Collateral Damage

AKA war crimes.

In Afghanistan - one of two countries where Barack Obama famously "ended" a G.W. Bush war...

source: US Forces-Afghanistan HQ via Stuart Millar via Glenn Greenwald

Those damned Russians are using "dumb" bombs in Syria and need to stop because they're killing civilians.  Meanwhile, we "smart" bombed a hospital in Afghanistan this morning.

Yesterday afternoon, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power marched to Twitter to proclaim: “we call on Russia to immediately cease attacks on Syrian oppo[sition and] civilians.” Along with that decree, she posted a statement from the U.S. and several of its closest authoritarian allies – including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UK – warning Russia that civilian casualties “will only fuel more extremism and radicalization.”

[...]

If one were to construct a list of all the countries in the world based on their credibility to condemn Russia for [its action] in Syria, the U.S. would literally be last on that list.

[...]

Early this morning, in the Afghan city of Kunduz, the U.S. dropped bombs on a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)). The airstrike killed at least 9 of the hospital’s medical staff, and seriously injured dozens of patients. “Among the dead was the Afghan head of the hospital, Abdul Sattar,” reported The New York Times.

[...]

The medical organization noted that “our hospital in Kunduz was the only one of its kind in NorthEastern Afghanistan.”

[...]

Jason Cone, MSF’s Executive Director, said [...] that “all parties [to the] conflict, including in Kabul & Washington, were clearly informed of precise GPS Coordinates of MSF facilities in Kunduz,” and that the “precise location of MSF Kunduz hospital [was] communicated to all parties on multiple occasions over past months, including on 9/29.”

  Glenn Greenwald

That's not the first time I've heard that story.

[The NYT] reported: “From early on, the Taliban had respected the hospital’s request not to bring weapons inside, according to staff members, and the hospital had been a refuge in the shattered city of Kunduz. It was a place where the wounded from all sides were treated.”

I guess they won't be doing that any more.

UPDATE:

And, not unimportant:

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.