Those for whom peace is no more than a dream are asleep to the future.
Jack DuVall
Airpower in Afghanistan - A War Crime
The Scale of Bombings
The USA and UK forces in Afghanistan and Iraq make regular use of airpower. The US Central Command usually reports over 40 ‘close combat support’ missions every day in both countries. Little detail is usually given and we are regularly told that firepower is rarely used. However, photographs released by the US military of F-15E planes from Lakenheath in Afghanistan clearly shows the true extent of the bombings.
The Lakenheath pilots painted bombs on their plane to represent the number of bombs each jet has launched while deployed to Afghanistan. One photograph shows a plane with 76 bombs ((http://www.estripes.com/articlephoto.asp?section=104&article=56687&photo=1&archive=true) while another – taken half way through the deployment (25 July http://www.bagram.afnews.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/070725-F-0205S-004.jpg / http://www.bagram.afnews.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/070725-F-0205S-002.jpg ) shows 30 including what looks like two cluster bombs. Picture of the same plane (97-0221) do no show such markings before flying out on the 9th of June at Bagram airport http://www.bagram.afnews.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/070610-F-0205S-003.jpg.
There are over 27 F-15Es in 492 Squadron based at Lakenheath. 18 flew out on the 7 June to join F-15Es already in Bagram.
This would indicate that thousands of bombs were dropped by F-15Es from Lakenheath during their four month (7 June 2007 - 23 September 2007) deployment. During that period there were many other planes and helicopters used for aerial bombardment in Afghanistan.
Very few of these airstrikes were reported in the press or by news agencies. After following up those that were reported a disturbing number were found to have resulted in civilian deaths.
The use of bombs is not the only concern since the F-15E also have canon rounds which have been extensively used in Afghanistan.
"We've done more strafing here than any other F-15E in any other combat zone. It’s like a hand grenade, if you put 100 of these on the ground, it’s going to hit something."
Maj. Randy "Hacker" Haskin, 492 Fighter Squadron pilot. Quoted in Star and Stripes (http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56687&archive=true)
Second Best Solution
"The big problem with [close-air support] in Afghanistan at the moment is that the West in general is radically short of troops by normal counterinsurgency standards."
"As the insurgency has gathered steam, it's tended to increase again. When you’re forced to rely on an at-second-best solution, because you aren’t willing to provide the troop strength, you end up accepting a whole collection of downside costs and risks."
Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow for defense policy at the stateside Council on Foreign Relations. Quoted in Star and Stripes (http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56687&archive=true)
However, a 'second best' solution is not justified legally or morally when it comes to killing civilians.
"Every civilian dead means five new Taliban"
British Officer quoted in the Guardian, July 1, 2007 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2115846,00.html
"We simply cannot hide from the reality that civilian casualties, no matter how accidental, strengthen our enemies and undermine our efforts,"
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, 3 July 2007-10-05
"The president told Nato and coalition commanders that the patience of the Afghan people is wearing thin with the continued killing of innocent civilians,"
A statement from President Karzai's office quoted by the BBC 2 May 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6615781.stm
“Afghan life is not cheap and it should not be treated as such,”
President Karzai CBS News 7 Oct 2007 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/22/terror/main2969960.shtml
Many people have stated that the killing of civilians in Afghanistan strengthens the anti-coalition forces. If that is the case it is hard to see how many of the military operations in Afghanistan serve any military purpose. Any killing of civilians in such circumstance would be in breach of the Geneva convention.
Precision Targeting?
The use of guided weapons does not eliminate civilian casualties for the following reason:
- The targets are often in built up areas where there would be significant collateral damage.
- It is claimed that the anti-coalition forces have used civilians (including children) as human shields. However there are reports that these targets were bombed anyway. Even if civilians are used as human shields it does not remove their protection under International Law.
- Although the US military have developed new smaller weapons (e.g. the Small Diameter Bomb GBU -39/B which have been used by Lakenheath F-15Es) these still produce collateral damage. It has also stated that this means that many more bombings can be carried out on a single mission. This would result in the same, if not larger, area devastated by ten 250lb bombs than by one 2,500lb bomb.
- Many bombings are carried out based on intelligence. This intelligence often proves to be wrong and innocent people are killed. There seems to be no followup on these missions by the US forces to determine the efficiency and accuracy of their intelligence and therefore they are not minimising the risk to the civilian population.
Cluster Bombs?
http://www.bagram.afnews.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/070725-F-0205S-004.jpg
On their recent mission in Afghanistan airmen from the 492 fighter squadron painted markings on their planes to show what bombs they had dropped during the campaign. This not only shows the number of bombs being deployed (this photo was taken July 25th half way through the 4 month deployment) in the campaign but the two bombs circles appear to be cluster bombs (probably CBU-87). The details of this plane are - serial 97-0221 the pilot is Lt. Col. Dave 'Poison' Iverson.
Cluster bombs have a distinctive shape compared with other weapons that the F-15E is known to carry. They are cylindrical with a button on the end. Note that many images of CBU-87 show bomb without fins deployed. The fins are only deployed after release from the plane.
Research carried out by Handicap International (http://www.handicap-international.org.uk/files/Fatal%20Footprint%20FINAL.pdf) indicated that up to 98% of casualties from Cluster bombs are civilians. Their use would therefore clearly be in breach of International Law.
The Handicap International report has information from US military officials saying the CBU-87 cluster bombs have been used in Iraq since the collapse of the Iraqi army.
Recent Airstrikes
Below are a few incidents that we could find where civilians have been reported killed in Airstrikes in Afghanistan. The list is by no means complete.
There are a few other reports where the standard phrase "No Afghan or coalition soldier or civilians were killed or injured in the combat" has been used. The information is probably from NATO reports and there is no verification that this is the case. In many of the cases below it was initially claimed that there were no civilian casualties and it was only upon further reports that the truth was revealed
September 20, 2007
NATO warplanes killed six Afghan civilians, most of them women and children, in an air strike during a battle with Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, a district governor told AFP.
August 26, 2007
Residents of a province in southern Afghanistan reported on Sunday that some 18 civilians were killed and over 22 wounded in a NATO airstrike.
Hindustan Times, 26 August 2007
August 4, 2007
Kabul, Afghanistan (AHN) - About 100 Taliban militants have been killed by bombs from an air strike conducted by coalition forces in southern Afghanistan, officials said on Saturday. A defence ministry spokesman disputed reports that coalition bombs had also killed hundreds of civilians.
The following is taken from Toms Dispatch where he did detailed investigation of civilian deaths over a short period.
June 18, 2007, Uruzgan
An airstrike is called in on "a suspected al-Qaeda hideout". Almost immediately it was reported that 7 children were killed in the attack. Initially "Maj. Chris Belcher, spokesman for the coalition, said there had been no sign of children at the facility in the hours before the strike". Subsequently, U.S. military officials admit that the air strike "likely missed its primary target," an al-Qaeda commander, and that "contrary to previous statements, the U.S. military knew there were children at the compound.".
Washington Post Foreign Service, Tuesday, June 19, 2007
The New York Times, June 19 2007
June 21, Kunjakak in the Grishk district of Helmand
"At least 25 civilians, including nine women, three infants and an elderly village mullah," are killed in "crossfire" in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan when U.S. air strikes are called in. ("'In choosing to conduct such attacks in this location at this time, the risk to civilians was probably deliberate,' [NATO spokesman Lt. Col. Mike] Smith said [of the Taliban]. 'It is this irresponsible action that may have led to casualties.'")
The New York Times, June 23, 2007
June 22, Near Pakistan Boarder (Shkin?)
"NATO and U.S.-led coalition forces killed 60 insurgents [in Afghanistan] near the border with Pakistan, in what was described as the largest insurgent formation crossing the region in six months, the military said Saturday."
The first accounting of noncombatant dead, reportedly from a U.S. rocket, includes at least five men, three women, and one child, according to a Pakistani Army spokesman.This figure is later raised to 12; the place hit identified as a "small hotel"; and the airpower identified as possibly B-52s and Apache helicopters.
The airpower summary for the day states
Also in Shkin, F-15E Strike Eagles released GBU-12s on insurgents who engaged friendly forces and headed towards Pakistan. The weapons hit the desired target and requested result was achieved. Other F-15s provided armed overwatch surveillance and reconnaissance in the area.
June 22 airpower summary http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2007/06/mil-070623-afpn01.htm
June 30, Hyderabad
In air strikes, again in Helmand province - "‘More than 100 people have been killed. But they weren't Taliban. The Taliban were far away from there,' said Wali Khan, a member of parliament who represents the area.".
Washington Post Foreign Service 1 July 2007
International Law
As well as many violations of Part IV of the Additional to the Geneva Conventions, 1977 (http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/93.htm ) there is are also clear breaches of Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague, IV), October 18, 1907:
The officer in command of an attacking force must, before commencing a bombardment, except in cases of assault, do all in his power to warn the authorities.
ARTICLE XXVI
In several of the cases above the reports of civilian deaths are from local authorities who were clearly not informed of the intended bombings.