Missile that killed Afghan civilians not faulty: NATO

Source: Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – NATO forces in Afghanistan have resumed using a type of rocket that killed 12 civilians after concluding that the missile hit its intended target and did not veer off course, a NATO commander said on Tuesday.

The civilians died on Sunday, the second day of an offensive designed to impose Afghan government authority on one of the last big Taliban strongholds in Helmand, the country's most violent province.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force originally said two rockets from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launched at insurgents veered about 300 meters off course.

They had been fired at a compound from where insurgents were firing at NATO and Afghan troops during the assault on Marjah in southern Afghanistan.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100216/ts_nm/us_afghanistan_offensive_rockets

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Sounds like they are calling it an error in targeting, rather than a technological fault within the actual weapon system.

Won't do much to comfort the victims, though.

and they are trying to determine if the civilians were hostages.

and they are trying to determine if the civilians were hostages.

to borrow the title of a favorite Veterans for Peace song -

Of course their not faulty

:puke:

On an actual military level, this may or may not be the biggest assault of the war in Afghanistan...... but it's the damn biggest steaming load of public relations bullshit that these professional spin doctors can muster. What is unfortunate is how ensnared many allegedly well-meaning folks may be in the various lines of nonsense bandied about. But thank god (who is a supporter of the US occupation, it should be remembered) that there will probably be no lawsuits from this particular event of mass murder.