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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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May 20th,
2007 - Civilian Casualties Hurt Mission in Afghanistan |
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Civilian Casualties Hurt Mission
in Afghanistan By Pamela Varkony Allentown Morning Call May 20, 2007 The handsome young man in
the hospital bed in Kabul, Afghanistan, manages a weak smile but it makes the
surgical tape around his neck tighten against his wound and the smile
vanishes. On a chair next to the bed, his mother rocks back and forth,
repeating over and over an incantation to Allah for her son's recovery. The
ICU at the CURE hospital in Kabul, one of the few intensive care facilities
in Afghanistan, is full of sad stories, few more tragic than that of
Nasrat-ullah. On March 4, Nasrat, age 16,
was riding a bus on his way to school in the town of Jalalabad. Near the Spin
Pul Bridge on Torkham Road, the bus pulled over to make way for a convoy
carrying an elite unit of U.S. Marines. Eager to get to school, Nasrat recalled
later that he paid little attention as the Humvees rumbled by. The troops,
however, were on high alert; bridges provide preferred locations for
terrorists. What happened next depends
on whom you talk to. Based on the original report from Afghanistan NGO Safety
Office and news reports, there is little doubt that a minivan packed with
explosives detonated next to the convoy. According to the Marines, the convoy
also was fired upon by enemy snipers. The Marines began firing, spraying
bullets into the morning crowd of Afghans on their way to work and school. As
Nasrat ducked down in his seat, he felt a burning sensation go through his
neck. It was the last voluntary movement Nasrat ever made. A small arms round
severed his spinal cord. Nasrat spent the first week
in the U.S. hospital at Bagram Air Base . Once his condition stabilized, he
was transferred to CURE in Kabul. There, a diagnosis of permanent paralysis
from the neck down was confirmed. To look at him, you might think he had been
admitted for the flu or an appendectomy; there is not a mark on him, except
for one, small, perfectly round hole hidden beneath a bandage. Jim Kline, director of CURE,
approaches Nasrat's father, Zia-Udin. In quiet tones, Kline explains in
English that Nasrat is a quadriplegic as the result of the incident involving
the U.S. Marines. An interpreter stares back at Kline, as though begging to
not have to be the bearer of such news. At first there is no visible reaction
except the immergence of a piece of paper from Zia-Udin's pocket. ''Look,
these are his grades from school. He is a smart boy. He does very well with
computers. He has a good future.'' ''We'll do everything we
can,'' says Kline. As reality hits, shock turns to anger. Zia-Udin shakes his
fist, ''The people who did this are the enemies of Afghanistan. They are
outsiders who do not want to build Afghanistan.'' Zia-udin is not alone in
those feelings. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned this and other
incidents, pleading with the United States to not further inflame the
situation. Civilian casualties have increasingly been responsible for
Karzai's plummeting popularity and growing feeling of frustration among the
population with the presence of U.S. and NATO forces. Last month, another incident
involving civilian casualties occurred in Nangahar Province. According to the
Associated Press, as many as six Afghans, including a woman and a teenage
girl, were killed in a U.S.-led raid against a suspected terrorist compound.
Bomb-making equipment was found and four were arrested. Civilians, angry at
the deaths of those they say were not terrorists, felled trees to create
barriers, then laid out the bodies of the dead, blocking the same road where
Nasrat had been injured. The Afghan Independent Human
Rights Commission has accused the Marine special forces unit involved in the
March 4 incident with using excessive force. The U.S. military has referred
the case for criminal inquiry and the 120-member Marine unit has been removed
from Afghanistan. In a war where the enemy
values neither their own lives nor those of their countrymen; where attacks
are planned and executed in the midst of a quiet weekday morning, whom should
Zia-Udin blame for the loss of his son's future? The men who shot him or the
men who caused him to be shot? Pamela Varkony is a writer
and commentator living in Allentown. She is a former member of city council.
Her blog, ''Perspectives ... public and private,'' can be found on-line at
mcall.com. External link: http://tinyurl.com/36jstd |