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SOTT Focus

Joe Quinn
Signs of the Times
Wed, 09 May 2007 18:13 EDT

SOTT Focus

Two stories, little more than 24 hours apart, that lay bare the mendacity and shameless, murderous nature of the Bush government, its military and their bogus war on terror.

Civilian deaths 'deeply shame' US

May 8 2007
BBC News

An American commander in Afghanistan has said that he is "deeply ashamed" by the killings of 19 Afghan civilians by US Marines in early March.

"I stand before you today, deeply, deeply ashamed and terribly sorry that Americans have killed and wounded innocent Afghan people," US army spokesman Col John Nicholson told reporters in Washington by video conference from Afghanistan.

He said that the military had paid condolence payments to the families in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

A heartfelt apology, right? I mean, that's all that is needed to convince you, the average reader, that the US government and military really are the caring, compassionate type, right? Let's read on:

Western forces have been accused of carelessness over civilian lives when attacking the Taleban and their allies.

It has become a major issue, with Nato recently saying that its biggest error last year was killing civilians.

In January, it promised to do better.

US 'erased Afghan footage'

"The deaths and wounding of innocent Afghans at the hands of Americans is a stain on our honour and on the memory of the many Americans who have died defending Afghanistan and the Afghan people.

Oh! I see, the shame is on the memory of the wonderful US troops who have...em...well, to be honest, they have killed, or caused the deaths of at least 10,000 Afghan civilians since late 2002. Killing a few more then is hardly anything to be ashamed about. But the US government and military really is sincere about their shame. How much? Oh...about 2 grand per dead Afghani.

"We made official apologies on the part of the US government and payments of about $2,000 for each death," he said, after US officials visited some of the families left bereaved by the incident.

Am I being cynical? You're damn right I am, and with good reason. Read on:

Air raid 'kills Afghan civilians'

May 9 2007
BBC News

US-led forces have killed at least 21 civilians in an air strike in southern Afghanistan, local officials say.

Helmand provincial Governor Asadullah Wafa said civilian homes were bombed in Sangin district, where foreign and Afghan troops are battling the Taleban.

The US-led coalition said one of its troops died in fighting in Sangin, but it had no reports of civilian deaths.

Mounting civilian casualties have caused an outcry in Afghanistan, with foreign forces accused of carelessness.

In the psychopathic, emotionless world of the Bush government and friends, the best way to show your 'regret' over the murder of 19 Afghan civilians is to have your military commander say that such acts "shame the US military" and then follow it up by killing 21 more Afghan civilians.

It doesn't get any clearer than this. A group of people, with no conscience and therefore no shame, no empathy, no emotion, no love, hold the reigns of power on planet earth. They do not distinguish between Afghani, Iraqi, European, African or American. We are all fodder for their demented psychopathic agenda. It's time to wake up, because it's coming to your doorstep.

Discuss on SOTT Forum


Reader Comments
 
(Register to add your comments!)
 
All An Act By Graham

When the military wheeled out Col. Nicholson the other day, this was only in response to the growing number of daily protests by Afghans at the killing of civilians, which were in danger of getting too much press coverage. Lets see what they say now... perhaps that the 21 were "put in harms way" by militants, as they can't use the the tried and trusted "caught in crossfire" routine for this.

As for the $2,000 for each death, it seems likely that if any of the journalists who had their footage erased were to sue they would far more than this in compensation. Its a psychopathic world where erased film costs more than erased lives.


Added: Wed, 09 May 2007 18:55 EDT

Reader Comment By Joe
Joe

The problem with the media today (I know - "cliche") is that reports such as the one above from the BBC are supposedly prohibited from opining on any part of their stories, that task is left to editorials, but these factual (sometimes) reports are by the far the most prevalent type of reports that the public reads. So the public reads facts such as the US government valuing a human life at $2000 with no opinion expressed on that appropriateness or otherwise of that fact and slowly the come to understand this as being "normal". The public is like a child, it needs responsible and conscience-based leadership, and in any conscience or even morality-based society a report that the US government values a human life at $2000 would be accompanied by strong condemnation in order to instruct the public on how to think, because that is, sadly, what the public needs! But in our current Western and global society, dominated as it is by psychopathic thought processes, there is no condemnation of murder of the gross devaluation of human life, quite the contrary, there is a concerted effort to promote such inhumanity as "normal" and acceptable.


Added: Thu, 10 May 2007 10:18 EDT

Insult To Injury By Rabelais

The sheer callousness of this affront to human dignity is compounded by the fact that the paltry sum to be paid is in good ol' US fiat funny money.


Added: Thu, 10 May 2007 18:47 EDT

$2000?!? By Mudrabbit01
Mudrabbit01

Is that all life is worth to these zombies?
Gawd, I'm sick to my stomach.


Added: Fri, 11 May 2007 08:34 EDT

Such Stories Are Propagandistic At The Root By Adpop

I remember hearing the "$2,000 for each death" bit on the news. Even though based on Afghanistan's GDP, that would translate to $200,000 to an American, Austrian, or Swiss, it doesn't make a whit of difference. What's more galling is that such stories represent only the tip of the iceberg of wrongful death that the US has committed in Iraq and Afghanistan. I suppose it's intended to make the great sleeping public think that these slaughters are "isolated instances."


Added: Sun, 13 May 2007 10:03 EDT


 

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