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The US Military Approves Bombing Children
Robert Dreyfuss on December 4, 2012 - 11:34 AM ET
In October, I blogged about an incident in Afghanistan in which three small
children were killed in a US airstrike.
In that one small incident, which drew little attention at the time and since,
three children aged 12, 10 and 8 were blown to smithereens in a NATO bombing
while they were out gathering dung for fuel.
Now, in a despicable article in Military Times, the US military says that children are
legitimate targets in the war in Afghanistan because sometimes the Taliban and
other insurgents use kids.
In the original incident, which I cited in October, The New York Times reported it
this way:
The…case of three children allegedly killed in a coalition strike was reported by local
officials in Helmand Province’s Nawa district. The officials said that the children were
killed in a NATO strike on Sunday afternoon as they were gathering dung to burn as
fuel, a common practice in the desert reaches of southern Afghanistan where there
are few trees.
“When we reached the area I saw the three bodies of children, two boys and one girl,
ages 8 to 12 years old. They were from the same family,” said Haji Hayatullah, a member
of the tribal council in the Nawa district. Their family is in the livestock business and
raises goats and sheep on government land, he said.
Mr. Hayatullah added: “They had been collecting the animal dung and were heading
home. I saw a sack of dung and another sack that was contaminated with their blood,
and I saw three to four holes in the area. It seems the insurgents were digging them
to plant mines, but I did not see any men’s bodies.”
The children were identified as Borjan, 12; Sardar Wali, 10; and Khan Bibi, 8, said Haji
Abdul Manaf Khan, the governor of the neighboring Marja district. The deaths occurred
near the border of the Marja and Nawa districts.
The Marja governor said that NATO forces watched as improvised explosive devices were
being planted, and targeted the insurgents planting them. “As a result two I.E.D. planters
were killed and the shrapnel killed the three children who were wandering nearby,” he said.
Other reports said that three insurgents had been killed.
A spokesman for the international forces, Maj. Adam Wojack, said that the coalition forces
were aware of the allegations and that the episode was being investigated. “I.S.A.F. did
conduct a precision airstrike on three insurgents in Nawa district, and the strike killed all
three insurgents,” he said.
“None of our reporting shows any civilian casualties or any children.”
But on December 3 Gannett, which owns Military Times, ran an article headlined: “Some
Afghan Kids Aren’t Bystanders.” It said:
When Marines in Helmand province sized up shadowy figures that appeared to be emplacing
an improvised explosive device, it looked like a straightforward mission. They got clearance for
an airstrike, a Marine official said, and took out the targets.
It wasn’t that simple, however. Three individuals hit were 12, 10 and 8 years old, leading the
International Security Assistance Force in Kabul to say it may have “accidentally killed three
innocent Afghan civilians.”
But a Marine official here raised questions about whether the children were “innocent.” Before
calling for the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System mission in mid-October, Marines observed
the children digging a hole in a dirt road in Nawa district, the official said, and the Taliban may
have recruited the children to carry out the mission.
Shockingly, the article quotes a senior officer saying that the military isn’t just out to bomb “military
age males,” anymore, but kids, too:
“It kind of opens our aperture,” said Army Lt. Col. Marion “Ced” Carrington, whose unit, 1st Battalion,
508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was assisting the Afghan police. “In addition to looking for
military-age males, it’s looking for children with potential hostile intent.”
“Opens our aperture,” indeed.
Robert Dreyfuss on December 4, 2012 - 11:34 AM ET
In October, I blogged about an incident in Afghanistan in which three small
children were killed in a US airstrike.
In that one small incident, which drew little attention at the time and since,
three children aged 12, 10 and 8 were blown to smithereens in a NATO bombing
while they were out gathering dung for fuel.
Now, in a despicable article in Military Times, the US military says that children are
legitimate targets in the war in Afghanistan because sometimes the Taliban and
other insurgents use kids.
In the original incident, which I cited in October, The New York Times reported it
this way:
The…case of three children allegedly killed in a coalition strike was reported by local
officials in Helmand Province’s Nawa district. The officials said that the children were
killed in a NATO strike on Sunday afternoon as they were gathering dung to burn as
fuel, a common practice in the desert reaches of southern Afghanistan where there
are few trees.
“When we reached the area I saw the three bodies of children, two boys and one girl,
ages 8 to 12 years old. They were from the same family,” said Haji Hayatullah, a member
of the tribal council in the Nawa district. Their family is in the livestock business and
raises goats and sheep on government land, he said.
Mr. Hayatullah added: “They had been collecting the animal dung and were heading
home. I saw a sack of dung and another sack that was contaminated with their blood,
and I saw three to four holes in the area. It seems the insurgents were digging them
to plant mines, but I did not see any men’s bodies.”
The children were identified as Borjan, 12; Sardar Wali, 10; and Khan Bibi, 8, said Haji
Abdul Manaf Khan, the governor of the neighboring Marja district. The deaths occurred
near the border of the Marja and Nawa districts.
The Marja governor said that NATO forces watched as improvised explosive devices were
being planted, and targeted the insurgents planting them. “As a result two I.E.D. planters
were killed and the shrapnel killed the three children who were wandering nearby,” he said.
Other reports said that three insurgents had been killed.
A spokesman for the international forces, Maj. Adam Wojack, said that the coalition forces
were aware of the allegations and that the episode was being investigated. “I.S.A.F. did
conduct a precision airstrike on three insurgents in Nawa district, and the strike killed all
three insurgents,” he said.
“None of our reporting shows any civilian casualties or any children.”
But on December 3 Gannett, which owns Military Times, ran an article headlined: “Some
Afghan Kids Aren’t Bystanders.” It said:
When Marines in Helmand province sized up shadowy figures that appeared to be emplacing
an improvised explosive device, it looked like a straightforward mission. They got clearance for
an airstrike, a Marine official said, and took out the targets.
It wasn’t that simple, however. Three individuals hit were 12, 10 and 8 years old, leading the
International Security Assistance Force in Kabul to say it may have “accidentally killed three
innocent Afghan civilians.”
But a Marine official here raised questions about whether the children were “innocent.” Before
calling for the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System mission in mid-October, Marines observed
the children digging a hole in a dirt road in Nawa district, the official said, and the Taliban may
have recruited the children to carry out the mission.
Shockingly, the article quotes a senior officer saying that the military isn’t just out to bomb “military
age males,” anymore, but kids, too:
“It kind of opens our aperture,” said Army Lt. Col. Marion “Ced” Carrington, whose unit, 1st Battalion,
508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, was assisting the Afghan police. “In addition to looking for
military-age males, it’s looking for children with potential hostile intent.”
“Opens our aperture,” indeed.
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