Canadian military silent on Afghan civilian deaths: UN investigator

[Praxius]

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/06/26/afghanistan-raids.html

The Canadian military is being criticized by a UN investigator for a lack of accountability for civilian deaths in Afghanistan, where more than 200 civilians have been killed by international military forces this year, a recent report suggests.

The United Nation's special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, told CBC News that senior Canadian officers, among those from other NATO countries operating in Afghanistan, have refused to provide him with information about civilian casualties when asked.

"They said, 'We don't have the information; we can't give it to you. We promise you that we look at individual cases and we do it really very conscientiously.' Good, so give me the results. 'Well we don't have them,'" Alston said.

In May, Alston estimated more than 200 civilians had been killed by foreign forces during the first four months of the year, often in joint operations with Afghan security forces. He said secrecy and a dearth of public information regarding the casualties was jeopardizing support for the mission.

Alston said in May that many of the attacks did not appear to involve any intention to kill civilians and were considered lawful, occurring at night during surprise raids or when soldiers fired on wrongly suspected vehicles or passers-by.

However, it was "absolutely unacceptable for heavily armed internationals accompanied by heavily armed Afghan forces to be wandering around conducting dangerous raids that too often result in killings without anyone taking responsibility for them," Alston said in a statement released last month.

The CBC's Brian Stewart reported Thursday that the raids, dubbed "hunt and kill" operations by American soldiers, are conducted by Canadian JTF-2 commandoes, as well as British and American soldiers. The raids are so secret that some Afghans believe the attacks are really execution missions, Stewart said.

"To the extent that those sort of raids go on fairly systematically, they set up a situation in which people are likely to be shot to death," Alston said.
Lack of accountability

While he said he has found no evidence Canadian officers involved in the raids have acted illegally, Alston criticized the Canadian military nonetheless for a lack of accountability.

"First of all, there are international law obligations to accountability and transparency. Second, we're pushing the Afghans very much to be accountable on these things. And thirdly, what I said before is we have a self-interest in a sense, as far as the West is concerned, in making sure that we hold ourselves to much higher standards," he said.

Amnesty International is expected to release its own reports on such military raids soon.
Canada has about 2,500 troops in Afghanistan, on a mission that began in early 2002 in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban government.

For its part, the Canadian military has deferred questions on the raids to NATO, Stewart said, which has described Alston's report as exaggerated and inaccurate.

 

[darkbeaver]

Notice how they slipped in the low low figure of two-hundred dead civilians this year to date?

 

[Praxius]

Notice how they slipped in the low low figure of two-hundred dead civilians this year to date?

200 civilians in 5 months isn't low to me.

 

[L Gilbert]

1 death in 20 years isn't low to me. But then I think the whole thing boils down to whether you like the Taliban in permanent control or international forces in there trying to help improve the quality of life for ALL Afghans. How many people have the Taliban killed?

 

[darkbeaver]

I'd rather see the Afghani Taliban in permanent control of thier country.

 

[L Gilbert]

Ah, a real live tyrant in our midst. Keep the women uneducated, under slavery, and brimming with the results of vitamin D defficiency, kill anyone who questions the Taliban or their twisted version of Islam, keep the people harvesting opium for the rest of the world to enjoy, etc. Cool. I can respect that.

 

[L Gilbert]

You know? If it was Canada I think I would rather die trying to improve life here than live under oppressive, brutal, and sociopathic people like the Taliban.

 

[dumpthemonarchy]

Time for Canada to leave Afghanistan. The unaccountable killing of civilians is appalling. We have been there for seven years, way too long.

 

[MikeyDB]

Time for Canada to leave Afghanistan. The unaccountable killing of civilians is appalling. We have been there for seven years, way too long.

Even if there's a "reasonable" explanation for why civilian deaths are unreported, without a concerted effort by everyone involved...then I agree, we should be out of Afghanistan.

It's no secret that the economics of opium feed the Taliban and the regionally identified criminal activity. The apparent unwillingness of the Canadian forces to destroy the poppy fields and bring an end to the drug cash flow.... fails Afghanis and coincidentally kills people from every nation participating in this mess. The Americans have a pipeline "contract", and yet America has done nothing to influence Pakistan to close its borders to terrorists. It's a moot point arguing anything that America does or doesn't do in Afghanistan...because even after declaring anyone not in support of America's "war on terrorism" as "supporting terrorism"....the United States gives Pakistan a "pass".

Canadian service pesonnel are dying in a conflict that the U.S. regards as unworthy of as much attention as their Iraqi plum.... Canadian taxpayers are picking up the tab for Canadian service personnel fighting an action that the most influential and best equipped and best financed military in the world (American) have nearly abandoned while they set up their military bases in Iraq and continue the fraud of the Iraqi invasion....

Americans although delightfully prepared to ignore the failing of their constitution their government and both foreign and domestic policies of the Bush regime.....rely on the "closeness" of Canadians to legitimize this nonsense in Afghanistan. Canadians are being played for fools.

Enjoy gasoline prices while Americans laugh at you.

 

[EagleSmack]

Canadian service pesonnel are dying in a conflict that the U.S. regards as unworthy of as much attention as their Iraqi plum.... Canadian taxpayers are picking up the tab for Canadian service personnel fighting an action that the most influential and best equipped and best financed military in the world (American) have nearly abandoned while they set up their military bases in Iraq and continue the fraud of the Iraqi invasion....

The US has 32,000 troops in Afghanistan. Thanks for playing.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,349748,00.html

 

[darkbeaver]

The US has 32,000 troops in Afghanistan. Thanks for playing.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,349748,00.html

That 32,000 troops are roughly equivilant to 5,000 Canadian troops however. Americans are notoriously bad soldiers. They've never actually beaten anyone in battle. They can't even finish off Iraq, the vietnamese defeated them easily without even weapons, the Germans used to kill thousands of them by shooting them in the back as they ran off the zones. All the dummys are good for is using up munitions at profitable rates. They have nice aircraft but they'll only last a few weeks after hostilities begin then it'll be a turkey shoot with the real turkeys. Super power my ass that's history already all thats left is the the rape of the American homeland, haha by Americans.:lol:

 

[MikeyDB]

Eaglesmack

So I take it you're in favor of Candians and Americans being killed while solutions exist...at least strategies to prohibit terrorists from resupply and support..?

You guys really really like war dontcha!