Afghan leader blasts US over probe into shootings

Afghan leader blasts US over probe into shootings

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Warning he's at the "end of the rope" over civilian casualties, Afghanistan's president angrily accused the U.S. on Friday of not sharing information about how an American soldier allegedly shot and killed 16 Afghans in two villages.

In an emotional meeting with relatives of the shooting victims, Karzai said the villagers' accounts of the massacre were widely different from the scenario depicted by U.S. military officials. The relatives and villagers insisted that it was impossible for one gunmen to kill nine children, four men and three women in three houses of two villages near a U.S

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One soldier kills 16 people in three houses of two villages; and in one home, several of the bodies were brought together and set on fire. It's understandable that the Afghan people would question the ability of one man to commit this crime by himself.

Additionally, there are several media sources (one link provided below) reporting the U.S. government will only release to Afghan officials the video footage of the accused soldier when he returned to the base and laid down his weapon to surrender. They will not release the footage that would show him leaving the base before he committed the crime. Why not?

This is not good by any means. Are we now undoing a decade's worth of progress in the eyes of the Afghan people?



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That scumbag backstabber, everything he has said and will say is a knife in the back to the Afghan people. With him as the president they will NEVER succeed in anything. He keeps lying to them and acts as if he actually gave a damn, he has so far let the US do whatever it wills and will continue. I hope he gets punished for what he has done so far. I can't believe that those Afghan that do have trust in him are that stupid to not realize that all his done is damaging what's already corrupted and damaged.

The sooner he's wiped off the better for everyone, they'll (the us) will probably replace him with someone else but that doesn't matter. It will still be something for the new one to think about.

smells fishy to me

An Afghan parliamentary investigation team has implicated up to 20 US troops in the massacre of 16 civilians in Kandahar early on Sunday morning. It contradicts NATO's account that insists one rogue soldier was behind the slaughter.

rt.com...

The details on this story are all over the place.

I was under the impression, from a couple sources, that the man was apprehended by Afghani forces acting as police.

Now he gave himself up, and there is a video of it?

The problem is that so few people really want to know the truth. They only want to see someone publicly destroyed (both figuratively and literally).

I've my doubts the man in question was even remotely responsible for the shootings.

But that is what trials and hearings are for.... unfortunately, the mass media has already decided what happened; and we're not likely to get a different story.

reply to post by ImaMuslim


Hamid Karzai is nothing more than a western stooge. He was a UNOCAL consultant and has had his pockets padded nicely by the west for a long time now. Please see: globalresearch.ca...

Although it is probably frustrating for him as an Afghan to see his innocent citizens murdered with no justification whatsoever, the bottom line is, the US owns him and will do as it pleases while he bleats like a sheep in a pen.

We have no business in Afghanistan, except for the purpose of doing business, and by that I mean oil pipelines, rare earth metals mining, and opiate poppy farming, which gives the CIA and other black ops the money they require to continue funding their nefarious activities around the globe.

Our military, funded by our tax dollars, and "private security forces" not bound by the Geneva Convention rules, also paid for by our tax dollars, are being used to ensure that private corporations are able to wet their beak and steal the natural resources of that country. THERE IS NO OTHER REASON. What our military is doing to their own, as well as innocent civilians in other countries, is obscene. Our military is nothing more than the enforcement arm for private enterprise to steal what they like, where they like.

Of interest:

NATO has said that night operations have been instrumental in rounding up midlevel commanders and Taliban bomb makers. The coalition says more than 90 percent of night operations are done alongside Afghan forces and that more than 85 percent are conducted without any shots fired.

Emphasis, my own.

This is a foreign relations minefield that nightmares are made of; and another reason why the truth may never come out about this botched operation.

Which is the greater evil? Sacrificing a single soldier, or crippling relations with a newly established state that thousands have died to bring into being?

reply to post by Aim64C

I've my doubts the man in question was even remotely responsible for the shootings.

Interesting that you say that, Aim, because I was thinking the same thing.

reply to post by Aim64C

This is a foreign relations minefield that nightmares are made of; and another reason why the truth may never come out about this botched operation.

Aim, it's clear to me that there is something much deeper going one here. This isn't just some soldier who went nuts. This is an event that has political motivations, I just don't know what those motivations are quite yet.

reply to post by FissionSurplus

This is a foreign relations minefield that nightmares are made of; and another reason why the truth may never come out about this botched operation.

Fission, I think you have summed up the situation pretty damned well. I wish I could say I think you are way off base, believe me......

A few tid bits
Dots if you want
Karzai is from what region of Afghanistan ?
Kandahar
Which region did these shootings take place ?
Kandahar
Infact his home village ( which I know very well ) is about 20 ish miles away from where these shootings took place
Where does his ( what we would call extended ) family live ?
Kandahar
Where does his step brother live ?
Kandahar
Sorry should say did - as he's dead now, killed in 2010/2011 I forget which
Whose house - or should I say castle I also know very well
Whom also was once the biggest drug Barron in Afghanistan


*pops smoke and disappears in the mist*

reply to post by FissionSurplus


I'm thinking that Karzai is no longer a stooge for the West, realizing that he makes even more money through the opium trade.

Probably told his former allies to pound sand. He realizes that the Taliban and the Pakistanis are more of a threat to him than the West and tries to placate them into not killing him, while still raking in the money.

All indications are that there is a uneasy Triad in place over there.

Originally posted by TDawgRex
reply to post by FissionSurplus

 

I'm thinking that Karzai is no longer a stooge for the West, realizing that he makes even more money through the opium trade

I suggest we test your hypothesis by promptly leaving this armpit of a country. Within minutes, Mr.Karzai will find a foreign object in his mouth, which he'll discover are his testicles cut off by the Taliban and shoved down his throat (this is not unprecedented). Which I actually applaud. The US has been covering his @ss for so many years and made his family rich, when he says one negative thing about Americans (no matter justified or not) it just makes me wonder that we should really leave and then watch the show on YouTube.

Originally posted by Neocrusader
A few tid bits
Dots if you want
Karzai is from what region of Afghanistan ?
Kandahar
Which region did these shootings take place ?
Kandahar
Infact his home village ( which I know very well ) is about 20 ish miles away from where these shootings took place
Where does his ( what we would call extended ) family live ?
Kandahar
Where does his step brother live ?
Kandahar
Sorry should say did - as he's dead now, killed in 2010/2011 I forget which
Whose house - or should I say castle I also know very well
Whom also was once the biggest drug Barron in Afghanistan


*pops smoke and disappears in the mist*

edit on 16-3-2012 by Neocrusader because: Added

Neo, I love your posts......

let me get this straight

a group of soldiers [allegedly 20]
massacres civilians

and the us military is only 'fessing up to the 1 guy
who actually turned himself in


and denies the other killers exist?

hmmmm?

"Blasts"

HAHA pretty unfortunate choice of headlines given the context of whats just happened and where it happened to take place.

reply to post by DerepentLEstranger


I've heard considerable talk through the grape-vine about corruption and the implications of tribal lifestyles on the Afghan military/police forces.

My gut is telling me that this has more to do with the tribal motivations of the Afghan military and less to do with the U.S.

A group of U.S. soldiers doing something like this just doesn't add up. It sounds more like gang violence and intimidation than it does any kind of drunken vengeance rampage. I know some, here, like to subscribe to the belief that the U.S. is everything evil and oppressive; but I've actually seen some of the world and know better. Many of our soldiers over there may be frustrated with the situation; but they are frustrated because they do have compassion.

It would be useful if we knew more about the victims to see if there is any obvious political, 'business,' or other factors involved in their selection. Although the status of victims is hardly proof of one's involvement or motivations - it certainly gives us a few more data points to work with.

reply to post by NightGypsy


What people doesn't understand is that if the Afghan leader doesn't show signs of anger toward the killings he will be taken out of his position and decapitated or stoned by the population.

He is after all a elected puppet of the western world and supported by big interest thanks to American tax payers.

The only power he has is the one that bodyguards and private funded protection agencies give him, outside his littler niche of compound he is nothing and he knows it.

Again tax payers with the CIA are the ones that keep Karzai govenrmetn alive.

He is just trying to keep himself alive

I wounder why people bomb america?
WHY do they spend years hating america.
and then do terrorism acts?

Originally posted by Aim64C
reply to post by DerepentLEstranger

 

A group of U.S. soldiers doing something like this just doesn't add up. It sounds more like gang violence and intimidation than it does any kind of drunken vengeance rampage.

funny you should mention afghani gangs

JOURNAL: US Military + Gangs

As of 2011, there were 1.4 m people in US gangs. That's 40% higher than 2009 (FBI: 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment). www.fbi.gov... Why the rapid growth? Lots of little factors, but the big driver: 17% unemployment (with treble that in areas where gangs are prevalent) and the decaying legitimacy of current power structures. With the ongoing deterioration of the US system, young people are going to increasingly opt to give their primary loyalty to any organization (i.e. gang) that will take care of them.

NOTE: a primary loyalty is any loyalty that takes precedence over patriotic loyalty. It can be family, church/religion, gang, tribe, money, etc.

Something more interesting than simple gang growth/spread, is the increasing presence of gang members in the military (primarily the Army) and the transfer of combat skills gained in Iraq/Afghanistan to the street. The FBI report states that 100 police jurisdictions have reported coming into contact with gang members with recent military experience. This training, gained on the battlegrounds of Iraq and Afghanistan, is extremely good (and for some people, extremely addicting). As we have seen in the recent past, even a single man with combat experience and some weaponry can be a HUGE problem for local police. Here's a handy chart on gangs in each branch of service.
globalguerrillas.typepad.com...
globalguerrillas.typepad.com...
***
The US, currently running a $1.5 trillion a year deficit with the spectre of HUGE cuts in the military (reduction in force) as an absolute certainty, will dump hundreds of thousands of combat vets onto the street w/o an economy able to absorb them. This is particularly true with the US economy about to start its next contraction w/o even recovering from the last one. Guess what happens next...