UN: 346 Afghan children KILLED in 2009, MORE than half by NATO

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Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:14:20 GMT

Kabul - The United Nations said Wednesday that 346 children were killed in Afghanistan last year, more than half of them by NATO forces, mostly in airstrikes. "In 2009, 346 children were killed," Radhika Coomaraswamy, the special representative of the UN secretary general for children and armed conflict, said in Kabul after a seven-day visit the country.

She said 131 children were killed in airstrikes, while 22 were killed in nighttime raids by international special forces.

More than 2,400 civilians were killed last year, the deadliest for Afghan civilians since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001, according to the UN.

But she noted that "recent events in the past months are cause of concern."

About 50 civilians have been killed since the NATO forces began their biggest-ever operation in the southern province of Helmand nearly two weeks ago. At least 27 of the casualties were caused by a NATO airstrike, and 12 others were killed by NATO rockets.

read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311019,un-346-afghan-children-killed-in-2009-more-than-half.html
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related:

from the UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict:
AFGHANISTAN: CHILDREN TO BE AT CENTER OF ANY PEACE FRAMEWORK FOR AFGHANISTAN
http://www.un.org/children/conflict/english/pr/2010-02-24234.html

[Echo In Light]

1. Freedumb is clearly on the march

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2. 'dumb war'

[Echo In Light]

3. Even phony "war$" have REAL consequences

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4. .

[951-Riverside]

5. I love how the US hides behind the NATO flag n/t

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6. in this case

. . . several countries share blame for the civilian tragedies. The German contingent was responsible for the largest single civilian toll, I believe. You make a good point, though. The U.S. cajoled most of these nations into participating and remaining. This is truly 'America's war'.

[proteus_lives]

9. Even if that were true...

They've been hiding behind us since 1945.

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7. .

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8. .

[bvar22]

10. The Obama Administration is really working hard...

...to hide behind this NATO cover, and "International Forces" dodge.
Bush used to do this all the time with his "coalition of the willing".

The Whole World KNOWS that the hostile occupation of Afghanistan is a wholly owned enterprise of the US Government.
.
.
but saying that all these children were killed by "NATO" makes their murder seem more palatable to some?
Doesn't work for me.

Obama and The Democrats now OWN this "elective military adventure" with all the resultant civilian deaths. Calling it "NATO" doesn't change that fact anymore than calling the murder of innocent civilians "Collateral Damage" makes them any less dead.


Meet Hamid Karzai
or as Obama calls him, "The Government of Afghanistan".

He was appointed by Bush the Lesser to run Afghanistan.
He is one of the most despicable criminals in The World,
But NOW we like him so much
that our children fighting and dying in the deserts of Afghanistan to keep him in power.

Commanded in Chief
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091221/engelhardt

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11. I do think the nations that have agreed to participate in this with the U.S. should be accountable

. . . for instance, I don't think the German contingent is blameless for the 30-40 civilians mistakenly killed in an airstrike they ordered. I take your point about the U.S. responsibility, but I don't think we could sustain this without the complicity of the alliance.