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February 24, 2011

If Petraeus is Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity What About Us? (& Obama?)

By Jay Janson

Gen. Petraeus suggested Sunday at the presidential palace that Afghans caught up in a coalition attack in northeastern Afghanistan might have burned their own children to exaggerate claims of civilian casualties, "Killing 60 people, then blaming the killing on those same people, rather than apologizing for the deaths? Inhuman !" cried an Afghan official. But no more so than in Vietnam or Korea. It's normal in imperialist war

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InformationClearingHouse republished a Washington Post article under its own description: Petraeus: Afghans Burned Their Own Children

The article, in part copied below, is just one of many that have quoted comments monstrously callous of human life from the head of the U.S. Wehrmacht (defense force) deployed in Muslim countries.

They accompany the month-in-month-out self-righteous, sometimes boastful, usually prideful pronouncements of his commander-in-chief, President Obama, who praises occupation wars and bombings as necessary to the defense of America, and always without reference to horrendous loss of life to American and NATO military in multiple nations, which are without guilt for 9/11.

Petraeus's comments on coalition attack reportedly offend Karzai government
Washington Post, 2/21/11, by Joshua Partlow
 click here
KABUL - To the shock of President Hamid Karzai's aides, Gen. David H. Petraeus suggested Sunday at the presidential palace that Afghans caught up in a coalition attack in northeastern Afghanistan might have burned their own children to exaggerate claims of civilian casualties, according to two participants at the meeting.

The exact language Petraeus used in the closed-door session is not known, ...But his remarks about the deadly U.S. military operation in Konar province were deemed deeply offensive by some in the room. ...
They said Petraeus, dismissed allegations by Karzai's office and the provincial governor that civilians were killed and said residents had invented stories, or even injured their children, to pin the blame on U.S. forces and force an end to the operation.

"I was dizzy. My head was spinning," said one participant, referring to Petraeus's remarks. "This was shocking. Would any father do this to his children? This is really absurd."

Petraeus, through a spokesman, declined to comment. ...

U.S. military officials said there is no evidence that civilians died. The governor of Konar, Fazlullah Wahidi, disagreed, citing reports from villagers that dozens of women and children perished. Karzai's office placed the civilian death toll at 50.

The key period involves five hours between Thursday night and Friday morning, during which Apache helicopters fired on suspected insurgents who had gathered to attack U.S. and Afghan troops, said Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith, ...  in Kabul.

... Smith said, surveillance drones tracked the fighters while the Apaches fired 30 mm Gatling guns, rockets and Hellfire missiles. "I have reviewed the footage and found no evidence women and children were among the fighters, again, no civilian structures were anywhere near where these engagements took place."

According to intercepted conversations, Smith said, insurgents discussed contacting government officials to tell them that civilians were being killed so that coalition helicopters could be stopped from firing. ...

Wahidi, the provincial governor, sent a three-person fact-finding team up the valley to the village of Helgal. They returned with seven injured people, ... Smith said they had burns and shrapnel wounds, none of them life-threatening. ...

 "We have observed increased reporting of children being disciplined by having their hands and feet dipped into boiling water. No one is claiming this is the case in this instance, but it may well be."

Petraeus apparently had suggested something along these lines at the national security council meeting Sunday, remarks that "really bothered everyone," including Karzai, one participant said.

"He claimed that in the midst of the [operation] some pro-Taliban parents in contact with a government official decided to create a civilian casualty claim to pressure international forces to cease the [operation]. They burned hands and legs of some of their children and sent them to the hospital," a second participant said....

The Karzai government has repeatedly taken the U.S.-led coalition to task for killing noncombatants over the years.

"Killing 60 people, and then blaming the killing on those same people, rather than apologizing for any deaths? This is inhuman," one Afghan official said.

 - Well, no more inhuman than statements by General Westmoreland or the six commanders-in-chief in charge of the crucifixion of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

 - And as a draftee, don't remember anything particularly human that was said by my generals or president about saving Korea from communism.

Humanity is something in short supply while wars are prosecuted. As a U.S. Army member of the allied occupation forces in Nazi Germany, got to see the inhumane devastation that is just part and parcel of war.

And humanity must perforce not be taken into consideration at all when investment bankers fund the preparation and promotion for war, for war is just business, nothing personal. While dad sold apples on the street corner in investment poor America, Rockefeller, Ford, du Pont, Morgan Jr., and most wealthy investors built up the Nazi war machine and their own fortunes.

Figure, no American should be too hard on Petraeus. He is trying to be human, like we all are, under the present circumstances of just another profitable war.


Authors Website: http://prosecuteuscrimesagainsthumanitynow.blogspot.com

Authors Bio:

Jay Janson is an archival research peoples historian activist, musician and writer; has lived and worked on all continents; articles on media published in China, Italy, UK, India, in Germany & Sweden Einartysken,and in the US by Dissident Voice; Global Research; Information Clearing House; Counter Currents; Minority Perspective, UK,and others; now resides in NYC; First effort was a series of articles on deadly cultural pollution endangering seven areas of life emanating from Western corporate owned commercial media published in Hong Kong's Window Magazine 1993; Howard Zinn lent his name to various projects of his; Weekly column, South China Morning Post, 1986-87; reviews for Ta Kung Bao; article China Daily, 1989. Is coordinator of the Howard Zinn co-founded King Condemned US Wars International Awareness Campaign, and website historian of the Ramsey Clark co-founded Prosecute US Crimes Against Humanity Now Campaign, which contains a history of US crimes in 19 nations. Dissident Voice supports this website with link at the end of each issue of its newsletter.


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