President Peace Prize Update: Civilian Deaths In Afghanistan At All Time High

Afghan Civilian Deaths Hit Record High

 

This graphic only covers the first 6 months of 2014

 

 

” Last year was the deadliest on record for civilians in Afghanistan, the UN said in a report on Wednesday, with more civilians killed in 2014 than since the agency began compiling figures in 2009. While Nato has ended its combat mission, and Barack Obama has declared that America’s longest war is ending responsibly, fighting in the country is intensifying.

“ In communities across Afghanistan, increased ground fighting among parties to the conflict and more IED attacks exacted a heavy toll on Afghan civilians,” said the top UN envoy, Nicholas Haysom.

  The report (pdf) documented 3,699 civilian deaths in 2014, the highest death toll since the UN began keeping systematic record in 2009. Another 6,849 people were injured, bringing the number of civilian casualties to 10,548, a 22% jump from last year. The total civilian death toll after more than a decade of war is now almost 18,000.

  Children were the hardest hit: 714 were killed and 1,760 wounded, an increase in of 40% on 2013. In addition, 298 women were killed and 611 injured. “

 

The Guardian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Police “Flashbangs” Taking An Ever-Increasing Toll On Citizens … Over 50 Killed Or Maimed

Why Police Are Maiming, Killing With ‘Grenades’

 

 

 

 

” Following a drug tip, nearly 20 cops stormed a small apartment outside Atlanta in 2010. Invading officers found only a little weed, but managed to seriously injure resident Treneshia Dukes with a flashbang grenade—a police device that’s drawing increasing attention and controversy, Pro Publica reports. Cops often toss the flash-and-bang devices to disorient suspects during drug raids, but critics note that the grenades’ flash is more hot than lava.At least 50 Americans, including children and cops, have been killed, maimed, or injured by flashbangs that landed near them or went off too soon. Even Bill Nixon, an Arkansas man who used to make flashbangs for police (before an officer lost a hand demonstrating one to Boy Scouts) doesn’t get why cops use them regularly. “It boggles my mind,” he says.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

” Police in Little Rock, Ark., used them on 84% of raids from 2011 to 2013, although the raids usually just turned up minor drug paraphernalia. But a police rep defends flashbang use, saying that “what we see is a large service of warrants without gunfire.” Still, horror stories include a 19-month-old Georgia baby who suffered severe facial injuries during a drug raid when a flashbang landed in her crib, WOKV reports. A grand jury didn’t indict the officers involved but suggested two ideas that are going around: better police training (there are no national flashbang training standards) and fewer “no-knock” warrants that permit police raids. Meanwhile, Dukes—who suffered second-degree burns over her body—has filed a civil suit alleging excessive police force. “My skin is ugly, and I feel like I’m ugly,” she says. “When I talk about it, I just get angry.” “

 

Thanks to Newser

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Obama ROE Changes Responsible For Huge Uptick In Troop Deaths

Shades Of Vietnam: Spike In U.S. Troop Deaths Tied To Stricter Rules Of Engagement

 

 

 

” The number of U.S. battlefield fatalities exceeded the rate at which troop strength surged in 2009 and 2010, prompting national security analysts to assert that coinciding stricter rules of engagement led to more deaths.

  A connection between the sharp increase in American deaths and restrictive rules of engagement is difficult to confirm. More deaths surely stemmed from ramped-up counterterrorism raids and the Taliban’s response with more homemade bombs, the No. 1 killer of NATO forces in Afghanistan.

  But it is clear that the rules of engagement, which restrain troops from firing in order to spare civilian casualties, cut back on airstrikes and artillery strikes — the types of support that protect troops during raids and ambushes.

“ In Afghanistan, the [rules of engagement] that were put in place in 2009 and 2010 have created hesitation and confusion for our war fighters,” said Wayne Simmons, a retired U.S. intelligence officer who worked in NATO headquarters in Kabul as the rules took effect, first under Army Gen. Stanley M. McChrystal, then Army Gen. David H. Petraeus.

“ It is no accident nor a coincidence that from January 2009 to August of 2010, coinciding with the Obama/McChrystal radical change of the [rules of engagement], casualties more than doubled,” Mr. Simmons said. “The carnage will certainly continue as the already fragile and ineffective [rules] have been further weakened by the Obama administration as if they were playground rules.” “

 

 

    The two graphs below offer a stark picture of the Obama administration’s record in Afghanistan . While President “Peace Prize” immediately instituted a troop surge and over the course of his first two years in office more than doubled the amount of boots on the ground , he simultaneously tied the troops hands with prohibitive rules of engagement thus insuring a huge increase in troop deaths . 

    It’s the same old Democratic story that we witnessed with the Clinton presidency … the desire to seem tough and responsive in the defense of our country without taking the political risk of losing troops . Think Mogadishu ROE and the cruise missile strikes against aspirin factories in Sudan and empty mountaintops in Afghanistan .

 

 

 

   After doubling the troop deployment from 2008 to 2010 and then instituting the very restrictive ROE for the coalition troops it is no wonder that troop fatalities rose dramatically .

 

 

 

 

   The above graph shows that while US troop deaths are finally declining that is more a result of less aggressive soldiering and less patrolling than it is due to more effective rules of engagement .

    While the Obama administration makes a great showing of being sensitive to “collateral damage” in Afghanistan as a reason for the more dangerous , to our troops anyway , rules of engagement it shows no such concern for the deaths of innocents when it comes to the use of drones to do it’s killing . 

    While increasing amounts of American soldiers were dying in order to spare the lives of non-combatants in Afghanistan Obama had no problem with the killing in indiscriminate fashion of civilians across Africa and the near east through it’s use of drones as the below table ably demonstrates .

 

 

 

 

 

   “Peace loving” Obama has taken the strikes and targeted killings to astronomical heights as compared to that “war mongering” ex-president Bush killing nearly five times as many victims in less time .

 

 

 

 

 

    For more on Obama’s drone strike policy and to see where and when the strikes are taking place you can go here and here and here . This is not a record the “Land Of The Free And The Home Of The Brave” should be proud of .

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Oh , The Courage Of Those Poor Persecuted Palestinians

Hamas Fires Rocket From Hospital And Blows Up Bus

 

Two journalists have confirmed that Palestinians have fired a long-range rocket at Israel from next to Al Shifa hospital in Gaza.  Neither journalist, of course, made it the headline, it was just mentioned in passing.  The first was Jodi Rudgren of The New York Times who, in writing a lengthy article about Palestinians suffering at the hospital, noted in passing:

 

 

 ” Hamas and other Palestianian militants hide behind civilians and deliberately attack civilians with great joy.  Yet Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, who dreams of being leader of the Muslim world, calls Israel a “terrorist state.”  That shows why Israel cannot bow to the mostly demonic “international community.” ”

 

 

Illustration By Cox And Forkum

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