Σε μια σπάνια στιγμή αποκαλύψεων, οι New York Times δημοσίευσαν ένα άρθρο όπου, χωρίς περιστροφές και δικαιολογίες, περιγράφεονται οι ωμότητες των ΝΑΤΟικών στο Αφγανιστάν:American and NATO troops firing from passing convoys and military checkpoints have killed 30 Afghans and wounded 80 others since last summer, but in no instance did the victims prove to be a danger to troops, according to military officials in Kabul.
And what is the paper's authority for this astounding admission of atrocity? Not the usual "unnamed sources" or "senior official in a position to have knowledge of the situation," but none other than Obama's hand-picked commander on the Af-Pak front, General Stanley "Black Ops" McChrystal his own self:
“We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat,” said Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who became the senior American and NATO commander in Afghanistan last year. His comments came during a recent videoconference to answer questions from troops in the field about civilian casualties.
Αν εγώ ή εσείς σκοτώναμε ένα μεγάλο αριθμό ατόμων που δεν αποτελούσαν απειλή, θα μας έλεγαν κατά συρροήν δολοφόνους - για κάποιο λόγο όμως όταν το λέει αυτό ένας διοικητής του ΝΑΤΟ "δεν τρέχει και τίποτα"...
Το άρθρο συνεχίζει με μια επίσης σημαντική παραδοχή, ότι δηλαδή η σκληρή ΝΑΤΟική κατοχή είναι αυτή που ωθεί το λαό του Αφγανιστάν να τους πολεμήσει:
"Ο λαός έχει κουραστεί από όλες αυτές τις σκληρές πράξεις από τους ξένους, και δεν μπορούμε να το αντέξειπια», δήλωσε ο Naqibullah Samim, πρεσβύτερος σε ένα χωριό από το Hodkail, όπου ο κ. Yonus έζησε. Οι άνθρωποι δεν έχουν καμία άλλη επιλογή, θα επαναστήσουν εναντίον της κυβέρνησης και των ξένων κατακτητών. Υπάρχουν πολλές περιπτώσεις δολοφονίας αθώων ανθρώπων. "
Failure to reduce checkpoint and convoy shootings, known in the military as “escalation of force” episodes, has emerged as a major frustration for military commanders who believe that civilian casualties deeply undermine the American and NATO campaign in Afghanistan.
Many of the detainees at the military prison at Bagram Air Base joined the insurgency after the shootings of people they knew, said the senior NATO enlisted man in Afghanistan, Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Hall.
“There are stories after stories about how these people are turned into insurgents,” Sergeant Major Hall told troops during the videoconference. “Every time there is an escalation of force we are finding that innocents are being killed,” he said.
One such case was the death of Mohammed Yonus, a 36-year-old imam and a respected religious authority, who was killed two months ago in eastern Kabul while commuting to a madrasa where he taught 150 students.
A passing military convoy raked his car with bullets, ripping open his chest as his two sons sat in the car. The shooting inflamed residents and turned his neighborhood against the occupation, elders there say.
“The people are tired of all these cruel actions by the foreigners, and we can’t suffer it anymore,” said Naqibullah Samim, a village elder from Hodkail, where Mr. Yonus lived. “The people do not have any other choice, they will rise against the government and fight them and the foreigners. There are a lot of cases of killing of innocent people.”
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