Tweet
On se demande qui est le plus un robot : le Predator qui tire un missile Maverick contre un fuyard perdu dans un village afghan et identifié comme tel (“fuyard perdu…”, etc.) par les robots informatiques de Langley, quartier-général de la CIA; le type qui contrôle le Predator dans son établi hyper-sophistiqué de l’USAF au Texas; le général (US, of course) qui vous explique que la flotte d’UCAV sans pilotes c’est la solution humaine et sélective de la victoire prochaine contre les forces du Mal. Faites votre choix.
En attendant, ils continuent et enchaînent. Un “U.S. air strike” de plus, en Afghanistan, et des pertes civiles qui pourraient être extrêmement importantes. Il est possible que cette attaque soit la plus meurtrière depuis 2002, question “dégâts collatéraux”. C’en est au point où le Pentagone a accepté d’ouvrir une enquête conjointe avec le gouvernement afghan. Cela fera un beau sujet de conversation entre Obama et les deux présidents afghan et pakistanais qui vont se rencontrer à trois.
Le site WSWS.org fait un rapport sur l’incident, le 6 mai 2009: «…[R]eports from Afghanistan indicate that US air strikes in western Farah province have killed and wounded scores of civilians, many of them women and children. Villagers from the remote Bala Baluk district near the Iranian border put the death toll as high as 150, according to local government officials.
»According to accounts from the region, US forces battling insurgents who had moved into the area called in air strikes. A bomb struck mud-brick houses in the village of Gerani, where civilians had taken refuge from the fighting.
» A provincial council member in Farah province, Abdul Basir Khan, told the Associated Press that villagers had brought truckloads of mangled corpses of bombing victims to the provincial capital to prove that women and children had been slaughtered in the US attack. The official said that villagers had gathered in front of the local government office, crying and shouting. “It was difficult to count [the bodies] because they were in very bad shape,” said Khan, adding, “Some had no legs.” Villagers told him that 150 people had been killed, he said. “These houses that were full of children and women and elders were bombed by planes,” Mohammad Mieem Qadderdan, a former top regional official who had witnessed the carnage, told the media. “It is very difficult to say how many were killed because nobody can count the number. People are digging through rubble with shovels and hands.”»
Cet incident semblerait devoir dépasser en gravité, en pertes civiles évidemment, celui de Azizabad, à l’été 2008. («Qadderdan said that the death toll was “worse than Azizabad,” referring to a US air strike last year that killed at least 90 Afghan civilians, two-thirds of them children, in the western province of Herat.») WSWS.org rappelle les réactions US après Azizabad et ce qui s’ensuivit.
«For its part, the Pentagon vowed to exercise greater care. General David McKiernan, senior US commander in Afghanistan, issued a directive to US forces last September calling for American forces to be more discriminatory in the use of firepower.
»At the same time, however, the US commander blamed the insurgents for the killings carried out by the US military, claiming that they purposely “mixed in with the population.” This is the same charge leveled by every army engaged in a colonial occupation and counterinsurgency warfare to justify mass killings. The reality is that the insurgents are drawn from the population, living among and drawing support from it.
»The directive did nothing to halt the bloodletting. According to a report issued by the United Nations in February, the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan rose 40 percent to a record 2,118 last year. Many of the dead were victims of US air strikes, which are regularly called in by American ground units that find themselves outmaneuvered by Afghan fighters, who enjoy the advantage of battling in their own land.»
En attendant, ils continuent et enchaînent. Un “U.S. air strike” de plus, en Afghanistan, et des pertes civiles qui pourraient être extrêmement importantes. Il est possible que cette attaque soit la plus meurtrière depuis 2002, question “dégâts collatéraux”. C’en est au point où le Pentagone a accepté d’ouvrir une enquête conjointe avec le gouvernement afghan. Cela fera un beau sujet de conversation entre Obama et les deux présidents afghan et pakistanais qui vont se rencontrer à trois.
Le site WSWS.org fait un rapport sur l’incident, le 6 mai 2009: «…[R]eports from Afghanistan indicate that US air strikes in western Farah province have killed and wounded scores of civilians, many of them women and children. Villagers from the remote Bala Baluk district near the Iranian border put the death toll as high as 150, according to local government officials.
»According to accounts from the region, US forces battling insurgents who had moved into the area called in air strikes. A bomb struck mud-brick houses in the village of Gerani, where civilians had taken refuge from the fighting.
» A provincial council member in Farah province, Abdul Basir Khan, told the Associated Press that villagers had brought truckloads of mangled corpses of bombing victims to the provincial capital to prove that women and children had been slaughtered in the US attack. The official said that villagers had gathered in front of the local government office, crying and shouting. “It was difficult to count [the bodies] because they were in very bad shape,” said Khan, adding, “Some had no legs.” Villagers told him that 150 people had been killed, he said. “These houses that were full of children and women and elders were bombed by planes,” Mohammad Mieem Qadderdan, a former top regional official who had witnessed the carnage, told the media. “It is very difficult to say how many were killed because nobody can count the number. People are digging through rubble with shovels and hands.”»
Cet incident semblerait devoir dépasser en gravité, en pertes civiles évidemment, celui de Azizabad, à l’été 2008. («Qadderdan said that the death toll was “worse than Azizabad,” referring to a US air strike last year that killed at least 90 Afghan civilians, two-thirds of them children, in the western province of Herat.») WSWS.org rappelle les réactions US après Azizabad et ce qui s’ensuivit.
«For its part, the Pentagon vowed to exercise greater care. General David McKiernan, senior US commander in Afghanistan, issued a directive to US forces last September calling for American forces to be more discriminatory in the use of firepower.
»At the same time, however, the US commander blamed the insurgents for the killings carried out by the US military, claiming that they purposely “mixed in with the population.” This is the same charge leveled by every army engaged in a colonial occupation and counterinsurgency warfare to justify mass killings. The reality is that the insurgents are drawn from the population, living among and drawing support from it.
»The directive did nothing to halt the bloodletting. According to a report issued by the United Nations in February, the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan rose 40 percent to a record 2,118 last year. Many of the dead were victims of US air strikes, which are regularly called in by American ground units that find themselves outmaneuvered by Afghan fighters, who enjoy the advantage of battling in their own land.»
Commentaire