Robert Fisk: Civilians pay price of war from above
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Independent Minds
Of course there will be an inquiry. And in the meantime, we shall be told that all the dead Afghan civilians were being used as "human shields" by the Taliban and we shall say that we "deeply regret" innocent lives that were lost. But we shall say that it's all the fault of the terrorists, not our heroic pilots and the US Marine special forces who were target spotting around Bala Baluk and Ganjabad.
When the Americans destroy Iraqi homes, there is an inquiry. And oh how the Israelis love inquiries (though they rarely reveal anything). It's the history of the modern Middle East. We are always right and when we are not, we (sometimes) apologise and then we blame it all on the "terrorists". Yes, we know the throat-cutters and beheaders and suicide bombers are quite prepared to slaughter the innocent.
But it was a sign of just how terrible the Afghan slaughter was that the powerless President Hamid Karzai sounded like a beacon of goodness yesterday appealing for "a higher platform of morality" in waging war, that we should conduct war as "better human beings".
And of course, the reason is quite simple. We live, they die. We don't risk our brave lads on the ground – not for civilians. Not for anything. Fire phosphorus shells into Fallujah. Fire tank shells into Najaf. We know we kill the innocent. Israel does exactly the same. It said the same after its allies massacred 1,700 at the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila in 1982 and in the deaths of more than a thousand civilians in Lebanon in 2006 and after the death of more than a thousand Palestinians in Gaza this year.
And if we kill some gunmen at the same time – "terrorists", of course – then it is the same old "human shield" tactic and ultimately the "terrorists" are to blame. Our military tactics are now fully aligned with Israel.
The reality is that international law forbids armies from shooting wildly in crowded tenements and bombing wildly into villages – even when enemy forces are present – but that went by the board in our 1991 bombing of Iraq and in Bosnia and in Nato's Serbia war and in our 2001 Afghan adventure and in 2003 in Iraq. Let's have that inquiry. And "human shields". And terror, terror, terror. Something else I notice. Innocent or "terrorists", civilians or Taliban, always it is the Muslims who are to blame.
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Comments
What a coward way of killing people and silencing public opinion.
Carlos Isnardi
Uruguay
He only wrote this article to pretend that islamic terrorism isn't a problem (most of the world would disagree), and to bash Israel.
Just this week, Al Jazeera released video of the US evangelical Christian Officers and soldiers discussing ways to convert the local population to Christianity. One officer admitted doing the same thing in Iraq.
Now, how can one trust these soldiers of 'Jesus' who were ordered to 'hunt' for non-believers and convert them to Christianity? At first, the Pentagon shamelessly denied the charges. Unfortunately for the Pentagon, Al Jazeera called their bluff and released the unedited version.
All these acts by the US and others will encourage people to join groups like Taleban, Al Qaeda, etc. in order to resist the US, West, and Israel.
By the way, where are the West, EU, and the UN? Why there are no protests or outrage? They only know how to bark when people like Ahmadinejad calls them out. The US, West, EU, and Israel are immoral and remorseless. The ball is now in Obama's court to fulfill his campaign promise. So far, he has failed miserably and reneged on some of his promises especially regarding torture and foreign policy.
immediately after. This has always been the usual tactic to get into a non-Christian country. One just
has to remember the Spanish Conquista days when the conquistadores surged into the Americas
and the Philippines in the Far East. The motto was ( and apparently still is):
"The Sword and the Cross". First the armies came and did what all armies do, then close to their heels,
came these hundreds of fanatically-driven missionaries, determined to convert those "heathens"! Today in Latin America, one can hardly pass a village or town without overhearing the "word of God" blaring from loudspeakers hanging from trees or rooftops, commensurate to brainwashing the hapless inhabitants by force. Many of the leaders of these missionary sects even became very prosperous,
seen being driven around in limousines. Apparently, all roads lead to . . . . . . . business! RIGHT!
So presumably civilisation is better served by the Taliban, eh?
Go to hell Bush and Obama, curse of God on you for killing the innocent.
when the human targets are of non-caucasian race. Or can one imagine British rockets, or depleted
uranium being being fired at British caucasians? That would be unthinkable, wouldn't it? Would the
Israeli army ever fire at Israeli anti-government dissidents....no, definitely not.
In a letter to a newspaper by a French woman, whose high-ranking father in the French colonial army during the French war against the Vietminh, (that's what the Vietcong were called before the Americans
renamed them when they took over the war from the French) - was killed by the Vienamese during the
French phase of the Vietnam War, - the woman bitterly, and with much indignation, berrated and
faulted the Vietnamese people in racist terms for it. For her it was a very personal matter, although,
she obviously missed the point...that her father was engaged in warfare against the very people she
was blaming. As for politicians they don't pull the trigger or press the button - but they give the orders.
We are far more primitive than we imagine.
I suggest that you get your facts right before you make another ridiculous comment.
How can the overwhelming majority of people be below average intelligence? That would only happen if the tiny minority's collective IQ dwarfed that of vast majority.
I assume you do not consider yorself to fall within the vast majority!
I point concerned people to the following link to a document that sets out what the Zionist powers have in mind for the mainly Muslim states of the Middle East.
www.geocities.com/alabasters_archive/zio
Obama is just another neocon liar.
And besides, seeing as these religious nutters love death more than we do life they should be grateful for the US moving them closer to their beloved Allah. Just before we get loads of "victimised" and foaming-at-the-mouth Muslims writing in saying that I support the killing of women and children just let me make one thing VERY CLEAR.
The RELIGIOUS NUTTERS who I refer to are the MALE Taleban - not innocent women and children. Move THE MALE Taliban towards Allah - in fact send them to Him express post!! After all, it is innocent women and children who are THEIR victims.
If you are you are not you are a terrorist
Thousands of people are being killed daily and alas they go un noticed.
That is the power of the media.
There are lots of those around asia and africa, as most people who aren't insane have noticed
Interesting, isn't it. In 2008 the US senate voted to give 60 BILLION dollars (yep BILLION) to buy medications to help people with AIDS in third world countries. Yet these oh-so-very-trendy-lefties conveniently forget that! The US has done many good things like this. I don't notice too many Muslim countries doing similar things. Shows how divorced from reality these people are.
The Taliban are mad dogs. They can expect nothing but death - and, subsequently, a few virgins into the bargain. The majority of people have absolutely no sympathy for them. By the way, heaven must surely be running our of virgins by now - perhaps it is importing them.
We will keep people busy away from us...... Holocaust legend.
Israel teach the world how to do it safely without must blame !
www.thereligionofpeace.com
I agree
Robert Fisk: Civilians pay price of war from above.
We live, they die.
I like the phrase, From Top Down this will not work. The Vertical will not work. Therefore, we go horizontal and have plenty of chaos.
"The old top-down approach to governance will no longer work".
When I was in an audit firm, I was employed as a trainee. The Article ship was, ?you are a trainee, then you go up as a semi junior to go again as junior, then you are semi senior to become senior. You are a supervisor to become a tax or audit manager. You skip any of the stages you are drafting the balance sheet, making tea, sweeping the floor, going to banks, clear the tax query, see the client. You end up with one balance sheet a month. This is silly and not profitable at all to any. See this above in this manner and may be it will strike to you that we had the division of labour by the army majors. There were the front rows like we have in football, then there spear men, the kickers of the ball, and then we had the defence, here in golly.
Put all in one line and all run for the ball, and then we get the game ruined.
Is this stupid or wise.
Moreover, this we are talking of politics where the country is at stake and at this time.
This is a rubbish statement and childish.
Now we come to Iraq.
The biggest American Embassy is in Iraq, so UK is the loser. This is one sided UK is loser any way, this is one sided.
The last statement is from top and bottom.
Now do you feel comfortable?
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla
Also the comments about the resources.... the Muslim world may have most of it but the area would be even more of a hole if they didn't have the money we pay for those resources. We don't steal the resources as the recent commodity boom has shown!
Also, how did Israel end up being mentioned again....