fight the insurgency.

The US counterinsurgency strategy emphasizes seizing population centers and avoiding combat in built-up areas whenever possible to avert civilian deaths.

Taliban fighters, however, frequently plant bombs, launch suicide raids and attack government and Western targets in civilian areas.

The US report into the Uruzgan incident cited operational shortcomings in training, communication and decision-making and offered recommendations to prevent future incidents.

The Afghan government said at the time that 27 civilians had died and 12 others were injured – including several women and children.

“Our most important mission here is to protect the Afghan people,” the commander of foreign troops, General Stanley McChrystal, said in a statement.

“Inadvertently killing or injuring civilians is heartbreaking and undermines their trust and confidence in our mission. We will do all we can to regain that trust.”

Four officers – including senior leaders at battalion and brigade level, had been officially reprimanded, the report said, while two junior officers were formally admonished.

The Taliban have steadily widened the revolt they have waged since being ousted in 2001, and now face off against over 140,000 mostly US or NATO troops – mostly in the south and east of the country.

That number is expected to increase in coming weeks through a surge ordered by US President Barack Obama as they prepare for a major offensive against Taliban elements in Kandahar, where the insurgents draw much of their support.

Source | See also under Militarization: MIddle East arms treaty a go despite US ‘deep regret’ over focus on Israeli nuclear arsenal | Police detail G20 security zone | Cyber Command: We Don’t Wanna Defend the Internet (We Just Might Have To) | Israeli navy prepares for action as activists’ flotilla nears Gaza | Infrastructure security plan unveiled | Pentagon: Let us monitor your network or else | Toronto Police to take up to $100-million of G20 security funds | Homegrown terrorist threat to be part of new US National Security Strategy | Toronto police buy four ’sound cannons’ for G20 | North Korea reacts angrily as Seoul’s navy holds military exercises off coast | Toronto and Muskoka G8/20 Summit security costs hit $1.1B | Obama sending 1,200 troops to Mexico border | North Korea to sever ties with South | US appoints first cyber warfare general | Disclosure of apartheid-era warhead negotiations with South Africa tip Israel’s nuclear hand | The Toronto G20 Police State Crackdown | Darpa’s Self-Learning Software Knows Who You Are | Toronto police agree to erase security zone pass info after G20 | Obama starts massive US Air-Sea-Marine build-up opposite Iran | Toronto streets get 77 more surveillance cameras for G20 | Canada’s navy cuts coast patrol fleet in half | NSA head confirmed as chief of US cyber command | US drone attack ‘kills Pakistan insurgents’ | Predator drones to begin flying Texas border patrol in a matter of months | Pentagon Turns to Brain Implants to Repair Damaged Minds | Keeping America Safe: SWAT Team Storms Family Home, Shoots Pet Dogs, Over Small Bag Of Marijuana | CIA Drones No Longer Need a Name to Kill | Fighter jets buzz Toronto, Muskoka in G20 test runs | Couple Arrested At U.S. Border For Asking Questions | RCMP unveil new stun gun rules: Verbal warning, imminent harm required | Downtown Toronto To Be Transformed Into Locked-Down Police State This Summer | Police State Canada 2010 and the G20 Summit | Protesters and police get ready to square off at G20 summit | Launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new space missile platform | Waterloo firm creates ‘flying robot spies from the skies’ for global law enforcement market | U.S. combat jets buzzing Ont. border city | ‘Vast’ biometric database prompts troops to open fire on vehicle, 4 unarmed Afghans killed | U.S. Troops Apologize For Wikileaks Massacre Video | Toronto police disclose Tasers often used on mentally ill | UN-led uranium deal still on table: Iran | Afghan torture allegations erupt in UK | Militarized police integrate with private security for G20 Toronto concourse drill | Danger Room What’s Next in National Security Prospective U.S. Cyber Commander Talks Terms of Digital Warfare | Pakistan air strike ‘kills 71 civilians’ | Canada knew in 2007 Kandahar governor tortured prisoners in dungeon, bombed UN personnel | White House approves assassination of cleric linked to Christmas bomb plot | Small army to protect Toronto during G20 summit | Feds mulling plan to turn Parliament Hill into high-security zone | Barack Obama to limit use of US nuclear weapons | Controversial use of mercenary forces surges in Afghanistan | Afghan tension mounts as NATO offensive looms | US Airline Security Moves to Known Threat Descriptive Profiling | Recent mass grave of the ‘disappeared’ uncovered in Columbia | Cop Cleared By Grand Jury For Tasering Great Grandmother During Speeding Stop | Officers suspended after using Taser on 10-year-old | Raid on ‘unheard of’ Hutaree militia puzzles small town | The prison spending boom | Full Afghan withdrawal ‘wrong,’ top Tory says | Ontario report rewrites stun gun rules, somewhat | FBI raids in Washtenaw, Lenawee counties tied to Michigan militia group | Massive fortress Ottawa in the works | UK: Police Taser use ‘doubled’ in third quarter of 2009 | U.S. to press for Canada to keep troops in Afghanistan | Russia claims breakthrough in historic nuclear reduction agreement with US | Toronto G20 summit security to be ‘massive’ | British military intelligence ‘ran renegade torture unit in Iraq’ | RCMP needs 5,500 rooms during G20 summit | U.S. cybersecurity bill introduced in Senate | Body scans eventually mandatory, TSA official says | Planned random DUI checkpoints a violation of rights | Secret Document Calls Wikileaks ‘Threat’ to U.S. Army | Defence Department official used private contractors for spy network in AfPak | Public Safety Canada announces national plan to centralize operations in state of emergency | While Government Treats Citizens As Terrorists, Mexican Military Invades U.S. | Chicago police expanding Taser use | Cyberattacks push CSIS to reach out to business | An American Detention Bill You Ought to Read More Carefully | Canada wanted Afghan prisoners tortured: lawyer | Military trials possible for Sept. 11 terror suspects | Fingerprints Now Required to Shred (That Means Skateboard, Dude) | United States weighs massive expansion of Internet monitoring | UK: Mobile fingerprint scanner for English and Welsh police | Plan to put more police on Toronto transit | 1 in 3 Killed by U.S. Drone Attacks In Pakistan Are Civilians | Israeli preparations for war with Iran troubling | Downtown Toronto to become a fortress for G20 summit | Pentagon Discloses Hundreds of Reports of Possibly Illegal Intelligence Activities | Australia to fingerprint, face-scan visitors from Muslim nations | G8/G20: Gearing up for the biggest security event in Canadian history | Toronto braces for G20 disruption, Ottawa to pick up security tab | The truth about the Mossad | Iran could be making nuclear warhead, says new director of IAEA | USA: Fourth Amendment Trashed As Airport Tyranny Hits The Streets | RCMP to test Taser cameras | Report: France ‘deliberately’ used soldiers as ‘nuclear guinea pigs’ | UK Police use spy drone for first domestic arrest — without airspace clearance | Global security to top agenda of G8 foreign ministers | Five civilians killed in Nato rocket attack in Afghanistan | NATO’s novel battle tactic spawns opposite effects as 12 civilians killed | Russia to push ahead on Iran missile deal | Obama Making Plans to Use Executive Power | NATO, Afghan troops launch largest air assault of Afghan war | Report: ‘US to expand military centers in Pakistan’ | Vancouver police shut down several blocks, shopping mall to blow up fishing rod | Marjah, Afghanistan: Countdown To A Battle | Future police: Meet the UK’s armed robot drones | Obama threatens actions against Iran over nuclear program | Troops Randomly Patrol Streets In Pittsburgh in Wake of Snowfall, Respond To “Domestic Disputes” | CFB Trenton commander charged with murder | UN sanctions urged over Iran’s uranium plans | Elite Toronto police squad stops and questions thousands | Pentagon Looks to Breed Immortal ‘Synthetic Organisms,’ Molecular Kill-Switch Included | US Interrogation Squad Doing ‘Scientific Research’ | Domestic threats biggest Olympic security concern: expert | Washington DC transit system holds anti-terror drills | Hitchens: North Korean’s stature, worldview stunted by authoritarian hate and ignorance | U.S. deploys land and sea-based missile shield in the Gulf to deter attack from Iran | UN agency calls for global cyberwarfare treaty, ‘driver’s license’ for Web users | UK: Tony Blair attempts to shift focus to Iran as ‘global threat’ at Iraq war inquiry | Winnipeg police caught on video beating man | Blair defends decision to join U.S. in Iraq | Crotch bomber bill before Congress: Treat all ‘terrorism suspects’ as enemy combatants. Domestically. | Toronto Star Columnist Fiorito: The cops came and took my gun | Pentagon to Send More Special Forces Troops to Yemen | Military probes beating of Afghan prisoner | Obama’s War for Oil in Colombia | Pentagon calls for ‘Office of Strategic Deception’ | British and US troops to launch new Afghanistan offensive | The War on Terrorism and the Countdown to the 2010 Olympics | General McChrystal indicates talks with Taliban to be discussed | UK police plan to use military-style spy drones | UK: Photographers protest over terror search laws | Texas Schoolkids Tagged With GPS Tracking Devices | No new Taliban crackdowns for 6 months, Pakistan says | Congressman Ron Paul: After ‘CIA coup,’ agency ‘runs military’ | Olympic surveillance cameras causing concern | BATF Notice Bans Private Gun Sales In Texas | Regina police probe RCMP torture claims | War resister released from U.S. prison | Yemen forces ‘kill Al-Qaeda chief’ | UK: Anti-terror stop and search policy ruled illegal by European human rights court | Obama Executive Order Stokes Martial Law Fears | A North American Security Perimeter Coming Into View | North Korea calls for peace treaty with US | ‘No intention’ to invade Yemen: Obama | US Domestic Espionage Alert: Spy Drone Discovered | American cash gives Yemen a reason to join the hunt for al-Qaeda | Canada no longer a haven for war resisters | Ex-Blackwater contractors charged with Afghan killings | Airport security starts in the parking lot | PM Harper downplays detainee torture scandal, prorogation | Suspected US drone ‘kills 12′ in Pakistan | Body scanners coming to Canadian airports | UK: Full-body scanners being ordered for airports, says Gordon Brown | Group slams Chertoff on conflict of interest in scanner promotion | Britain, U.S. to fund Yemen anti-terror unit | For more see The Memory Hole — Militarization

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 29th, 2010 at 1:55 am and is filed under afghanistan, militarization, terror. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.