From Wired Blog Network:
"Despite the pinpoint targeting, despite the satellite-guided, pint-sized bombs, despite the lawyers in the air operations center and the patient behavioral profiling, American airstrikes in Afghanistan still continue to kill civilians at an alarming rate; more than three dozen were allegedly slain yesterday in a strike on a wedding party in Kandahar province. Every errant attack undermines U.S. efforts to stabilize the country, and gives the Taliban another propaganda win. But the air war is showing no signs of slowing down -- in fact, airstrikes are up more than 30 percent this year.
So what can U.S. commanders do about the civilian death toll? A well-connected outsider has an out-of-the-box idea for the new administration. "One thing President Obama can do immediately: Create by executive order a high-level position at the Pentagon dedicated to the human costs of war," Sarah Holewinski, executive director of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, tells DANGER ROOM.
'The Pentagon is a sprawling bureaucracy, but with all that manpower, there is no one place, no one person specifically paying attention to civilian casualties. Leadership from the top on this very contentious issue is absolutely necessary, lest U.S. forces continue to make more enemies than friends. The Pentagon position would assess the potential human cost of war before any shots are fired, make sure proven techniques to avoid civilians are in place and constantly improved, maintain proper investigative and statistical data on civilian harm in combat zones, and ensure prompt compensation to any civilians unintentionally harmed by U.S. combat operations.'
That may sound like a far-out idea from deep within Dennis Kucinich-land. But CIVIC is seriously plugged into the military. It contributed to the Army's handbook on escalation of force procedures, and has a network of friends in uniform. And before her death in 2005, CIVIC founder Marla Ruzicka successfully lobbied for U.S. government assistance to Afghan and Iraqi families harmed during military operations.
But in a war where enemies pop up at a moment's notice, and fade into the background almost as quick, can the military afford to have another layer of bureacracy, like the one CIVIC is proposing? Can it afford not to?"
"Despite the pinpoint targeting, despite the satellite-guided, pint-sized bombs, despite the lawyers in the air operations center and the patient behavioral profiling, American airstrikes in Afghanistan still continue to kill civilians at an alarming rate; more than three dozen were allegedly slain yesterday in a strike on a wedding party in Kandahar province. Every errant attack undermines U.S. efforts to stabilize the country, and gives the Taliban another propaganda win. But the air war is showing no signs of slowing down -- in fact, airstrikes are up more than 30 percent this year.
So what can U.S. commanders do about the civilian death toll? A well-connected outsider has an out-of-the-box idea for the new administration. "One thing President Obama can do immediately: Create by executive order a high-level position at the Pentagon dedicated to the human costs of war," Sarah Holewinski, executive director of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, tells DANGER ROOM.
'The Pentagon is a sprawling bureaucracy, but with all that manpower, there is no one place, no one person specifically paying attention to civilian casualties. Leadership from the top on this very contentious issue is absolutely necessary, lest U.S. forces continue to make more enemies than friends. The Pentagon position would assess the potential human cost of war before any shots are fired, make sure proven techniques to avoid civilians are in place and constantly improved, maintain proper investigative and statistical data on civilian harm in combat zones, and ensure prompt compensation to any civilians unintentionally harmed by U.S. combat operations.'
That may sound like a far-out idea from deep within Dennis Kucinich-land. But CIVIC is seriously plugged into the military. It contributed to the Army's handbook on escalation of force procedures, and has a network of friends in uniform. And before her death in 2005, CIVIC founder Marla Ruzicka successfully lobbied for U.S. government assistance to Afghan and Iraqi families harmed during military operations.
But in a war where enemies pop up at a moment's notice, and fade into the background almost as quick, can the military afford to have another layer of bureacracy, like the one CIVIC is proposing? Can it afford not to?"
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