This is just another example of the policy of avoiding troop casualties even if it means that there will be Afghan civilian casualties. The latter are not even counted. There will be no clips on Canadian national TV about the funeral of the 8 civilians nor on U.S. tv either.
The claim is made that every attempt is made to avoid civilian casualties but I wonder if therre were any attempts at all to determine whether there were civilians in the compound. I expect not. No doubt those who ordered the air attacks did not want to know. Events such as these make the Taliban recruiters happy.
Karzai has continually complained about these sorts of air strikes but to no avail. Now the U.S. would be happy to see him replaced by their chosen annointed Zalmay Khalilzad. This is from the CBC.
25 militants, 8 civilian hostages reported killed in Afghanistan
Last Updated: Monday, August 11, 2008 4:07 AM ET The Associated Press
The U.S.-led coalition says its troops have killed 25 militants and eight Afghan civilians held hostage by militants in southern Afghanistan.
A statement from the coalition said its forces were ambushed from a building along a road in Uruzgan province on Sunday.
The statement said the militants then moved into a compound where they held 11 noncombatants hostage, including several children and an infant.
The troops called in an airstrike on the compound without knowing the civilians were inside, the coalition statement said. Eight civilians were killed and three were wounded.
The coalition regularly accuses militants of using civilian homes they commandeer to attack foreign and Afghan troops.
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