Civilian Casualties Could End Airstrike Support

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Bush-Cheney-Rice all have ties to profits from oil, construction & "security" companies. An oil tanker is named for Rice. As time passed, investigators discovered she failed to pass along warnings about the upcoming WTC attacks. They exposed how Bush rushed Saudi Arabians to safety, & how the debris was removed SO VERY FAST, much of it to faraway Japan. Offices in the WTC buildings had records of some corporations that later were investigated for 'irregularities." BushCo propaganda told soldiers they're in the Middle East to "liberate the people." In fact, Iraq's socialist Baath Party nationalized its oil & other valuable natural resources. It did that to prevent foreign investors from buying them, taking them out of public ownership. Time will bring more exposures, but we already know banks, museums, palaces & official buildings were looted. The latter had official seals, signatures, rules of procedure, etc. These formerly well-guarded things could thereafter be used to create forgeries to perfection, with the original seals "proving authenticity." Our taxes were stolen to conduct a war that exists because Bush & aides lied to Congress.

aura dawn veirs of CA 5:05PM October 25, 2009

The Bush War exists to pay soldiers to kill people and destroy property. Then, in come contractors to rebuild. We're stupidly actually paying to build hospitals in Iraq while we lack health care for all here. We're idiotically building Iraq schools while California is bankrupt and teachers buy pencils for students. We're "bone-heads" for accepting what Bone-Head Number One brought on us by lying to Congress. We need massive anti-war demonstrations, but Bush fixed it so too many people spend days looking for work or diving dumpsters for food. We were spending two billion dollars a week on the war when it was new. We'll be in debt forever, paying high interest on money Congress borrowed for war. Many lawmakers are millionaires and are invested in lending agencies, so they vote for costly surges. China's a big lender. so our taxes are helping it become the master of world trade. The stolen election of 2000 got us stuck with the worst president ever--a Christian fanatic waging a personal war "against the people who tried to kill my father." He is not dyslexic, by the way. New books say he "just does not understand " too many things.

auradawn veirs of CA 5:46PM September 18, 2009

As a Marine I can assure Kim that we care very deeply about our targeting procedures and about preventing avoidable civilian casualties. Our concern is not just because of the disasterous political consequences but also because we too have to sleep at night and the sight of maimed or dead children will haunt a man the rest of his live. Rare is the man in our military who can make even an honest mistake and not be haunted by the specter of it's consequences. No nation on earth has taken greater care to prevent civilian casualties and certainly not the Taliban who murder people, in horrible ways, to put fear into the hearts of those who might be considering helping coalition forces. Our forces fight with restraint, honor, and a desire to help the people they were sent to liberate. It's a very tough, dirty, scary job and those that are fighting it deserve our admiration and support.

t.j. campbell of GA 3:04PM June 23, 2009

A man lived in a palace once.One morning,he discovered himself naked,amidst the forest,blown away by a thunderstorm...
Special indeed is the one who was offered marriage with the most beautiful female in the country by enemies and refused stating"If the sun is given in my left hand and the moon in the other,I will still not stop preaching the message of God".

Ruba of VA 11:21AM June 19, 2009

Why are we waisting money on bombs and planes. The "Awakening" in Iraq was caused by buying off our enemies. It will work in Afghanistan as well. If we would have offered Bin Laden 1 trillion dollars to leave us alone after 9/11 he would have taken it. He could have then been allowed to talk all he wanted to, to make threats every day and keep his political power. We would have been able to continue to waste money supporting the bloated military industrial complex and everyone would be happy. We cannot win any war using the tactics at hand. Bin Laden already knows how to defeat a superpower and it was us who taught him. These wars are money makers and will not stop until the farce is exposed as what it is. We cannot afford to win in Afghanistan for that will force us to attack a country that is not defenseless. The military industrial complex will not only demand another war but they will provide the lies necessary to trick us into one. We cannot afford to go to war with any country that can defend itself. This explains why S. Korea and Iran are desperate for nuclear power. They know that if they have it then the U.S. will welcome them into the family and find another innocent country to bother. Pay them off now and save our American children from the burdens of unnecessary wars against defenseless countries.

Nivlac Skcaj of MO 4:08PM June 18, 2009

On one hand,aid is sent out to detect "Black Box" for Air France Flight 447 crashed into Atlantic.On the other,innocent civilians being killed without compassion(incuding women and children).No-one,except SATAN,can plot such scheme

Ruba of VA 3:32PM June 18, 2009

The U.S. does not care about civilian deaths during air strikes. Our military purposely targets civilians in the hopes that there might be a "terrorist" among the women and children they target.
We deserve our very own "Diem Bien-Phu" in the ME. This nation has lost its' soul and any sense of justice or compassion. We are nothing but a racist police state that deserves whatever happens to us. We are truly "THE GREAT SATAN".

Kim W S Smith of AL 1:00PM June 18, 2009

Jim is correct in the counterinsugency principle of "Clear Hold Build" pioneered by the Marine Corps and embraced by the current Commander of CENTCOM is critical to the success of operations. The problem with the aid and money we have been throwing at the problems in Afghanistan is that we are somewhere between "Clear & Hold" still. The 30,000 new troops recommended by ISAF and approved by the CINC are an attempt to: finally tactically seize key ground, get out of large bases and into patrol bases (not pleasant for infantry) and begin rebuilding once we have more presence. Afghanistan is vast and inaccessible unlike Iraq which was full of concrete highways and major thoroughfares. We want to rebuild but cannot do so until we provide for the safety of the Afghans paid to complete said projects.
As for the airstrikes, new Fire Support Coordination Measures are being taken to ensure lower collateral damage. Without airstrikes our forces in remote regions would occassionally be overwhelmed, unable to reinforce quickly and suffering terrible casualties. As a former Forward Air Controller in Afghanistan, I understand the difficulties. However I have no doubt that our forces are transitioning to new equipmen designed to provide precision locations of enemy and surveillance methods to positively identify enemy fighters (or protect innocent bystanders). Please have faith in our Marines and Soldiers, they are living in the most austere conditions and the fear of combat is very real.

frankwilson of GA 12:47PM June 18, 2009

There are no sewers in Kabul. People place human waste in the streets. Why don't you simply start by digging some ditches and getting rid of the human waste in the streets. Talk about winning the hearts and minds! Start by saying "today we will start getting rid of all the human waste lying around." How simple is it? Pay a guy 4 bucks a day to dig a ditch and bury sewer pipes. Get the job done. 8 years already in country and these guys cant even find the time to stabilize the country. You try breathing in human waste particulates in the hot sun all day and see if you wouldn't be angry at the world. What a shame, these people in charge are not doing anything positive. What a sick shame.

jim dangle of HI 12:30PM June 18, 2009

Gates,Petraeus, and McChyrstal are saying the right things-if you kill civilians, you lose strategically even if you 'win' tactically. Bluntly, if the Taliban have manuevered you into killing civilians, they have beaten you in that engagement even if they died to the last man. Strategically, it doesn't matter at all that they are morally responsible.
One question: Why use 2,000 lb. bombs on houses at all? They all but guarantee the death of everyone inside, including unseen civilians sheltering from a fire fight or deliberatly brought there. Why not use instead multiple air burst fragmentation weapons which would not collapse the house, but would kill Taliban in exposed firing positions and suppress their fire?

rcthweatt of NY 12:22PM June 18, 2009