NATO More Dangerous Than Taliban
Can this mission succeed when “the good guys” are killing more innocent people than “the bad guys” kill?
Afghan civilians reportedly killed more by U.S., NATO than insurgents
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S.-led coalition and NATO forces fighting insurgents in Afghanistan have killed at least 203 civilians so far this year — surpassing the 178 civilians killed in militant attacks, according to an Associated Press tally.
How could this be you might ask, well, this is one reason
The men told the same story, of how foreign troops bombed their villages long after the Taliban fighters had left, how the bombs killed women and children, goats and sheep, and how if they had one wish, it would be for the foreigners to leave.
(emphasis mine)
This sort of news makes it very [very] hard to support the mission I was once behind.
Our country is part of this, and we have obviously f^&|
I am slowly beginning to feel the same way. Needless to say, I am reluctant to “reverse” my feelings about Afghanistan, because then I would have to admit I was wrong in the first place, and everyone who told me 2 years ago that it was impossible to “win” was right.
You were right, I was wrong. There.
Anyways, things are really getting messy over there. I still think in principle it would be nice to go over there, establish a secure, safe, peaceful country, and let them do what they wished in this peaceful power vacuum. But the more I hear, the more I realize they have too many long-running hatreds, traditions, and reasons to resent the presence of our troops for us to do any good there.
It is disturbing. It’s also disturbing that even when you mention to those in favour of the war they take it personally as though it’s an attack on them instead of just a simple fact. You hear all the same excuses: they don’t wear uniforms, it’s not actually civilians, who cares because they’re just sand n-words anyway…
You know. The usual stuff.
Whooee! The main reason fer all these civilian deaths is the over-dependence on air power. Air power is used to decrease the risk to troops on the ground. NATO, by its continued use of air power, is tacitly telling Afghanis that their lives are not as worthy as those of the occupying soldiers.
Some people have the idea that peace can only be achieved by killing off all of the enemy, regardless of the loss of innocent life. Creating a better life for Afghanis is not what this war is all about. It’s all about winning — at any cost.
JB
[...] I was discussing the NATO More Dangerous Than Taliban post of a few days ago with a couple of people over coffee earlier, with the discussion revolving around “so what do we do”? The answer seems obvious – get back to what we were supposed to be doing in the first place. [...]