US Soldier kills 16 Afghan civilians.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/11/afghanistan-shootings-us-soldier_n_1337636.html

Sickens me to the core. If things weren't beyond repair in Afghanistan before this, they definitely are now. There couldn't be a clearer message that we need to get our boys out of there ASAP. This is becoming more and more like the Vietnam of our era. The same type of atrocities took place there as well.

Nothing new from the Americans.It baffles me how openly they does this modern day fascism.

Adit wrote:Nothing new from the Americans.It baffles me how openly they does this modern day fascism.

Oh here we go...............

More generalising and stereotyping that ALL Americans are red-neck fascists because of one guys actions.

Bravo sir, Bravo.

Like this is the first time ?

and you obviously missed my point,i was talking about American international policy.

Adit wrote:Nothing new from the Americans.It baffles me how openly they does this modern day fascism.

So because one guy snaps and goes on a rampage, that was probably neither politically nor religiously motivated, all Americans, who have a fair number of muslims and semitic peoples among their number, are fascists?

Stereotyping another nation like that is kind of... Fascist.

Adit wrote:Like this is the first time ?

and you obviously missed my point,i was talking about American international policy.

Oh! I see. Even though this depolrable act has nothing to do with politics, let's just blame the American Policy.

izzy wrote:

Adit wrote:Like this is the first time ?

and you obviously missed my point,i was talking about American international policy.

Oh! I see. Even though this depolrable act has nothing to do with politics, let's just blame the American Policy.

Yes it has everything to do with Americans invading others land in the first place.

Adit wrote:Yes it has everything to do with Americans invading others land in the first place.

So basically, he killed 16 innocent people because he was sent to invade the country? Sounds about right. Didn't know the American policy was 'shoot anything that moves'.

He may be represent the US Army but his actions do NOT represent America. For you to actually use this guys sick actions for a reason to slate a whole country is baffling.

izzy wrote:

Adit wrote:Yes it has everything to do with Americans invading others land in the first place.

So basically, he killed 16 innocent people because he was sent to invade the country? Sounds about right. Didn't know the American policy was 'shoot anything that moves'.

He may be represent the US Army but his actions do NOT represent America. For you to actually use this guys sick actions for a reason to slate a whole country is baffling.

Its not rocket science,your soldiers are going to kill a lot of civilians on a invasion.they killed alot of civils in Iraq, they are killing now in afghan.As i said it has everything to do with their invasion policy itself.

Yes, civilian casualties happen in nearly every war-zone. Yes, some Americans might have killed civilians on purpose. Neither represents a sinister incentive from the U.S. in its invasion policy.

can anyone explain me what is the problem in calling all the soldiers back ? I am pretty sure the soldiers would love to gtfo back to America n live a normal life for once.

So why isn't it happening ?

None of this will make much of a difference to Karzai, the Taliban or the Afghan people. All they know right now is that 16 of their own are dead and a soldier of the occupying army did it. As Viva said, this is not about politics or religion now. It's gone beyond that now. An apology simply will not be enough this time. It will be crucial to see how we respond to this.

Adit wrote:Nothing new from the America

Yes. The country is accountable for the actions of those they democratically elect.Just as those democratically elected are responsible for the events it set into motion.

After nearly a decade, it's inevitable someone will snap. It's an unwinnable war, anyways, much like Vietnam was. The US is too used to large scale, nationwide wars with clear objectives, allies and enemies.

Not so in this case. The US should know by now that small scale warfare ain't their thing, much less nowadays with how freely information travels.

Funny how the Cold War was much more "civilized" yet thousands of times more potentially deadly.

If you have hundreds of thousands of people with automatic weapons, one of them will snap eventually. People snap all the time, it's just that most don't have combat training.

Not all Americans a Bad. Within every nation there are bad people. On topic, I really feel bad for all the people that faced this massacre, I think that the American army in Afghanistan should be more strict towards the soldiers, people like these should not have been accepted into the army in the first place. This is simply an inhumane act that should be punished for. My condolences to all of these families.

They need to GTFO of there. To me, any possibility of recovery of the trust of the Afghan civilians would be gone now. The US is now fighting against an entire nation that doesn't want them there.

i can only imagine the backlash if it was reversed, if an afghani killed 16 american citizens. boy that shit storm would be huge

zizzle wrote:i can only imagine the backlash if it was reversed, if an afghani killed 16 american citizens. boy that shit storm would be huge

Sh*t like that happens all the time, Afghan soldiers opening fire on Western soldiers and civilians, or other Afghan soldiers/police. I don't think any event had 16 fatalities yet, but there were attempts every few months for the past 3 years or so, ever since the Karzai government had its own army.

So I really think you're overestimating the Western hypocracy. Not there isn't any, but it's not like there isn't a shitstorm now.

RealGunner wrote:can anyone explain me what is the problem in calling all the soldiers back ? I am pretty sure the soldiers would love to gtfo back to America n live a normal life for once.

So why isn't it happening ?

It doesn't happen because if we withdraw our troops and presence it is presumed that the new(Karzai) government will fall and the Taliban will regain control. Pretty much the same argument as Vietnam. Like we can really destroy the country, rebuild it, and ensure it's political stability.... This motive isn't altruistic by any means though. What it all boils down to is our economic interests and/or strategic interests.

To me, it's apparent the US has some things it's looking to accomplish in the Middle East. Our policy with respect to Iran is also part of the same plan as well, which is to control energy resources from the region.

I'm not really that moved by this, since we have every couple of weeks big headlines like: "drone strike destroys Taliban camp. 20 dead" or whatever, and most of the time it's pretty much unknown how many of those were civilians.

People just relate more to events like this since it has a human element, but there are worse things. Like the napalm strikes or Agent Orange use in Vietnam which actually did more long term damage than any massacre did.

Thats story is after being spun by the US and English media, here is the original one by reuters:

Sixteen Afghan civilians, including nine children, were shot dead in what witnesses described as a nighttime massacre on Sunday near a U.S. base in southern Afghanistan, and one U.S. soldier was in custody.

While U.S. officials rushed to draw a line between the rogue shooting and the ongoing efforts of a U.S. force of around 90,000, the incident is sure to further inflame Afghan anger triggered when U.S. soldiers burned copies of the Koran at a NATO base.

U.S. officials said an American staff sergeant from a unit based in Washington state was in custody after the attack on villagers in three houses. Multiple civilians were also wounded, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) coalition said

President Barack Obama called his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai promising to establish the facts quickly and "to hold fully accountable anyone responsible."

There were conflicting reports of how many shooters were involved, with U.S. officials asserting that a lone soldier was responsible, in contrast to witnesses' accounts that several U.S. soldiers were present.

The incident was one of the worst of its kind since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said anti-U.S. reprisals were possible following the killings, just as the Koran burning incident a few weeks earlier had touched off widespread anti-Western protests in which at least 30 people died.

Neighbors and relatives of the dead said they had seen a group of U.S. soldiers arrive at their village in Kandahar's Panjwayi district at about 2 a.m., enter homes and open fire.

An Afghan man who said his children were killed in the shooting spree accused soldiers of later burning the bodies.

Obama said he was deeply saddened. "This incident is tragic and shocking and does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan," Obama said in a statement.

"INTENTIONAL MURDERS"

Afghan President Karzai condemned the rampage as "intentional murders" and demanded an explanation from the United States. His office said the dead included nine children and three women.

Afghan officials also gave varying accounts of the number of shooters involved. Karzai's office released a statement quoting a villager as saying "American soldiers woke my family up and shot them in the face."

Minister of Border and Tribal Affairs Asadullah Khalid said a U.S. soldier had burst into three homes near his base in the middle of the night, killing a total of 16 people including 11 people in the first house.

The ISAF spokesman said the U.S. soldier "walked back to the base and turned himself into U.S. forces this morning," adding there had been no military operations taking place in the area when the incident occurred.

Panjwayi district is about 35 km (22 miles) west of the provincial capital Kandahar city. The district is considered the spiritual home of the Taliban and has been a hive of insurgent activity in recent years.

"I saw that all 11 of my relatives were killed, including my children and grandchildren," said a weeping Haji Samad, who said he had left his home a day earlier.

BLOOD-SPATTERED WALLS

The walls of the house were blood-splattered.

"They (Americans) poured chemicals over their dead bodies and burned them," Samad told Reuters at the scene.

Neighbors said they had awoken to crackling gunfire from American soldiers, who they described as laughing and drunk.

"They were all drunk and shooting all over the place," said neighbor Agha Lala, who visited one of the homes where killings took place.

"Their (the victims') bodies were riddled with bullets."

A senior U.S. defense official in Washington rejected witness accounts that several apparently drunk soldiers were involved. "Based on the preliminary information we have this account is flatly wrong," the official said. "We believe one U.S. service member acted alone, not a group of U.S. soldiers."

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called Karzai to offer his condolences. "I condemn such violence and am shocked and saddened that a U.S. service member is alleged to be involved, clearly acting outside his chain of command," Panetta said in a statement. "A full investigation is already under way. A suspect is in custody and I gave President Karzai my assurances that we will bring those responsible to justice."

The Afghan Taliban said it would take revenge for the deaths, in an emailed statement to media.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul said an investigation was under way and that "the individual or individuals responsible for this act will be identified and brought to justice."

ISAF Commander General John Allen promised a rapid investigation.

Civilian casualties have been a major source of friction between Karzai's Western-backed government and U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. NATO is preparing to hand over all security responsibilities to Afghans and all foreign combat troops are scheduled to leave by end-2014.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance remained firmly committed to its mission and said anyone responsible would be held accountable.

The Koran burning and the violence that followed, including a spate of deadly attacks against U.S. soldiers, underscored the challenges that the West faces as it prepares to withdraw.

Sunday's attack may harden a growing consensus in Washington that, despite a troop surge, a war bill exceeding $500 billion over 10-1/2 years and almost 2,000 U.S. lives lost, prospects are dimming for what the United States can accomplish in Afghanistan.

"These killings only serve to reinforce the mindset that the whole war is broken and that there's little we can do about it beyond trying to cut our losses and leave," said Joshua Foust, a security expert with the American Security Project.

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Remember the body pissing soldiers laughing around a couple of months ago? Remember the protection they got from the army and more than half the nation? Well here you have it again in more intense form.

Now the Afghans demand justice just the like the Iraqis did, look what happened then

Soviet Union got these ppl in check, got a tactical victory, but collapsed financially and over public anger against war.

You can win in Afghan, just different policy needed, arm Karzai let him settle things, build infrastructure, sit and watch. I am not military genius, but hunting beardy men in mountains is useless. Only massive work with population



Adit, India is American colony like China and Russia, don't get outraged

If you are talking about the Soviets wining Afghan war then, Soviet Union never won in Afghan they were driven out by the Mujaheddin

Btw you can never beat the Afghani peopl, one thing i can tell you about them is that they never give up, and keep going... From a young age most are hardworkers

Grande_Milano wrote:



Adit, India is American colony like China and Russia, don't get outraged

Talking outa your ass.

American colony? lol We may not be foe with them but we are far from being pro American country.