MSF staff killed in suspected US strike on Afghan hospital

US special operations forces – not their Afghan allies – called in the deadly airstrike on the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, the US commander has conceded.

Shortly before General John Campbell, the commander of the US and Nato war in Afghanistan, testified to a Senate panel, the president of Doctors Without Borders – also known as Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) – said the US and Afghanistan had made an “admission of a war crime”.

Shifting the US account of the Saturday morning airstrike for the fourth time in as many days, Campbell reiterated that Afghan forces had requested US air cover after being engaged in a “tenacious fight” to retake the northern city of Kunduz from the Taliban. But, modifying the account he gave at a press conference on Monday, Campbell said those Afghan forces had not directly communicated with the US pilots of an AC-130 gunship overhead.

“Even though the Afghans request that support, it still has to go through a rigorous US procedure to enable fires to go on the ground. We had a special operations unit that was in close vicinity that was talking to the aircraft that delivered those fires,” Campbell told the Senate armed services committee on Tuesday morning.

www.theguardian.com...

We're getting there...slowly but surely. Baby steps. Responsibility has been taken, that's the hard part out of the way, now I think we'd like to see the transcripts (all names and divisions redacted obviously) to demonstrate how and why that "rigorous US procedure" failed.

Three children died in the airstrike that came in multiple waves and burned patients alive in their beds.

This is getting interesting...

The medical charity said the investigation, which can be set up at the request of a single state under the conventions, would gather facts and evidence from the US, Nato and Afghanistan.

“If we let this go, we are basically giving a blank cheque to any countries at war,” Joanne Liu, MSF international president said, calling on the relatively obscure international humanitarian fact-finding commission (IHFFC), to open the investigation.

It would be a first step, aimed to establish facts about the incident and the chain of command that led to the strike, MSF said. Only then would it decide whether to bring criminal charges for loss of life and damage.

The IHFFC’s president, Gisela Perren-Klingler, told the Guardian she had received MSF’s request for an investigation on Tuesday night and had already been in touch with the US and Afghan governments, offering the commission’s services.

But she added: “We have activated ourselves but we cannot go on mission without being asked in by a member state, and MSF is not a state.”

www.theguardian.com...

Now, as I understand it, what is required is for any signee of the Geneva Convention to come in and offer their state backing to the investigation.

Afghanistan

Albania

Algeria

Andorra

Angola

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina

Armenia

Australia

Austria

Azerbaijan

Bahamas

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus

Belgium

Belize

Benin

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

Brazil

Brunei

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cambodia

Cameroon

Canada

Cape Verde

Central African Republic

Chad

Chile

China

Colombia

Comoros

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Republic of the Congo

Cook Islands

Costa Rica

Côte d'Ivoire

Croatia

Cuba

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Djibouti

Dominica

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Estonia

Ethiopia

Fiji

Finland

France

Gabon

The Gambia

Georgia

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Grenada

Guatemala

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Guyana

Haiti

Holy See

Honduras

Hungary

Iceland

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kiribati

North Korea

South Korea

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Latvia

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Macedonia

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives

Mali

Malta

Marshall Islands

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mexico

Federated States of Micronesia

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Montenegro

Morocco

Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

Nauru

Nepal

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

Norway

Oman

Pakistan

Palau

State of Palestine

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Qatar

Romania

Russia

Rwanda

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Samoa

San Marino

Sao Tome and Principe

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

Solomon Islands

Somalia

South Africa

South Sudan

Spain

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Suriname

Swaziland

Sweden

Switzerland

Syria

Tajikistan

Tanzania

Thailand

Timor-Leste

Togo

Tonga

Trinidad and Tobago

Tunisia

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Tuvalu

Uganda

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Venezuela

Vietnam

Yemen

Zambia

Zimbabwe

en.wikipedia.org...

Anyone?

a reply to: PaddyInf

Thanks paddy.

Ok then I withdraw all previous statements on this.


God have mercy on this crew cause today's usaf leadership is going to throw the book at them.

(please not the air force will still have to investigate, this will not be quick, they have to figure out if the crew alone failed, or if it was at another level.)

originally posted by: Irishhaf
God have mercy on this crew cause today's usaf leadership is going to throw the book at them.

(please not the air force will still have to investigate, this will not be quick, they have to figure out if the crew alone failed, or if it was at another level.)

Either way, it's another level...reflecting a cultural disregard for the lives of not only non-combatants, but the weak and vulnerable. This goes above pilot error, even if it is pilot error.

But MSF intensified its pressure on the US by calling for an independent – and unprecedented – inquiry into the incident, arguing that the US, Nato and Afghan forces could not be relied on to investigate themselves.

“This was not just an attack on our hospital – it was an attack on the Geneva conventions. This cannot be tolerated,” said Liu.

International experts have told the Guardian that the question of whether an advance warning was given would be critical in determining if US forces had committed a violation of international humanitarian law.

www.theguardian.com...

a reply to: Anaana

I was just scanning the list of Geneva Convention signees looking for possible leverage points...my own Prime Minister Cameron having a rubberised spine therefore having any expectation there would be an exercise in futility and that can assumed to extend to Common Wealth Countries, if the UK turns a blind eye, they will do so too. I also felt that those states with their own recent record of human rights and war crimes are unlikely to stick their heads above the parapet.

Then Bingo!

The Holy See is a state, and a signee. And they actually, for the first time in a long, long time, have a Pope that gives a #. I wonder if the Red Cross, MSF, or even the Guardian, have approached them.

That would be kind of awesome. The Roman Church is showing a willingness to face up to it's own mistakes, here they have the power to put their money where their mouths are.

This is looking less promising. The US are beating their chests at Russia and choosing to ignore their own trangression. They've admitted to it and that is that, nothing more to be said. Really?

The Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals after the second world war were followed by “50 years of silence on international law”, according to The Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law by Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier, a book published by MSF.

Attempts to prosecute international war crimes began to re-emerge in 1993, with the establishment of a special war crimes tribunal on Yugoslavia, and in 1994 with a war tribunal on the Rwanda genocide.

A meeting of diplomats in Italy produced the Rome Statute of 17 July 1998, which set up the International Criminal Court at the Hague. The United States is not party to the ICC, which so far has only tried war crimes suspects connected with “situations” in Africa. Earlier this year, a Palestinian delegation asked the court to investigate Israeli attacks in Gaza and elsewhere as potential war crimes.

Speaking in Geneva on Wednesday, the MSF international president, Joanne Liu, called for a non-prosecutorial inquiry by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission, or IHFFC, a never-before-used investigative commission under the Geneva conventions.

www.theguardian.com...

It's all really rather embarassing. Not a single state able to cast the first stone.

The Pope evidently had a word with his Bishops on the subject of conspiracy theorists. I do hope that that included a little on not letting themselves get caught up in whipping up a blood lust. Again! I wonder if, given the opportunity of the synod occuring at this time if they took a vote on whether to support MSF..

Inspired by liteonit6969 I''ve contacted MSF to see whether the Holy See has been approached. I haven't seen any comment from the Church, and I am wanting one now. There's a lever and it needs pushing. After all, they've just had a synod, surely they discussed this and how wonderful an opportunity this presents to actually make a difference, not hunt blame but actually ensure that if rules of conduct in war deemed necessary to be put in place, that they are abided by. Is it total madness to expect at least one of these ruling systems do what it was intended to, for those who signed to stand by their mandate?

Clearly so, hence my embarassment at all our sorry asses.

www.nytimes.com... lumn-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
There was no active ground combat in the vicinity of the
hospital at the time of the attack, as far as officials inside
the hospital could tell, Mr. Molinie said. He described the
Friday afternoon and evening before the attack as unusually
quiet compared with previous days of fighting since the
Taliban captured Kunduz on Sept. 28.
Mr. Molinie said surviving staff members from the hospital,
including guards who had been stationed around the perimeter
of its campus, all confirmed that no armed men or gunfire was
coming from the hospital at any time during the conflict in Kunduz.

The 3 October attack on the Médécins sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz killed 10 patients and 12 staff members of the group.

In a statement on Thursday, the medical charity, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said they were informed after Thursday’s “intrusion” that the tank was carrying investigators from a US-Nato-Afghan team which is investigating the attack.

“Their unannounced and forced entry damaged property, destroyed potential evidence and caused stress and fear,” MSF said.

...

Newton said the White House silence on the issue of whether the attack could constitute a war crime was appropriate.

“People say, ‘Why won’t the president just call it a war crime, why won’t the secretary of defense just call it a war crime, let’s be honest, that’s what it was’,” said Newton. “The answer is, because in the US military it is a separate offense – unlawful command influence – if higher-level political officials or military officials prejudge a case and start talking about it in public.”

“What actually happened on the ground? That’s the unanswered question.”

US tank enters ruined Afghan hospital putting 'war crime' evidence at risk

Tankxi!



Has the Police State finally gone insane or is it just business as usual?
I'm Not Sure and this is Idiocracy.

This is a list of MSF fatalities .

Abdul Maqsood was 22 years-old and worked as a patient information
focal point.

22 years-old, Abdul Nasir was a hospital cleaner.
He offered invaluable support to many people.

29 year-old Abdul Salam was a nurse in the operating theatre.
He was married and leaves behind two children, of which the
youngest was only 40 days old on the day Abdul Salam died.

Abdul Satar Zaheer, 47 years-old, was the Deputy Medical Director
at Médecins Sans Frontières’ Kunduz Trauma Centre. He was the
proud father of eight children, often sharing stories about how
smart they are.

Dr Aminullah Bajawri was a 32 year-old father and emergency room
doctor. Like so many others, when the fighting broke out in Kunduz
he decided not to leave the city in search of safety, but stayed to
help his people, friends and colleagues. He worked the whole week
before the attack, and felt personally responsible for any patients
that might not recover as a result of him not being on duty.
Admired for his clear, rational perception of medical problems and
pragmatic approach to treating patients, Dr. Amin was someone that
could always be relied on in the ER, with extensive medical knowledge,
a willingness to learn new things and a kind approach to his patients.
It was his dream to become a neurosurgeon, at a time when the lack
of neurosurgeons in Afghanistan means children are dying for lack of
proper treatment. He was also a teacher at the Kunduz University and
was highly respected by his students.

Born in Kunduz, Lal Mohammad was 28 years-old.
We will always remember his smile, his eagerness to learn and his
positive energy. He leaves a wife and three children behind.

At 32 years-old, Dr Mohammad Ehsan Osmani was a young intensive
care unit doctor with extraordinary enthusiasm and dedication to
his patients. On the night of the airstrike, instead of taking a rest
in the bunker with his colleagues, he continued to work and look
after his patients who were in critical condition.

Mohibullah, 38 years-old, was a dedicated father and an experienced
emergency room nurse who joined the Kunduz Trauma Centre three
years ago.

Najibullah, a 27-year old father, had been working for Médecins Sans
Frontières since August 2011 as cleaner in the emergency room.
More than a cleaner, Najibullah was a caregiver to the patients in the ward

Naseer Ahmad was a 23 year-old intensive care unit nurse who began
working with Médecins Sans Frontières in June 2014. He always wanted
to help the patients who didn’t have family to look after them.

Shafiqullah was 39 years-old and had been working as a guard since
February 2015. He was very quiet, but always had a big smile on his
face. He treated everyone with kindness and was very committed to
his job. Always friendly, he was much loved by his colleagues who
miss him greatly. He leaves behind four children.

Tahseel, 35 years old, was a father and a much loved and valued
member of the pharmacy team at the Kunduz Trauma Centre since
the opening of the project. He was very hard-working; he returned
to the hospital in the last few days of his leave to assist the team
when they needed him most. This commitment to others will
always be remembered.

Zabiullah was 29 years-old and married. He had been working
as a guard in the hospital since February 2015. Here is one of
his poems:

تیر به شی وختونه خو یادونه به یی وی
جور به شی زخمونه خو داغونه به یی وی
Time will fly, but its memory will remain,
Wounds will heal, but its stain will remain.



Ziaurahman was a 23 year-old intensive care unit nurse, who had
been working for Médecins Sans Frontières since December 2013.
He was known to be a talented nurse with a sharp mind.
The patients he looked after were lucky to have him beside
their bed. He was a good friend to all the staff and had a positive
outlook on life.

R.I.P Lest we forget

US military commanders in Afghanistan took 17 minutes to act after being warned by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) that their aircraft was firing on a medical centre full of doctors and civilians, an internal investigation has found.

By the time officers made contact with the AC-130 gunship, which had mistaken the facility in Kunduz for a Taliban-controlled building several hundred metres away, it was too late. Thirty staff, patients and assistants were killed and 37 injured in one of the worst incidents of civilian casualties in the 14-year war.

The military’s findings were presented by Gen John Campbell, the US commander in Afghanistan. “The strike began at 2.08am,” he said. “At 2.20am an SOF [special operations forces] officer at Bagram [airbase] received a call from MSF advising that their facility was under attack. It took the headquarters and the US special operations commander until 2.37am to realise the fatal mistake. At that time the AC-130 had already ceased firing. The strike lasted for approximately 29 minutes. This is an example of human process error.”

He detailed a series of blunders that ended in tragedy. The aircraft took off without a normal mission brief or essential materials such as no-strike designations, which would have identified the location of the MSF centre.

During the flight, the onboard electronic systems malfunctioned, preventing command-and-control operations and limiting the ability to send email or video. In addition, as it arrived in Kunduz, it also mistakenly reported that the aircraft had been targeted by a missile, putting it off course, and in turn degrading the accuracy of some targeting systems.

Even when these were corrected, the crew remained “fixated” on the physical description of their original target, Campbell admitted, even though there were some “contradictory indicators”.

www.theguardian.com...

I'm keeping an open mind until the other two reports come in, but not impressed with the finger pointing at the crew...those lists of failings indicates a much wider net of culpability and aren't the crew trained to be "fixated"? Isn't that why they are supposed to be all those checks and briefings? People achieve rank to take responsibility, that's what the raised pay grade is for!!!!!!!!!!! Doh!

Hmmm...

More MSF hospitals have been bombed! Vent your outrage against this barbarism here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: DJW001

This is pathetic what you are trying to do.

originally posted by: Nikola014
a reply to: DJW001

This is pathetic what you are trying to do.

What do you think I am trying to do?