Today from the BBC:,
Nato has confirmed that two rockets fired at militants during its offensive in Helmand, south Afghanistan, missed their target and killed 12 civilians.
and it continues:
Nato's commander Gen Stanley McChrystal said that "we deeply regret this tragic loss of life".
Well, here is the problem with that regret. "Regretting" the loss of life of innocent civilians can not reverse the loss of life.
an here is another source:
McChrystal said he had apologized to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the accident and had suspended the use of the rocket system until the incident can be reviewed.
.
Well, apologizing to a corrupt president can not reverse the loss of life either.
For all of us who read this in the news it will be a small "parenthesis" in our daily life. Something that we will forget sooner or later. However, for the 12 human beings who lost their life unnecessarily on that was everything. They lost everything. Their feelings, their dreams, their hopes, their life. For what?
The Taliban regime was probably the worst on earth. A despicable theocratic regime that had committed many crimes. The initial attack on Afghanistan was justified and I was glad when the Taliban regime collapsed then. But 9 years later, this war has no meaning or purpose. The terrorists are no longer there. There is no good reason to be there. In my opinion the only reason this war continued the last 2-3 years under Bush and currently under Obama is because these administrations did not want to accept the "shame" of "defeat" (?) or "failure" if we depart from Afghanistan.
Are people losing their lifes now unnecessarily for a "prestige issue"? Is that another Vietnam?
I think president Obama needs to think again what is going on there. If he really cares. His escalation of the war there was a huge mistake. He gave in to the hawks and he seems stuck with it now. However, if he really cares about human life he still can stand up to his generals and the hawks who are pushing for this war to continue, and end it. He is the president after all.