AP Interview: MSF says bombing of Afghan hospital no mistake

[webfact]

AP Interview: MSF says bombing of Afghan hospital no mistake
By NAJIM RAHIM and LYNNE O'DONNELL

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (AP) — The head of an international medical charity whose hospital in northern Afghanistan was destroyed in a U.S. airstrike says the "extensive, quite precise destruction" of the bombing raid casts doubt on American military assertions that it was a mistake.

The Oct. 3 attack on the compound in Kunduz city, which killed at least 22 patients and hospital staff, should be investigated as a possible war crime, said Christopher Stokes, general director of Doctors Without Borders, which is also known by its French abbreviation MSF.

The trauma hospital was bombed during a firefight between Taliban and government troops, as U.S. advisers were helping Afghan forces retake the city after the insurgents overran it and seized control on Sept. 28. Afghan authorities say they are now largely back in control of Kunduz.

U.S. President Barack Obama has apologized for the attack, and the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell, said it was a mistake. He said the strike had been called in by Afghan forces, but has not explained exactly how it happened or who granted final approval. Internal military investigations are underway, with preliminary results expected in coming days.

According to Associated Press reporting, American special operations analysts were scrutinizing the Afghan hospital days before it was destroyed because they believed it was being used by a Pakistani operative to coordinate Taliban activity. The analysts knew it was a medical facility, according to a former intelligence official who is familiar with some of the documents describing the site.

It's unclear whether that information ever got to commanders who unleashed the AC-130 gunship on the hospital.

"The hospital was repeatedly hit both at the front and the rear and extensively destroyed and damaged, even though we have provided all the coordinates and all the right information to all the parties in the conflict," Stokes said, standing in the burned-out main hospital building.

"The extensive, quite precise destruction of this hospital ... doesn't indicate a mistake. The hospital was repeatedly hit," Stokes said. The bombing went on for more than an hour, despite calls to Afghan, U.S. and NATO to call if off, MSF has said.

Stokes, who has called for an independent inquiry into the incident, told The Associated Press in an interview in the remains of the hospital on Friday that MSF wanted a "clear explanation because all indications point to a grave breach of international humanitarian law, and therefore a war crime."

Afghan authorities have refused to comment before investigations are complete. President Ashraf Ghani's deputy spokesman, Zafar Hashemi, told reporters on Saturday that the Afghan government has "faith" in investigations being conducted by the U.S. military, and by a joint Afghan-NATO team.

MSF has denied there were any armed Taliban on the hospital grounds at the time of the attack. "The compound was not entered by Taliban soldiers with weapons," Stokes said. "What we have understood from our staff and guards is that there was very strong, very good control of what was happening in and around the compound and they reported no firing in the hours preceding the destruction of the hospital."

More than 70 staff members were on duty, tending to more than 100 patients at the time, he said.

According to its policy, MSF treats government troops and insurgent combatants equally. Hospitals are regarded as protected sites in war.

Doctors Without Borders officials have said the U.S. gunship made five separate strafing runs over the course of an hour, directing heavy fire on the main hospital building, which contained the emergency room and intensive care unit. Surrounding buildings were not hit. The hospital is no longer operable.

Stokes said that "until we understand what happened and we can gain guarantees that this unacceptable attack cannot happen again, we cannot reopen and put our staff in danger."

MSF, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization that provides medical aid in conflict zones, has called for an investigation by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission, based in the Swiss capital, Bern. It is made up of diplomats, legal experts, doctors and some former military officials from nine European countries, including Britain and Russia.

An IHFFC investigation needs the cooperation of both Afghanistan and the U.S. before it can proceed, which neither government is expected to give.
___

O'Donnell reported from Kabul.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-10-19

[Seastallion]

"An IHFFC investigation needs the cooperation of both Afghanistan and the U.S. before it can proceed, which neither government is expected to give."

You can not try to be the world's policeman if you do not have the integrity to admit mistakes and take proper disciplinary action against criminals within your force.

[Credo]

"An IHFFC investigation needs the cooperation of both Afghanistan and the U.S. before it can proceed, which neither government is expected to give."

You can not try to be the world's policeman if you do not have the integrity to admit mistakes and take proper disciplinary action against criminals within your force.

From the OP:

U.S. President Barack Obama has apologized for the attack, and the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell, said it was a mistake.

[otherstuff1957]

Notice that they say there were no "Taliban soldiers with weapons" in the hospital. It's obvious from some of the targets that have been hit that the US is using mobile phone data for tracking and targeting. I wouldn't be surprised if one or more high-ranking Taliban officers were tracked to the hospital by their phone calls and were targeted there.

Either the military decided to strike them there regardless of the fact that it was a hospital or there was a screw-up and the targeters did not realized that location was a hospital. Either way, heads will roll and some mid-level flunky will probably be court-martialed.

Edited October 19, 2015 by otherstuff1957

[Seastallion]

"An IHFFC investigation needs the cooperation of both Afghanistan and the U.S. before it can proceed, which neither government is expected to give."

You can not try to be the world's policeman if you do not have the integrity to admit mistakes and take proper disciplinary action against criminals within your force.

From the OP:

U.S. President Barack Obama has apologized for the attack, and the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell, said it was a mistake.

So? Bomb a hospital, apologise and say it was a mistake...end of story?

Not good enough.

A thorough investigation should be made....but, as I quoted from the OP, there is likely not going to be cooperation from the US on that.

[IAMHERE]

"An IHFFC investigation needs the cooperation of both Afghanistan and the U.S. before it can proceed, which neither government is expected to give."

You can not try to be the world's policeman if you do not have the integrity to admit mistakes and take proper disciplinary action against criminals within your force.

Yes you can.

[Jai Dee]

An off-topic post has been removed from this thread.

[Soutpeel]

"An IHFFC investigation needs the cooperation of both Afghanistan and the U.S. before it can proceed, which neither government is expected to give."

You can not try to be the world's policeman if you do not have the integrity to admit mistakes and take proper disciplinary action against criminals within your force.

From the OP:

U.S. President Barack Obama has apologized for the attack, and the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell, said it was a mistake.

Only a "mistake" cos they got caught..... ok so people have apologised....when is the restitution going to be paid ?

[ggt]

"The compound was not entered by Taliban soldiers with weapons,"

My thought when this first became news...is that the Doctors may have been treating wounded Taliban soldiers and therefore became an acceptable target for those making those kinds of decisions...

The Obama apology...much like the H. Clinton breach of National Security email apology...will be all you get...justice will not be served...

[cookee68]

Just pull out and leave afghan to deal with it lets see what happens then

[Soutpeel]

Just pull out and leave afghan to deal with it lets see what happens then

Here's a novel idea may be they shouldnt have stuck their noses in there in the first place ?

[Credo]

Just pull out and leave afghan to deal with it lets see what happens then

Here's a novel idea may be they shouldnt have stuck their noses in there in the first place ?

And if they wouldn't have allowed terrorist training centers to operate, they would have had a lot less interference.

[hugh2121]

"An IHFFC investigation needs the cooperation of both Afghanistan and the U.S. before it can proceed, which neither government is expected to give."

You can not try to be the world's policeman if you do not have the integrity to admit mistakes and take proper disciplinary action against criminals within your force.

From the OP:

U.S. President Barack Obama has apologized for the attack, and the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, Gen. John F. Campbell, said it was a mistake.

So that's ok then?

[JingerBen]

Just pull out and leave afghan to deal with it lets see what happens then

Here's a novel idea may be they shouldnt have stuck their noses in there in the first place ?

And if they wouldn't have allowed terrorist training centers to operate, they would have had a lot less interference.

Terrorist training centers operate all over the world - some in the US itself.

The invasion and devastation of Afghanistan isn't a shining example of how to deal with them.

[cookee68]

Just pull out and leave afghan to deal with it lets see what happens then

Here's a novel idea may be they shouldnt have stuck their noses in there in the first place ?

And if they wouldn't have allowed terrorist training centers to operate, they would have had a lot less interference.

A lot lot less

[cookee68]

Just pull out and leave afghan to deal with it lets see what happens then

Here's a novel idea may be they shouldnt have stuck their noses in there in the first place ?

And if they wouldn't have allowed terrorist training centers to operate, they would have had a lot less interference.

Terrorist training centers operate all over the world - some in the US itself.

The invasion and devastation of Afghanistan isn't a shining example of how to deal with them.

Its a start in the right place