I know I often repeat myself in my blogs, but I’ve been reading about the fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan and that region and I wonder why when civilians are killed there by western countries, no one is ever blamed. .

 

Like the IDF ( Israel defence Forces) during Operation Cast Lead, US and British troops face an enemy that cares little for the well being of its people. Like the IDF, US and British forces operate under a military doctrine that aims to prevent civilian casualties.
Like the IDF, US and British forces have found that in a conflict situation, mistakes inevitably occur and civilians are the tragic victims. So why are Afghan civilian casualties “accidents” but Palestinian civilian casualties are “war crimes”?

I’ll give a few examples of what only lately happened there, and then you can decide. According to a BBC report: “A Nato air strike against suspected insurgents in Kandahar has instead killed five civilians, officials say. The group was seen digging on a roadside and was thought to be planting bombs. A senior Isaf official said he regretted the loss of life, adding that an investigation was underway . This followed an incident only a day earlier when  Afghan civilians were reported to have been killed by an errant missile, that struck a house outside Marjah on Sunday killing 12 people, including six children. Gen Carter   blamed these “conflicting” reports on “the fog of war”.

 

 It has also been reported that the Taliban have used civilians as “human shields”, including taking hostages.
Before the operation began, the ISAF had picked up some intelligence that the Taliban planned to detain civilians at gunpoint. Now, anecdotal evidence suggests that the Taliban in Marjah are trying to force their way into civilian homes. Taliban who’ve been taken prisoner will be interrogated to see whether they can provide information on possible hostages….
“We believe the objective there is to create those as human shields or — in the worst-case scenarios — maybe even as false civilian casualties. If we don’t create them (civilian casualties), they might create them,” the official added.
Double Standards? Of course.
Can we expect international condemnation in the media or from so-called human rights NGOs when civilian deaths occur in Afghanistan and calls for an immediate end to the military operation? Will there be a Goldstone-style commission of inquiry like that of Israeli fighting against Hamas, with the potential for legal action against the US, UK or individual commanders and soldiers?
Unlikely, I’d  even say impossible. But when Hamas hid behind civilians, strangely no evidence of this was found. So why was there a need for the “Goldstone Report “? And the question is also, when the IDF also makes every effort to avoid civilian casualties,  Israel is accused of “war crimes” and pilloried in the media when Palestinian civilians are accidentally killed, while the very same media shows a remarkable understanding when similar mistakes occur in Afghanistan.

I’ll end with something completely different now. Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer on Thursday advanced to the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championship - yes in Dubai where the assasination took place. Last year she couldn’t play there. She was then denied a visa by the United Arab Emirates government and Dubai organizers were fined $300,000 by the Women’s Tennis Association for not allowing Peer to play in the event.

Shalom from Irene

 

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