I slept in today and did it ever feel good. Saturdays should be like that from time to time. I'm off to pick up some tastey buns that look like cinnamon rolls but instead have pesto and cheese. They are oh so good!
Puzzle — Today’s took me 3:11 (average 4:52). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes
The New Yorker — On Saturday, at 2:08 A.M. local time, an American AC-130 began to bomb a hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), in Kunduz, Afghanistan. According to accounts from doctors and nurses, the air strike continued for more than an hour, in fifteen-minute waves. The hospital burned for hours afterward; photos and videos from the scene show the structures illuminated by flames from within. “We tried to take a look into one of the burning buildings,” a nurse named Lajos Zoltan Jecssaid, in a statement distributed by M.S.F. “In the Intensive Care Unit, six patients were burning in their beds.” At least twenty-two people, ten patients and a dozen staff members, were killed by the strike or by the fires that the bombs started.
Click through for some of the questions that still need answering, even almost 2 months later.
Common Dreams — Doctors Without Borders is challenging the Pentagon over the findings of internal probes into the bombing of a hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz on October 3, saying the military's conclusions offer "more questions than answers" and that claims of "human error" simply don't correspond to the available facts. …
"The frightening catalogue of errors outlined today illustrates gross negligence on the part of U.S. forces and violations of the rules of war," said MSF director general Christopher Stokes. (Photo: Andrew Quilty/Foreign Policy)
Pentagon spokesman Gen. Wilson Shoffner said "some individuals have been suspended from their duty positions" for failing to follow "rules of engagement" and are awaiting disciplinary action.
Sorry, but not good enough General Shoffner. Click through to see the log of calls made by MSF Kabul to the OCHA Civil Military liaison in Afghanistan, among others.
Foreign Policy — As the powerful American gunship circled over the densely packed Afghan city of Kunduz on the night of Oct. 3, the crew was flying blind, with little prior intelligence as to where potential Taliban targets were located and without access to key video or electronic communications systems, which were down for much of the mission. …
The exterior of the bombed out Kunduz hospital that was staffed by MSF.
Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner, spokesman for the NATO command in Kabul, said members of the crew of the AC-130 gunship “did not follow the rules of engagement” in launching the 29-minute attack, and have been suspended from their duties pending possible disciplinary action. …
The mistakes on Oct. 3 began even before the plane took off from base. An investigation by the U.S. military has found that the gunship launched without being briefed on “crucial mission materials, including no-strike info that would have determined the coordinates of the hospital,” Campbell said. The investigation also found that the crew relied almost entirely on a physical description of the building, as opposed to grid coordinates, which led to the strike on the wrong building.
And when all is said and done, will anyone truly be held accountable for this tragedy? The MSF is calling for an independent investigation by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC). I was reading that the MSF has called this a war crime.
When all is said and done, there should be no wrist slaps or suspensions. There should be real accountabilty including an international trial at The Hague, substantial prison time right up the line (not just those flying the mission that should not have been), reparations and fines.
There is a petition at Change.org signed by 542,102 supporters with a goal of 1 million signatures, asking Obama to consent to "an independent international investigation into the events of October 3 by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC), the only permanent body set up specifically to investigate violations of international humanitarian law."
YouTube — Pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkeys
My Universe — Simon has a sister and she has a dog! This should be a PSA!
15 Responses to “Squatch’s Open Thread 28/11/2015”
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5:07 (4:52) About right for the laptop – maybe even a little fast.
MSF – I know I have signed Chsnge.org for this and some other petitions as well. Will anyone be held to account? Probably some scapegoats, yes. Any real culprits, probably not.
Turkey – I do not remember this custom from my childhood, or teens, or military service. So I looked it up. And no danged wonder. It's a George H. W. Bush invention. I for one would happily do without it, but apparently the turkey lobby has too much clout (who knew?)
http://www.npr.org/2015/11/25/457253194/the-strange-truth-behind-presidential-turkey-pardons
Universe – It certainly looks like a PSA.
Wish it were a people pardon tradition instead…
I hope that those responsible for the bombing will be held to account. Just like I hope that Baby Bush, Cheney et al will be tried for war crimes. I may be disappointed, but I can hope.
After an utterly delightful "Turkey Day Holiday" visiting w/ a good deal of our extended family, got my 99 y/o Mom & 87 y/o Aunt off this morning … on ICE-COVERED roads this morning heading out of KCMO.
It actually was NOT too bad, as both I & my aunt (who has 60+ years of driving less-than-optimal back-country roads from their farm in Northern Illinois under her belt) checked the driving condit6ions – and we agreed it was a “GO”!
Got a text from her this afternoon after she dropped off Mom at her Assisted Living place saying it was basically “Easy-Peasy”.
Plan on heading up north to spend Christmas with them – they've done their share of winter driving!
Thanks for the report and assurance that all went well including safe arrivals home!
Glad to know they got home safely. I hope I am nearly as well as they are if I live that long!
Very glad that everyone is safe! Hope you enjoyed your time together.
Thanks, Lynn. I signed the petition.
Youtube: Of course they are, and so are the rest of us.
Simon: Poor dog! You are right,this should be a PSA!
Good to hear you're taking good care of yourself, Lynn, by sleeping in and indulging in some tasty buns. The sound delicious.
The New Yorker/Common Dreams/ Foreign Policy: The accumulation of "human error" leading up to the bombing of the hospital run by Doctors without Borders is staggering and in fact unbelievable. Flying in without communication, bombing with only a oral description of the target building and then bombing for more than an hour? I'm not buying it as a layman and I doubt whether anyone versed in military protocol buys into it. It sounds too much like a cover up, and a shoddy one at that. The only thing for it is an independent investigation, as it should have been right from the start. The fact that it wasn't, even though it was demanded by Doctors Without Borders and others, makes it all the more suspicious. By now the Pentagon knows where all the weaknesses are in the story and will have filled in all the gaps and smoothed it over.
However, this will all soon be forgotten as everyone focuses on new heavy bombing of Syria after the Paris attacks and the quarrel over Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter. Such is war.
You Tube: This particular folklore is a little to quaint for my taste.
My Universe: It's a dog's life, isn't it.
I couldn't agree more Lona. One of the reasons that I did 3 short takes on different aspects of the bombing is because I want to keep it front and centre. For justice to be done, it must be seen to be done.
NYer/CD/MSF: I already had signed this petition, media has been very quiet over this tragedy, hardly anything now.
YouTube: Good for the turkey, however, it's a shame that folks that are incarcerated in prison can't be handed a pardon. Now that would be a great gesture.
My Universe: People food upsets my dog's stomach. My cat loves food from the table. PSA indeed.
It's cold and rainy here. A perfect day to read my book. Enjoy your day, Thanks, Lynn.
No doubt! Prisons need reforming. I can just hear the republicans yowling because the unemployment rate goes up among prison personnel on account of fewer prisoners!
4:20
Unnamed perpetrators facing unspecified discipline does not fly.
I'm glad Bought Bitch Turkey wasn't paedoned.
Unless Jerry or Patty come by and knock me down, you take 2nd and JD 3rd.
Thanks all!
I normally would not do 3 short takes on one subject, although they are different aspects. But I don't want this travesty to be swept from peoples view.