Kunduz attack may amount to war crime – UN Human Rights chief

[Lite Beer]

Kunduz attack may amount to war crime – UN Human Rights chief
By Keith Walker

The US military said it launched an attack around the time a Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) charity hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz was hit by an airstrike, killing 19 people: staff, patients and children.

“The strike may have led to collateral damage to a nearby medical facility,” according to a statement from US Army Colonel Brian Tribus, Spokesman for US Forces in Afghanistan.

UN Human Rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein led a chorus of condemnation, noting that an assault on a hospital could amount to a war crime.

“This event is utterly tragic, inexcusable, and possibly even criminal,” he said.

The hospital attack constitutes a grave violation of International Humanitarian Law, “according to an MSF statement:“http://www.msf.org/article/afghanistan-msf-demands-explanations-after-deadly-airstrikes-hit-hospital-kunduz

The medical charity, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said its staff phoned military officials at NATO in Kabul and Washington during the morning attack, but bombs continued to rain down for nearly an hour.

“All indications currently point to the bombing being carried out by international Coalition forces,” MSF said, demanding “a full and transparent account”.


MSF said it had given the location of the hospital to both Afghan and US forces several times in the past few months, most recently this week, to avoid being caught in crossfire.

“The hospital is there since four years; it’s a large hospital, the compound is larger than a football ground,” pointed out MSF Director of Operations Bart Janssens. “And we have several times communicated through the GPS co-ordinates the exact location of the hospital to all warring parties in Afghanistan. So we really don’t understand and we definitely do not accept the notification of collateral damage as we heard in the beginning in the first reaction.”

A statement from the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has expressed “strong condemnation” for the attack.

It said “…hospitals and medical personnel are explicitly protected by humanitarian law.”

-- (c) Copyright Euronews 2015-10-04

[Usernames]

This is the sort of statement the Russians will not have to put up with when they do the same thing in Syria.

[ezzra]

War crimes, an oxymoron really, have you ever seen a war that was fought in a gentleman ways

where one side take the out most care not to hurt the other side? this is war, partaked by all sorts

of people with all sorts of personalities, in wars, fear of dying is the order of the way, and one

will do his best to stay a live and win, and if it means committing 'crimes' than so be it...

[ravip]

Does this not prove something very clearly about International Humanitarian Law?

Hmmmm... no, it does not.

Let the Brigade attack...

[NeverSure]

I suggest that Mr. UN Human Rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein come over to my house.

We'll set up a neighborhood meeting to further discuss it.

[Seastallion]

War crimes, an oxymoron really, have you ever seen a war that was fought in a gentleman ways

where one side take the out most care not to hurt the other side? this is war, partaked by all sorts

of people with all sorts of personalities, in wars, fear of dying is the order of the way, and one

will do his best to stay a live and win, and if it means committing 'crimes' than so be it...

To deliberately bomb a hospital has got nothing to do with the forces involved doing their best to stay alive.

Rules of battle protect you.

It sounds like you advocate for there to be no rules....if there were none, the world would already be a nuclear waste site.

[Linky]

War crimes, an oxymoron really, have you ever seen a war that was fought in a gentleman ways

where one side take the out most care not to hurt the other side? this is war, partaked by all sorts

of people with all sorts of personalities, in wars, fear of dying is the order of the way, and one

will do his best to stay a live and win, and if it means committing 'crimes' than so be it...

No, enemies do not take care not to hurt the other side.

But they do take care not to kill innocent civilians.

Or do you think that is ok?

[Soutpeel]

I suggest that Mr. UN Human Rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein come over to my house.

We'll set up a neighborhood meeting to further discuss it.

In Oregon.?...threatening people NS ?

Thought the US had freedom of expression NS ?

Your sounding very Muslim terrorist to me ...

[Soutpeel]

This is the sort of statement the Russians will not have to put up with when they do the same thing in Syria.

How very childish..."but miss miss ..he is doing"....

Have Russians to date bombed a known hospital to date under similar condtions to date....

[Usernames]

This is the sort of statement the Russians will not have to put up with when they do the same thing in Syria.

How very childish..."but miss miss ..he is doing"....

Have Russians to date bombed a known hospital to date under similar condtions to date....

Wars are won as much at home as on the front. Wear down the support for your enemy at home, and he loses. Giap knew this. The only person who is childish is someone too ignorant and self-absorbed to know this history.

[Soutpeel]

This is the sort of statement the Russians will not have to put up with when they do the same thing in Syria.

How very childish..."but miss miss ..he is doing"....

Have Russians to date bombed a known hospital to date under similar condtions to date....

Wars are won as much at home as on the front. Wear down the support for your enemy at home, and he loses. Giap knew this. The only person who is childish is someone too ignorant and self-absorbed to know this history.

Oh dear lord..just answer the question and may be watch less fox news.... and less of the childish insults

[Linky]

This is the sort of statement the Russians will not have to put up with when they do the same thing in Syria.

How very childish..."but miss miss ..he is doing"....

Have Russians to date bombed a known hospital to date under similar condtions to date....

Wars are won as much at home as on the front. Wear down the support for your enemy at home, and he loses. Giap knew this. The only person who is childish is someone too ignorant and self-absorbed to know this history.

Then you must agree that flying planes into the twin towers is perfectly reasonable. If not then you would be too ignorant and self absorbed.

[Usernames]

This is the sort of statement the Russians will not have to put up with when they do the same thing in Syria.

How very childish..."but miss miss ..he is doing"....

Have Russians to date bombed a known hospital to date under similar condtions to date....

Wars are won as much at home as on the front. Wear down the support for your enemy at home, and he loses. Giap knew this. The only person who is childish is someone too ignorant and self-absorbed to know this history.

Oh dear lord..just answer the question and may be watch less fox news.... and less of the childish insults

Someone else fixated on Fox News. Must be a resident of Lesser Britain.

[Soutpeel]

This is the sort of statement the Russians will not have to put up with when they do the same thing in Syria.

How very childish..."but miss miss ..he is doing"....

Have Russians to date bombed a known hospital to date under similar condtions to date....

Wars are won as much at home as on the front. Wear down the support for your enemy at home, and he loses. Giap knew this. The only person who is childish is someone too ignorant and self-absorbed to know this history.

Oh dear lord..just answer the question and may be watch less fox news.... and less of the childish insults

Someone else fixated on Fox News. Must be a resident of Lesser Britain.

Wrong answer dear boy

[Publicus]

This is the sort of statement the Russians will not have to put up with when they do the same thing in Syria.

How very childish..."but miss miss ..he is doing"....

Have Russians to date bombed a known hospital to date under similar condtions to date....

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Saturday Russian warplanes hit a hospital during an attack on the town of Hobeit in Idlib province which is held by non-ISIS forces in a decidedly anti-Assad region of the country.

International charity group Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, said the hospital was formerly run by the group but has since been handed over to local medical groups.

“What we can confirm is that the hospital has been damaged by strikes, but the staff has been able to evacuate safely and there are no causalities,” said Yazan Al-Saadi, MSF’s spokeswoman in Beirut.

Russian Defense Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.

http://www.startribune.com/russia-launches-new-wave-of-air-raids-in-syria/330508851/

Observatory reported 39 civilians were killed during Russia's first three days of bombings which a US 3-star General said included BETAB-500 bombs and cluster bombs. Russia claims it is using only high precision accuracy bombs but it is not, the general said from the Pentagon.

Lt General Robert Otto, the deputy chief of staff for intelligence and surveillance for the Air Force, said the Russians have been dropping cluster bombs – also known as 'dumb bombs' – a reference to munitions that are not precision-guided.

The use of such indiscriminate targeting, he said, could kill innocent civilians, which may have the unintended consequence of creating more terrorists than they destroy.

His comments seem to be supported by videos released by Moscow's own defence ministry which appear to show cluster bombs from its fighter jets peppering large swathes of ground.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3257288/Two-children-killed-latest-Russian-airstrikes-U-S-general-accuses-Moscow-dropping-CLUSTER-BOMBS-obliterate-areas-size-football-fields-civilians.html#ixzz3nbpV4qLh

Also from the Daily Mail, this clear graphic....

Russia has been accused of only targeting areas controlled by U.S.-backed rebels and not the Islamic

State on the first two days of its bombing campaign in Syria - as seen in the graphic above.

OECD also reported yesterday Russia moved into east Ukraine the TOS-1 Buratino missile attack weaponry for the first time that has thermobaric warheads which spread flammable liquid around a target then ignites it. The weapon is described by the Pentagon as capable of destroying several city blocks in one strike to cause indiscriminate damage.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3257288/Two-children-killed-latest-Russian-airstrikes-U-S-general-accuses-Moscow-dropping-CLUSTER-BOMBS-obliterate-areas-size-football-fields-civilians.html#ixzz3nbvcd14u

Edited October 4, 2015 by Publicus

[Soutpeel]

Fair enough put Russians in the dock for war crimes alongside the US then...

[simple1]

Fair enough put Russians in the dock for war crimes alongside the US then...

One has to assume the Assad regime is providing targeting info for the Russians, complementing Russian & Iranian intelligence efforts. It's long been documented the Assad regime, as have the opposition, attacked medical facilities as a tool of war.

The government “effectively criminalized” medical care to the opposition in anti-terrorism laws introduced in July 2012, but long before then, in the early days of protests against the government, security forces had cracked down on medical personnel who provided treatment to demonstrators, the investigators said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/14/world/middleeast/un-panel-accuses-syria-of-attacking-hospitals.html?_r=0

[oneday]

It's only a war-crime if it was intentional. It doesn't matter if terrorists were hiding inside; that does not justify it so I'm hoping it was bad intel or a mistake.

However, there is no doubt in my mind that many heads should roll on this and I don't like how the military is minimizing their responsibility.

This statement just doesn't cut it. It's a pretty cold statement for such a tragedy.

“The strike may have led to collateral damage to a nearby medical facility,” according to a statement from US Army Colonel Brian Tribus, Spokesman for US Forces in Afghanistan.

The military is going to have to do a lot better than that explanation. I hate it when they say "collateral damage" especially in this case.

[Tchooptip]

This is the sort of statement the Russians will not have to put up with when they do the same thing in Syria.

Is that the only kind of answer US will give ?

[lucky11]

Fair enough put Russians in the dock for war crimes alongside the US then...

I don't call a wiped out hospital with rooms full of fire collateral damage!! They (the Yanks and Afghanistan) were told several times that the facility is a HOSPITAL even giving them the co-ordinates and they still bomb it killing 9 selfless volunteer doctors and nurses and a number of patients. Shame on them for being so STUPID and careless, call themselves an experienced fighting force, they are murderers and incompetents!!

[jomcondo]

its only talk from the UN.......

only US/UK enemies get prosecuted

[Baerboxer]

This idiot should look up what a war crime really is. Perhaps read about the war crimes committed by the Nazis or Imperial Japanese forces, the Turks or the Sudanese militias.

The he should read up on terrorism.

Another UN desk jockey speaking out his arse due to his own agenda.

[ggold]

War crimes, an oxymoron really, have you ever seen a war that was fought in a gentleman ways

where one side take the out most care not to hurt the other side? this is war, partaked by all sorts

of people with all sorts of personalities, in wars, fear of dying is the order of the way, and one

will do his best to stay a live and win, and if it means committing 'crimes' than so be it...

To deliberately bomb a hospital has got nothing to do with the forces involved doing their best to stay alive.

Rules of battle protect you.

It sounds like you advocate for there to be no rules....if there were none, the world would already be a nuclear waste site.

Hospitals with terrorists inside are legitimate targets.

Rules of Battle protect you! how naive.............................

[Expat1]

Of course it is a war crime, duh. The US invaders should be arrested and imprisoned and/or executed but, then again they are the one's who essentially own the Hague courts, etc and all the war crime lawyers and media so a bit awkward to proceed with any legal action in that regard I suppose. Oh, well.

[lucky11]

Of course it is a war crime, duh. The US invaders should be arrested and imprisoned and/or executed but, then again they are the one's who essentially own the Hague courts, etc and all the war crime lawyers and media so a bit awkward to proceed with any legal action in that regard I suppose. Oh, well.

Laugh all you want as the last laugh will be on you as your government is owned by 'big pharma', 'big food' and the 'GMO gangsters' who are collectively poisoning you, giving you heart attacks, strokes and diabetes and killing you with toxic drugs!!!

If you've got children then you will probably be burying them. oh well!!

[Usernames]

Another thread full of raving anti-American crackpots who somehow have gotten on to GMO and pharma conspiracies.

[lucky11]

Another thread full of raving anti-American crackpots who somehow have gotten on to GMO and pharma conspiracies.

They are not conspiracies!! You forgot big food BTW - well that's what you think it is..

Edited October 5, 2015 by lucky11

[sgtsabai]

Not only were the Afghan and US forces informed of the coordinates well before the attack, they were notified during the attack that they were attacking a hospital and still continued the attack. Those in their correct minds will continue to call for independent investigation into what appears to be a deliberate attack and therefore a war crime. Of course we all know nothing will come of it except some very low ranking Pvt. etc. will be the scape goat, if that. After all the infamous war criminals Cheney/Bush et al are still walking around free instead of being in GitMo where they belong.

http://www.latimes.com/world/afghanistan-pakistan/la-fg-doctors-without-borders-20151004-story.html

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed.

[sandyf]

It's only a war-crime if it was intentional. It doesn't matter if terrorists were hiding inside; that does not justify it so I'm hoping it was bad intel or a mistake.

However, there is no doubt in my mind that many heads should roll on this and I don't like how the military is minimizing their responsibility.

This statement just doesn't cut it. It's a pretty cold statement for such a tragedy.

“The strike may have led to collateral damage to a nearby medical facility,” according to a statement from US Army Colonel Brian Tribus, Spokesman for US Forces in Afghanistan.

The military is going to have to do a lot better than that explanation. I hate it when they say "collateral damage" especially in this case.

Don't hold your breath, the US are never prepared to take responsibility. In 1991 a US pilot attacked a British convoy killing 9 Scottish soldiers, the case is still open.