At the very least, they ought to cough up a million or so per person, maybe it would make them a bit more careful about killing folks. Especially if those in the chain of responsibility had their own pay docked to help cover it.

Imperialism is evil.

Can you imagine am accused pending trial rich mass murderer making such an offer ..it would be deemed madness!

A token of War Inc's appreciation.

If the amounts are appropriate (and then some), this IS the right thing to do.

We don't buy off on things like hostages, or human shields, or using civilians on the battlefield to distract or fog up the situation.

Culturally, though, this kind of thing is "done" and is "acceptable" in other parts of the world.

The fact that USA is not dithering, that they've got the checkbook out, is a GOOD thing. It is important to own up if you are wrong, and to PAY up if you are wrong. Human lives have value, but in a different way over there--they can be reduced to a number. How much would that person make in a lifetime? How much would they contribute to the family? How much has the family lost by losing this person?

Consider that the near-universal attitude held over there that this world is a simple way station, a place where we exist until we move onward to paradise, where we meet with all our loved ones and life is 'beyond' perfection, and the sadness is mitigated to a very large extent (it's how they convince kids to become bombers). While we are appalled at blood money, they consider it important, necessary, reasonable, and expected.

I'm glad the Obama administration gets this aspect, that you pay, appropriately and quickly, after you apologize; you mitigate the suffering after expressing remorse--it's an important point to understand.

but in the meantime, if a breadwinner is dead, they need to survive and they can't do that if there's no money coming in.

It's not like they can run down to the welfare office and apply for benefits--they have to go to the mosque, make a request of the imam, then it depends on how well the "take" is from that particular congregation and what the elders have to say about how deserving the family is--it could be subsistence living or even begging, if the family isn't particularly well loved in the area.


It's a different reality there.

Both will be done, but breadwinners are dead and families need recompense now.


The investigations into this horrible mess will be multi-tracked--MSF will want to do one, coalition forces will want to do one, the Afghans will want to do one, and who knows what other multinational actors might want to get involved. There will be more than one set of people trying to get to the bottom of that mess. Did someone 'paint' the building? Were coordinates called in? Who did the calling?

There are recordings, so that will help to unpack what happened.

Often murderers are let out of jail if their family can pay the victims family enough money. It's a very different culture.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diyya

At least we didn't round up a bunch of American teenage girls to pay them with.

Shouldn't have to be any war crimes to worry about at all, truth be told.

That's racist.

When cops murder people in the US, cities routinely pay up, settle out of court, reduce the life to a number.

People "over there" value human life as much as people in the USA.

They aren't the ones holding two million of their own citizens in prison for mostly bullshit.

They aren't the ones dropping cluster bombs. That's the USA doing it. And that's supposed to be the liberals running the administration, not even the right wingers.

If you value human life so much then you don't bomb hospitals.

It is a religious aspect of the culture that is a real thing.

I can't help you if you don't understand this or don't want to learn, but instead accuse me of "racism."

I really do want to know what race, though...please, cough it up. Do you think "Afghan" is a race?


I'd urge you to learn a few basics about Islam before you dis me like that.


Start here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diyya

That is my back yard, so don't go telling me what I already know.

I don't tell you about your neighborhood.

Get educated: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diyya

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qisas

This is not a "stereotype" and for you to say it is reveals much about your poor level of understanding.


You plainly know nothing about sharia--not one single thing, if you start rambling about "ethnocentric"" this and "cultural prejudice" that.

smh.

Today I learned from the liberals of DU that a Muslim mother doesn't value the life of her child as much as an American mom. Because "Sharia Law".

Thank goodness for DU liberals educating me about Sharia law and how lives in Afghanistan don't mean the same as white American lives.

Thanks.

People who live by sharia demand justice in accordance with sharia. Obama is giving it to them, and he's not screwing around, either. I am glad of this, because it helps to mitigate the shame.

You may think it's "cool" to have a big fight with lawyers and eventually "settle out of court" --that's not the paradigm over there. Earners who have been killed are not earning. Sons and daughters who have been killed are not contributing to the family unit. Mothers who have died are not caring for the family. Families need money to survive, to accommodate for these losses.

I frankly find your accusations disgusting. I also find them naive and childish. You obviously want to posture, and go right ahead. The one who doesn't "get it," who rather huffily views everything through a white American non-Islamic, Judeo-Christian paradigm, is not me--it's you. And your closed view doesn't fly everywhere in the world.

One day, you'll figure it out.

And "Baltimore" didn't "reach a settlement" DAYS AFTER THE EVENT.

Not going to argue with you and your over-worked and insincere poutrages--you do not understand that church and state are not separated in Islam, and you never will. You're so busy looking for a gotcha, an accusation, that you have closed your mind and have no interest in learning. OR understanding.

Frankly, I have no interest in teaching you. You're just being shirty and rude, and I'm tired of dealing with that kind of "tude" here.

This isn't about who "loves their child" best--you hauled that bullshit load into the conversation to try and game it.

And if you bothered to read the "Islam for Noobs" link I offered you, you would understand that lives ARE valued differently, according to religion and even GENDER. Never mind age, and that is a consideration as well--there are many aspects that might be judged in coming to a determination of what a life is "worth" on this mortal coil (which, I will repeat, is just a way station to a better place, and blessed and fortunate is the person who is called by Allah to be with him -- they are the LUCKY ones).

Oh, the huge manatee.

But clearly you didn't take the point or even try to understand it, because you presume to lecture me on sharia law....still. And then you cravenly try to FALSELY suggest that I said Muslim moms don't love their kids when I said nothing of the sort. Anyone can read what I wrote, and what you accused me, wrongly, of saying.

What nerve you have! You should be ashamed of yourself, trying to twist my words. Well below DU standards, that kind of thing.



Take that where someone will buy it, and have a real nice day.

That's offensive.

You didn't have to double down on it.

Human lives "over there" have the same value as they do "over here", and the value can not be reduced to a number.

Just because a family accepts a payment in compensation does not in any way mean that they value their child's life any less, or that their child's life can be reduced to a number.

Just because a law requires compensation does not mean that it is reducing the value of a life to a number. Whether it is in Baltimore or New York or in Afghanistan. Well it somewhat does mean that. But it is not something unique to a foreign culture, since we see it very close to home.

Now you double down and try to play word games.

I gave you a link--read it. Or don't. Obvious to me from this latest comment that you've yet to do that.

But don't presume to tell me about things you know absolutely nothing about, and plainly are proud that you don't want to learn about, either.

You're selling the smug western paradigm that says Muslims value human life less because "Sharia law"

situations, I will listen to what you have to say.

It's astounding what you don't understand about this. Astounding.

it is a cultural thing. Victims families can ask for monetary compensation instead of jailtime or other punishments. In some places they are compensated with a virgin girl instead of money.

It is a very different type of culture then ours.

That does not make what happened any less horrible.

Maybe American taxpayers should take out policies against such things from Lloyds.

SGLI has gone up and up over the years, and the service member pays for that insurance, too.

It's a group policy, so the costs aren't prohibitive--it's some of the most affordable life insurance going.

The crime against humanity miraculously disappears. Nobody's held to account. Nobody's going to jail for these murders. Oh, maybe some colonel has to take early retirement, but they give him his general's star just before he's cashiered so he gets a bigger pension.

We call that justice in the United States.

However, writing a huge check is a first step in making it clear to people whose lives have been irrevocably altered that their suffering is acknowledged. Respect is a big part of the exchange, and it is respectful in Islam to mitigate the suffering--quickly--of those you have wronged.

Investigations can meander along, they can go quickly, they can go slowly, they can go on a single track, they can go on multiple tracks-- but in the meantime, people have basic needs. Those needs need to be met.

This was a sensitive thing that we did. George Bush's crew would have dithered for months and then tried to get a discounted price, or funnelled the money through a warlord who kept most of it.

We have the military's own extensive track record of failing to hold anyone accountable for its crimes against humanity. It's not respect, it's blood money, because we aren't an Islamic nation. If we actually cared about Afghanistan and its people, we wouldn't be bombing its hospitals and other civilians in the first place.

I do think this POTUS has been much more sensitive to the people of Afghanistan than Bush ever was.

And I AM going to wait for the conclusions of the investigations that are being conducted on multiple tracks before I come to any walloping conclusions, even as I am glad that the needs of the bereaved are being met in the iterim.

of what has to be many more steps...investigations, prosecutions, change in protocol, and hey how about getting the hell out of there?

.....to replace the entire hospital with another one that is even better, and much more well equipped. Although they will never be able to replace the dedicated doctors whose lives were lost, it would seem that the least they can do is enable to doctors who are left with the ability to practice medicine to a much higher level.

What would I spend that money on? Oh, I dunno.

I know money can't bring anyone back, but what else can the US do to try and make ammends? There's no true fixing something like this. I just don't know what else can be done.

And prosecution if crimes are found. I fully agree. I also think it's right that our country should make what limited amends we can in trying to see the families are provided for too.