Changing Story Doesn't Absolve U.S. in Hospital Attack, Doctors Group Says

[Purveyor]

Source: NBC NEWS

OCT 5 2015, 6:06 PM ET
by M. ALEX JOHNSON, HALIMAH ABDULLAH and BEN PLESSER

The United States can't evade responsibility for deadly airstrikes on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan simply because Afghan forces asked for them, the medical charity's president told NBC News on Monday.

Army Gen. John Campbell, the top commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, on Monday "corrected" initial statements by the coalition claiming that U.S. forces were under direct fire when the U.S. launched airstrikes on the hospital in Kunduz last week. He said it instead was Afghan forces who were under attack, not U.S. forces, and he promised a full investigation.

Twenty-two people — including 10 Doctors Without Borders physicians and three children — were killed in the attack.

"THIS ATTACK IS NOT AN ATTACK ON MSF ALONE — IT IS AN ATTACK, FOR ME, ON THE FOUNDATIONS OF OUR HUMANITARIAN ACTION THAT CLAIMS THAT A HOSPITAL ON THE FRONT LINE SHOULD BE A SAFE PLACE."

Meinie Nicolai, the organization's president, called the distinction immaterial, telling NBC News: "The U.S. military remain responsible for the targets they hit, even if you're part of a coalition."


Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/changing-story-doesnt-absolve-u-s-hospital-attack-doctors-group-n438946

[randys1]

1. God dammit!

And of course if any con was in the WH, this would be a dailly god damn story.

But still

[840high]

2. ...+1

[riverbendviewgal]

3. Shameful

but stuff happens, eh?

[w0nderer]

4. so far

admin and military and talking heads are all poo poo ing this

sh++ happens
oops

be interesting to see what happens if Russia drops an hour long bomb load on a US field hospital
i'm guessing 'sh++ happens' isn't going to be the term
i'm guessing
"war crimes, retribution, payback, nuke em, hang them, shoot them"

rule of America
'we can't commit war crimes, only furriners can do that'

[riverbendviewgal]

5. It seems it is a war crime.

Press
Blogs
October 05, 2015
"Today the US government has admitted that it was their airstrike that hit our hospital in Kunduz and killed 22 patients and MSF staff. Their description of the attack keeps changing—from collateral damage, to a tragic incident, to now attempting to pass responsibility to the Afghanistan government.

The reality is the US dropped those bombs. The US hit a huge hospital full of wounded patients and MSF staff. The US military remains responsible for the targets it hits, even though it is part of a coalition. There can be no justification for this horrible attack. With such constant discrepancies in the US and Afghan accounts of what happened, the need for a full transparent independent investigation is ever more critical."


http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/article/msf-response-pentagon-claim-afghan-forces-called-kunduz-airstrike?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=social

Another site that has a more detailed story.


https://theintercept.com/2015/10/05/the-radically-changing-story-of-the-u-s-airstrike-on-afghan-hospital-from-mistake-to-justification/

[Blue_Tires]

6. The U.S. isn't trying to "evade responsibility"...

[Purveyor]

7. Not now after they realized they couldn't lie their way

out of this one.

Not that they didn't try...

[Blue_Tires]

8. We could covered it up, hid behind denial,

planted evidence at the scene, etc...

[geek tragedy]

9. war crime, pure and simple nt

[EX500rider]

10. If it was properly marked with red crosses on the roof perhaps..

....but I haven't heard that it was.

[geek tragedy]

11. if they know it's a medical facility, that's enough

MSF is not a clandestine outfit that seeks to disguise its location as terrorist bases

[EX500rider]

12. When a town is in a active war zone red crosses on the roof are a must..

.....especially a Afghan town that looks like this from the air:

[geek tragedy]

13. 1) The MSF clinic was in the middle of a green patch

2) it was in the middle of the night--3:00 am or so--when the bombs hit. So, a stupid red cross wouldn't have done jack shit to prevent the bombing.

[EX500rider]

14. Unless of course the American pilots use night vision...

[24601]

15. It is in fact a war crime for combatants, legal or illegal, to conduct operations from a protected

place like a hospital or church/temple/mosque, etc.

It is not a war crime to engage combatants who so misuse such a facility. It also is not a war crime to target combatants near a protected facility. It is a war crime to deliberately target non-combatants; however, that would normally not include deaths and other casualties to non-combatants as a result of targeting combatants. There would have to be other factors such as using an unlawful weapon or a lawful weapon not used for a lawful purpose.

The President and Secretary of Defense approve rules of engagement that consider these issues. I believe that the Taliban do not.

The debate on who committed a war crime should be relatively easy to resolve.