Defense Dept. to Make Payments After Strike on Doctors Without Borders Hospital
Source: NBC NEWS
OCT 10 2015, 6:32 PM ET
The U.S. Department of Defense on Saturday said it will make payments to the victims of airstrikes that mistakenly struck a Doctors Without Border hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz last week.
At least 22 people were killed in the aerial bombardment of the charity hospital during fighting in the city early Oct. 3. This week, the charity said. The dead included 12 staff members and 10 patients, including three children.
"The Department of Defense believes it is important to address the consequences of the tragic incident at the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan," The Defense Department said in a statement.
"One step the Department can take is to make condolence payments to civilian non-combatants injured and the families of civilian non-combatants killed as a result of U.S. military operations," the department said.
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/defense-dept-make-payments-after-strike-doctors-without-borders-hospital-n442296
Well then, that will make it 'all better' now...
arcane1
(38,613 posts)I can't keep up
still_one
(91,965 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)still_one
(91,965 posts)implicit admission of fault, which would not close the door to further legal action.
The reason I am skeptical of that, is because essentially AQ is not much of a force in Afghanistan. Taliban is the force we have been dealing with. Most of AQ is in Pakistan, and the middle east from my understanding
arcane1
(38,613 posts)Wouldn't be the first time someone did that
Personally, I'm skeptical of every version of these events.
still_one
(91,965 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)enlightenment
(8,830 posts)Given how long we've been in Afghanistan and the various groups we have focused on, the slip of mind on the part of the poster isn't unreasonable.
Gen. John F. Campbell, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, later revised that account to say that Afghan forces caught in fighting had requested the airstrike, which was approved and carried out by the U.S. military.
Hamdullah Danishi, the acting governor of Kunduz, was quoted as saying that Taliban fighters had been firing rockets from inside the MSF compound.
But if there was firing near the hospital when the U.S. attacked, witnesses and hospital staff members said, they did not hear anything.
http://www.latimes.com/world/afghanistan-pakistan/la-fg-kunduz-tic-toc-20151009-story.html
Worthwhile to read the entire article, as it contains a lot of information - including some discussion about the Afghan security forces ire at the idea that MSF treats all patients, regardless (including Taliban).
passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)if it really was a mistake, which I doubt, since they first said there were people shooting at them from inside the hospital.
God, I hate what we've done to this planet.
still_one
(91,965 posts)during the war in Kosovo, and that also was an accident. Iran Air Flight 655, with 200 plus passengers, a civilian aircraft, was shot down by us also. Those are the worst type of things, but they were mistakes.
I understand it is easy to assume we did it intentionally, but apart from the inhumanity of NOT doing it, there is absolutely no strategic value to it. In fact just the opposite.
These were mistakes. Bad mistakes, but mistakes nevertheless.
passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)still_one
(91,965 posts)yup, it was intentional. everyone knows the good publicity we would get by bombing doctors without borders, and civilian hospitals.
Have a good day
passiveporcupine
(8,175 posts)Mistakes wouldn't be happening if we weren't trying to democratize the whole fucking world for our economic gain.
still_one
(91,965 posts)Mai Lai is an example of a war crime. This is a terrible thing, but unless shown otherwise that the hospital was intentionally targeted, compensation of the victims, and the organization, Doctors without Borders is about the only thing that can be done in regard to this incident.
rpannier
(24,304 posts)That's not a mistake
It's negligence
still_one
(91,965 posts)rpannier
(24,304 posts)they didn't call it a mistake
They called it negligence
The terminology has very different meanings
Mistake is considered small and a 'could happen to anyone' kind of thing
Negligence (and that's what this was) is a major error in judgement, major error in chain of command and leadership.
Unless they've changed the way they define things in two decades, this was negligence, they should call it such and many people within the command structure should have that reflected in their OER's (Officer Evaluation Record) and most should be reassigned and/or put through retraining
still_one
(91,965 posts)Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)still_one
(91,965 posts)admission of guilt, and that may or may not open the door to further legal action.
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)still_one
(91,965 posts)were mistakes, should those "culprits" be turned over to the world court also?
In other words, are mistakes under the jurisdiction of the world court? Unless it can be shown that this was intentionally planned, and implemented, then there is no case for the world court, and I have not heard Doctors without Borders make that statement
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)We don't answer to them nor should we until we are members which the last 3 presidents said no way.
mpcamb
(2,855 posts)Will heads roll? Because they oughta. There's a bunch who should have been gone last week.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Well, so much for that. It will take several generations of penance to make the world think the least bit better about USA.
Truprogressive85
(900 posts)So instead of holding someone accountable DOD will just pay ?
moral decay ?
It was a mistake
oh collateral damage
they were harboring Taliban
oh it was a mistake again
still_one
(91,965 posts)unfortunately you cannot bring back the dead. Does the compensation to families absolve what happened? No it doesn't, but it is an admission of fault.
Who is responsible, the United States. Bringing some lowly soldier for reading coordinates off a computer program won't provide justice for the victims, or for the software analyst which most likely input the wrong information.
rladdi
(581 posts)Airplanes, trucks etc to help them with their mission. They do deserve it.
still_one
(91,965 posts)MSF engages bilaterally with many US government offices in both the executive and legislative branches. We are in contact mostly with the State Department, the White House, and the Department of Defense on the executive side. Within the State Department there are different offices that are in charge of funding humanitarian assistance on behalf of the US government, like USAID.
On the legislative side its mostly with Congress sometimes specific representative offices, sometimes the specialized foreign affairs committees. We also engage with people in the embassies of the countries in which we work.
The US is one of the main donors in terms of humanitarian assistance worldwide, so they are key players in any humanitarian crisis. We engage for many different reasonsto alert, to inform about specific humanitarian situations that were witnessing. We also sometimes engage to get a sense of what their policies are, so we can adapt our operations on the ground if need be.
Another important aim of our engagement is to keep certain global health issues on the agenda, such as access to medicines and vaccines and better treatments for diseases like HIV and drug-resistant TB. We also share our views on the impact of specific decisions a political actor makes; sometimes we agree, sometimes we disagree, but we maintain that dialogue. We do not request funding from the US government, and this plays a major role in ensuring that we are able to have open discussions that are not biased by the exchange of funding.
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news-stories/newsletter/how-does-msf-interact-us-government-and-other-regional-organizations
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)Demeter
(85,373 posts)and there's nobody going to pay for it besides the victims and their families, friends, communities, etc.
The Air Force, with its muscular evangelical Xtianity, blew a big hole in the world.
mpcamb
(2,855 posts)rladdi
(581 posts)and bravery. The US government need to give them tens of millions of dollars, plus some decent planes for their world wide travels. Let the US Govt. give them medical supplies, construction equipment to build hospitals. This team is doing a great job around the world and they need help. It would save them from asking for donations.
me too and I hope they get a very large sum.
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)Hearts and minds, folks. Hearts and minds...
Downwinder
(12,869 posts)Not real out-of-pocket money.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)Most other countries say oh well. You think Russia would pay in the same situation? No way!
mpcamb
(2,855 posts)Well, there is plenty of it out there recently...
peace13
(11,076 posts)...for Defense Department.......
mpcamb
(2,855 posts)Minimally.
And they should be on the carpet.
And heads should roll.
And the most obscure, least prestigious assignments should be filled with lifers under whose command this occurred.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)and they continue to block the creation of an international criminal tribunal, and disseminate the most outrageous conspiracy theories to trolls and loony left bloggers/journalists in an effort to evade blame...
Nobody was calling that shit a "war crime" when it happened