Footage of civilian 'massacre' forces inquiry into US attack

Footage of civilian 'massacre' forces inquiry into US attack

By Jerome Starkey in Kabul
Tuesday, 9 September 2008


America's most senior soldier in Afghanistan has called for the Pentagon to investigate claims that more than 90 civilians were killed in an American airstrike, after harrowing video footage emerged showing the broken bodies of at least 11 children among the dead.


The grim, eight-minute clip, filmed on a mobile phone in the aftermath of the bombing, shows rows of shrouded bodies laid side by side in a make-shift morgue. Among them are at least 11 children, many of them toddlers.

General David McKiernan, the commander of Nato's International Assistance Force (Isaf), ordered a fresh investigation led by a Pentagon general after footage was released on Sunday night. In a statement he said: "In light of emerging evidence pertaining to civilian casualties ... I feel it is prudent to request that US Central Command send a general officer to review the US investigation and its findings."

The top-level review comes just days after he admitted there were "large discrepancies" among accounts of the death toll. American officials claim there were just seven civilians killed. The United Nations, the Afghan government and human rights groups said that the body count was closer to 90. Locals said most of the dead were women and children.
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Mistakes can happen in war. I doubt anyone thinks this was done on purpose but it did not help the situation when the Pentagon denied it was even possible. Now there is a video from a cell phone on it. It should have been investigated fully instead of denied. This is not good at all for our troops there.