US Warplanes Willfully Attack Kunduz Afghan Hospital. UN “Probable War Crime”

By Stephen Lendman

US-claimed “collateral damage” when explaining civilian targets struck reflects willful coverup and denial.

America has precision munitions, able to hit targets with pinpoint accuracy. Its forces knew the coordinates of the Kunduz, Afghanistan hospital.

The only plausible explanation for what happened was cold, calculated, deliberate murder. US warplanes bombed the hospital for over an hour – the first strike at 2:10AM.

Hospital staff notified NATO officials in Kabul minutes later. Bombing continued until 3:13AM. It bears repeating. Let’s not mince words.

Multiple US air strikes were willful acts of murder, likely targeting nearby Taliban fighters, maybe injured ones inside, or perhaps another reason yet to be revealed.

At least 19 were killed – 12 MSF staff and 7 patients, including three children. NATO spokesman Col. Brian Tribus lied claiming the “incident is under investigation.”

All conducted are routinely whitewashed. US military and civilian officials are never held accountable for cold-blooded murder – why these type incidents are commonplace, regular occurrences. Empires don’t apologize. Statements issued ring hollow.

A Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders (MSF) statement expressed outrage, “condemn(ation) in the strongest possible terms” – calling the attack “a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” demanding a full independently conducted investigation, assuring “maximum transparency and accountability.”

MSF president Meinie Nicolai said “(w)e cannot accept that this horrific loss of life will simply be dismissed as ‘collateral damage.’ “ A same day article discussing the incident briefly called so-called collateral damage Orwellian code language for willful US mass murder.

It explained Russian aircraft strike ISIS targets in Syria with pinpoint accuracy, avoiding civilian casualties – polar opposite how America operates.

The main hospital building was engulfed in flames. Patients unable to escape were immolated in their beds. US commanders ordered the hospital attacked. They had precise coordinates to avoid striking it. Its standard MSF practice in conflict theaters to provide them.

The facility was the area’s only hospital. Much of it lies in ruins. Thirty-seven people were injured, including 19 MSF staff, another 30 still unaccounted for.

In 2014, the facility treated over 22,000 patients pro bono, including over 5,900 requiring surgery, many to repair their war-shattered bodies, numerous others to save their lives. No one needing care was turned away, regardless of “ethnicity, religious beliefs or political affiliation,” said MSF.

It’s been working in Afghanistan since 1980 – opening the Kunduz Trauma Center in August 2011.

Surviving doctors and staff desperately tried saving as many lives as possible after America’s attack – using a makeshift operating room in an undamaged area. Other critically injured patients were sent to a Puli Khumri hospital, a two-hour drive away.

MSF said “besides resulting in the deaths of our colleagues and patients, this attack has cut off access to urgent trauma care for the population in Kunduz at a time when its services are most needed.”

US imperial ruthlessness bears full responsibility. Afghans and MSF will long remember this vicious attack – how America operates worldwide, dismissive of human life and welfare.

(Added by TruePublica –UN says Afghan hospital bombing may be ‘war crime’)

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html. Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.

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