Oops!

[Doug Millison]

Civilian catastrophe as US bombs Afghan wedding

· 250 civilians reported dead or injured
· Witnesses say attack lasted 2 hours
· Pentagon: 'One bomb went astray'

Staff and agencies
Monday July 1, 2002

US helicopter gunships and jets today fired on an Afghan wedding, killing
or injuring at least 250 civilians, witnesses and hospital officials said.
[...] Most of the dead and injured were women and children. "We have many
children who are injured and who have no family," nurse Mohammed Nadir
said. "Their families are gone. The villagers brought these children and
they have no parents. Everyone says that their parents are dead." [...] At
Bagram air base north of Kabul, the US military spokesman, Colonel Roger
King, said an AC-130 gunship, a B-52 bomber and other aircraft joined the
attack after coalition ground forces came under fire. [...]

...continues at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,747529,00.html


also:
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-afghan-usa-bombing.ht
ml


Pragmatically speaking, this is probably a good thing, considering how many
lives the U.S. military action is probably saving -- what's a few hundred
civilian casualties, after all, when you're hard at work slaying evil-doers
and keeping the world safe for democracy.