Nederland en Afghanistan 127

De Nederlandse regering en een groot deel van de parlementsleden steunen de Amerikanen in Afghanistan. De argumentatie is dat het Westen daar de democratie brengt. In de praktijk komt het erop neer dat wij krijgsheren aan de macht houden die gezorgd hebben dat - volgens de VN - de opiumproduktie, grondstof voor de heroine - gigantisch is toegenomen. Ondertussen is de overgrote meerderheid van de bevolking er nog steeds straatarm en veroorzaken de westerse troepen steeds meer slachtoffers, een veelvoud van het aantal dat op 11 september 2001 om het leven kwam.

De Washington Post bericht:
Marines Used "Excessive Force" in Afghan Civilian Deaths
By Ann Scott Tyson and Josh White
The Washington Post
Saturday 14 April 2007

Afghan report on killings of civilians is called consistent with US findings.
A platoon of elite Marine Special Operations troops reacted with "excessive force" after an ambush in Afghanistan last month, opening fire on pedestrians and civilian vehicles along a 10-mile stretch of road and killing 12 people - including a 4-year-old girl, a 1-year-old boy and three elderly villagers - an investigation by an Afghan human rights commission alleges.
The investigation, based on dozens of eyewitness interviews, found that Marines in a convoy of Humvees continued shooting at at least six locations along the road, miles beyond the site where they were ambushed by a suicide bomber in a van. They fired at stationary vehicles, passersby and others who were "exclusively civilian in nature" and had made "no kind of provocative or threatening behavior," according to a draft report of the investigation obtained by The Washington Post.
In addition to the 12 Afghans killed, including at least two women, 35 were wounded, and one Marine was injured by shrapnel.
U.S. officials familiar with the report by the constitutionally mandated Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission said its findings are "troubling" and consistent with the U.S. military's preliminary investigation, which led this week to the opening of a criminal investigation into the March 4 shootings in Afghanistan's eastern Nangahar Province.
Together, the reports contain "more than sufficient evidence of wrongdoing" by the Marines, said Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), chairman of the House panel that oversees U.S. Special Operations forces. "There is very troubling information in those reports that must be investigated," said Smith, who was briefed Thursday by Maj. Gen. Dennis J. Hejlik, head of the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command.
"All available evidence and reports suggest that the ... response at the very least employed excessive force against civilians as it was almost certainly disproportionate to any threat faced," according to the human rights group's report, which also alleges that other U.S. forces later arrived and cleaned up evidence of the shootings while denying Afghan police access.
Adm. William J. Fallon, head of the U.S. Central Command, is expected to name a senior military officer who would be the convening authority for any criminal or administrative proceedings that could arise, U.S. officials said. Central Command legal officers are "sorting through" the military's initial investigation now, said Lt. Cmdr. Scott Miller, a spokesman for the command. Marine Corps and Naval Criminal Investigative Service officials declined to comment because investigations are ongoing.'

Lees verder:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041302171.html Of:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041407Y.shtml