1 of 1- Goose
- Cogito ergo sum
Offline 
- Registered: 1/29/2015
- Posts: 13,427
Fog Of War Leads to Tragic Mistake
How a Cascade of Errors Led to the
U.S. Airstrike on an Afghan Hospital
By GREGOR AISCH, JOSH KELLER and SERGIO PEÇANHA UPDATED April 29, 2016
Human errors and technical and communication failures led to a devastating attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, last year that killed 42 people, the Defense Department announced Friday.
Sixteen American military personnel have been punished for their roles in the attack, but none of them will face criminal charges because a military investigation determined the attack to be unintentional. “This was an extraordinarily intense combat situation,” the top officer of the military’s Central Command, Gen. Joseph L. Votel, told reporters.
The disciplinary measures were unlikely to satisfy Doctors Without Borders and other rights groups that have said the attack may have constituted a war crime and that have called for an independent criminal investigation. The punishments were “administrative actions” that could include suspension or removal from command.
Here are findings of the investigation:
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- Rongone
- Sentient Being
Offline
- From: Keeping Calm, Sailing On
- Registered: 1/31/2015
- Posts: 2,872
Re: Fog Of War Leads to Tragic Mistake
Blame in war is a relative thing.
I would suggest that all parties engaged in wartime activities are guilty of crimes against humanity. Two attacks on two hospitals by two different military groups with neither taking full responsibility for the damage done to the building, the patients, the people in the neighborhood, and the good people associated with Doctors Without Borders. Nobody wins when tragedies such as this happen without anyone accepting responsibility for the action.
"Fog of War" my a$$.
UN Envoy: Attack on Aleppo Hospital ‘Deliberate’
UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has issued a statement today, accusing last night’s attack on a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital in Aleppo, a strike which killed 27 civilians, of being deliberate. He declined to blame anyone in particular for the attack, however.
Accusations were flying around after the attack, however, with rebels blaming either the Syrian government or Russia. Both nations, however, denied being behind the attack. US officials blamed Syria, but demanded Russia do something about it.
The White House declared the attack on the MSF hospital “abhorrent” and “immoral,” while Secretary of State John Kerry insisted Russia is obliged to do everything in its power to ensure that the Syrian government stops attacking medical facilities.
Official US outrage, however, is likely tempered at least a bit by their own attack on an MSF hospital in Afghanistan back in October, which killed even more civilians, and which the Pentagon declined to court-martial anyone over.
Last edited by Rongone (4/30/2016 7:48 am)
- Goose
- Cogito ergo sum
Offline
- Registered: 1/29/2015
- Posts: 13,427
Re: Fog Of War Leads to Tragic Mistake
I did not introduce the term "Fog of war" in an effort to absolve the US from blame for the attack, but rather to understand how it happened. The US chose to wage war in this area, a crowded civilian neighborhood, using these powerful weapons, guided by imperfect intelligence. So, the US is, of course, entirely culpable for the tragedy that resulted from our own intentions and reckless actions., Our government should take full responsibility, make restitution to families, and change tactics such that no further atrocities occurr by our hand.
Frankly, I'm ashamed. I would like to wring the neck of every pundit, talking head or politician who peddles the fable of bloodless war, "surgical strikes", or "smart weapons".
War is cruelty. There is no refining it. Maybe if we accepted that fact, we would be less likely to wage war.
The fog of war (German: Nebel des Krieges) is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding one's own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign.
(Wikipedia)
The aircraft took off in haste because of an unrelated emergency and then was diverted to strike a building that Americans believed had been taken over by the Taliban. As a result, the crew was not fully briefed and did not have a list of no-strike targets, including the hospital, which was nearby.
Key electronic systems failed during the flight, preventing the crew from sending video or sending and receiving electronic messages. The systems included a video feed that would normally have sent pictures to higher-level commanders in real time.
As the gunship approached Kunduz, insurgents fired a missile at it, forcing it outside its normal flight path. As a result, the aircraft targeting system became misaligned, and coordinates that should have identified the target building instead marked an empty field.
Without exact coordinates, the crew mistakenly focused on the hospital, because it was near the empty field and roughly matched a visual description of the intended target. Even after the targeting system was fixed and correctly aligned with the intended target, the crew continued to focus on the hospital.
One minute before firing, crew members told officials at Bagram Airfield headquarters that they intended to strike a target and gave them the coordinates. The officials had a no-strike list that included the hospital and its coordinates, but they did not connect the information to realize that the crew was preparing to hit the hospital.
Eleven minutes into the airstrike, Doctors Without Borders succeeded in reaching several United States government officials to alert them of the attack. But the strike was not called off until 19 minutes later, the military report said.
The top officer of the military’s Central Command, General Votel, said Friday that the notification had to pass through “a series of layers” to get to military officials on the ground and that when it did reach the Special Forces commander, he did not immediately stop the airstrike. “The ground force commander was not tracking a medical facility, so when he first heard it, it didn’t register,” Mr. Votel said.
Last edited by Goose (4/30/2016 8:34 am)
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- •
Thread Starter