Civilian Deaths Bring Shame on US: New York Times

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, July 23, 2002

Civilian Deaths Bring Shame on US: New York Times

A front-page story on Sunday's New York Times revealed that the US military's reliance on incomplete information from local Afghans have caused the deaths of hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan.

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A front-page story on Sunday's New York Times revealed that the US military's reliance on incomplete information from local Afghans have caused the deaths of hundreds of civilians in Afghanistan.

The story was based on reviews over a six-month period in 11 locations where US air strikes were launched based on mistaken information, killing as many as 400 civilians.

As the Afghans are still reeling from the US air attack on villages in Uruzgan province this month which killed at least 54 people and wounded more than 100, including 25 members of an extended family attending a wedding party, the news will very likely ignite a new round of anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan and add new uncertainty to already strained bilateral ties.

Since the United States waged its anti-terrorist war in the central Asian country after the September 11 terrorist attacks, accidental injury of civilians has been drawing concern from the international community towards the United States. More often than not the US military was unwilling to admit that civilians were killed, and insisted that they struck valid military targets.

While common sense arguers say civilian casualties are a bitter price human beings have to pay for war, such an excuse is no longer valid for the United States.

The New York Time's story proves that the US military has struck too often without enough proof.

This should make it clear that the US military is less concerned with differentiating civilians from al Qaida and Taliban fighters than they are with following their fervent pursuit of military ventures in Afghanistan.

These acts fly in the face of US allegations that the American air campaign in Afghanistan is based on a high-tech, out-of-harm's-way strategy. It also shows the hypocrisy of the American self-proclaimed role as the world's "human rights champion."

If such a situation is allowed to continue, the United States will run the risk of losing its credibility in rallying international support for its prolonged war.

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