Granai airstrike
| Granai airstrike |
|
|
| Casualties and losses |
|
|
| It has been estimated that 86-145 people were killed, mostly children. |
The Granai airstrike, sometimes called the Granai massacre,[1] refers to the killing of a large number of Afghan civilians, mostly children,[2][3] and including women, by American aircraft on May 4, 2009, in the village of Granai (sometimes spelled Garani or Gerani) in Farah Province, south of Herat, Afghanistan.[1][4][5] The US military have admitted significant errors were made in carrying out the airstrikes.[6][7] They say, "the inability to discern the presence of civilians and avoid and/or minimize accompanying collateral damage resulted in the unintended consequence of civilian casualties".[8]
The Australian has said that the airstrike resulted in "one of the highest civilian death tolls from Western military action since foreign forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001".[9] The Afghan government have said that around 140 civilians were killed,[2] of which 93 were children and only 22 were adult males.[3] Afghanistan's top rights body has said 97 civilians were killed, most of them children.[2] Other estimates range from 86 to 145 civilians killed.[8][10] An earlier probe by the US military had said that 20-30 civilians were killed along with 60-65 insurgents.[2] More recently, American officials have said "no one will ever be able conclusively to determine the number of civilian casualties that occurred".[8]
Video of the airstrike
A summary of the Pentagon investigation, including a video, was due to be released in 2009, but was delayed, due to an internal debate about what details of the report should be revealed.[11]
The Guardian and The Times reported in May 2010 that Wikileaks were preparing to release a video of an American attack in Afghanistan, which killed around 100 civilians, including many children.[1][12] The Times said that the video was "said to concern the so-called 'Granai massacre', when American aircraft dropped 500lb and 1,000lb bombs on a suspected militant compound."[1] On June 6, 2010, Wired magazine reported that 22 year-old U.S. Army intelligence analyst, SPC Bradley Manning, has been alleged to be the source of the leak, along with the leak of the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike video and other documents.[13]
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now asked Daniel Ellsberg of the Pentagon Papers whether he thought Wikileaks should post the video online. He responded
Well, first of all, I’d call for President Obama to post that videotape online. Let’s see whether it confirms what his officials and the Bush officials said about it earlier, or what the truth is. Has he seen it himself? He certainly should. He has access to it. And if he does, what excuse would he have for not revealing it? So why is he waiting for Wikileaks to use its sources to decrypt that, when he can just easily release it, as he should have some time ago?
[14]
See also
References
External links
|
|
|
| Invasion / occupation |
|
|
| Casualties / losses |
|
|
| Controversy |
|
|
| Reactions |
|
|
War in Afghanistan at Wikinews · Commons |
|