I am interested in "America's New War." Although disgusted by its CNN moniker, I attempt to keep track of it daily. In Socorro, this is most conveniently done while reading the daily newspaper. A mocha latte and the Albuquerque Journal go hand-in-hand. By the time I reach the chocolaty dregs, the A section has been perused. I've been especially vigilant about fatalities. After all, that's the bottom line, right? Who's killing how many of whom? Did any kids get in the way? And I just hate "friendly fire", don't you?
So I thought I was staying rather abreast of the war. A hospital or two got clobbered, the Red Cross compound was hit twice, a couple of villages mistakenly trounced. But it's almost over, right? And "we've" won -- less than a dozen Americans off-ed. Piece o' cake.
So nothing had prepared me for the carnage I discovered when I ventured onto the Web the other day! I figured, hey, before this baby passes into the warm and fuzzy history annals, leaving behind a permanent U.N. presence or something, I'd better just have a look. Don't want to miss anything. (To tell the truth, I'd been scared as heck to "go surfing." Deep down, I knew I'd be chagrined.)
I choose to relay to you only the Web reports which are amply documented by eye-witness accounts and reported in multiple international news outlets. Dr. Marc Herold, Economics & Women's Studies professor at the University of New Hampshire, has meticulously researched most of these events. Print sources include the BBC, Singapore News, the Times of India, the Pakistan Observer, Agence France and numerous other sources. The mainstream U.S. press has denied us most of this reportage.
It's been real' ugly for Afghan civilians for three months now! The Sunday we began bombing, thirteen of those long-suffering Afghan women were blown out of their maternity beds in a Kabul hospital. We won't count the new- and unborn dead. On October 10, a Jalalabad mosque was whomped, killing seventeen. As neighbors rushed to pull victims from the wreckage, our warplanes pounded the mosque again, in formulaic fashion. Another 120 perished.
Around 400 civilians died the first week of the bombing, but then matters got worse. On October 21 a hospital in Herat was hit; 160 were killed. Full passenger buses were walloped in Khyber and Kandahar. October 29, nine kids in Kabul died while having breakfast with their fathers. Then a marketplace was repeatedly bombed at noon. On the 31st, the Red Crescent humanitarian relief warehouses were destroyed, along with fifteen human beings.
Especially wrenching is the October 22/23 incident at Chowkar-Karez. A large family was arriving from Kandahar in several cars, hoping to ride out the war in their ancestral farming village. (70% of Afghanis are internally or externally displaced.) But the little convoy attracted the attention of vigilant AC-130 gunships, which then destroyed Chowkar-Karez, killing 93 (including 19 of the arriving family). The Pentagon irritably explained when asked, "The people there are dead because we wanted them dead" (Toronto Globe & Mail). Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was grilled at a press conference on November 3 regarding Chowkar-Karez. He snapped, "I cannot deal with that particular village." He already had.
On November 10, the poppy-growing region around Shah Agra "got theirs." Approximately 300 civilians died in that day's firebombing. November 17th was another grim date for Afghanistan. Over 130 died in the carpet-bombing of Khanabad, while 30 perished in one house in Charikar. December 1 dawned to the destruction of Kama Ado. While villagers ate their early Ramadan breakfast, B52s swarmed over, dropping ten-foot long, 1000 pound ordnance, and killing 115. (I hate to imagine the length of the more frequently-used 2500 pound bombs.) One woman lost 38 of her 40 relatives in Kama Ado.
Most of us heard of the convoy-bombing deaths of 65 tribal elders who were making their way to the interim government's inaugural at Christmastime. But do you know that for New Years, 107 souls were dispatched when the burg of Qalaye Niazi was pulverized? I sure hope that ephemeral Taoseño Donald Rumsfeld reads this. Then he will know that we know.
So, having endured the first Yuletide in history in which the American flag was a Christmas decoration, I felt compelled to bear witness to these initial collateral casualties of a "new," promised-to-be-lengthy American war. In upcoming issues, we will examine "Why they hate us," what happened to our civil liberties, and whether Osama and the Bush-men are business partners. Stay tuned.