Who bears responsibility for civilian casualties?

Posted By Uncle Jimbo

There is considerable attention right now on a number of incidents in which civilians were killed in Iraq. I worry that they are being looked at without the proper context. Leaving aside Haditha for now, let's look at another incident that has been brought up in Ishaqi.

Based on credible intelligence, Coalition Forces conducted a raid in the vicinity of Ishaqi on March 15th capturing Ahmad Abdallah Muhammad Na'is al-Utaybi, aka Hamza, a Kuwaiti-born, al-Qaeda cell leader, and killing Uday Faris al-Tawafi, aka Abu Ahmed, an Iraqi involved in making improvised explosive devices as well as recruiting locals to join the insurgency.

The forces, upon arrival, began taking direct fire from the building. As the enemy fire persisted, the ground force commander appropriately reacted by incrementally escalating the use of force from small arms fire to rotary wing aviation, and then to close air support, ultimately eliminating the threat.

The close air support mentioned was an AC-130 Spectre gunship which ultimately leveled the building, but in addition to some serious weaponry Spectre has some amazing cameras and sensors on board. These would have allowed a clear view as to where fire was coming from and whether or not US troops entered the building, but let's see what the press has to say about this. From the BBC:

According to the Americans, the building collapsed under heavy fire killing four people - a suspect, two women and a child.

But a report filed by Iraqi police accused US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people in the house, including five children and four women, before blowing up the building.

The video tape obtained by the BBC shows a number of dead adults and children at the site with what our world affairs editor John Simpson says were clearly gunshot wounds.

I don't understand why they find it surprising that some of these people had gunshot wounds since the US admits we used small arms, helicopter gunships and Spectre all of which cause gunshot wounds of varying calibers. The implication was that our forces executed these people and then blew up the building to hide the evidence. I would bet that Spectre's cameras showed that to be false.

But let's step back and look at why those people died at all, and who bears responsibility for their deaths.

I blame the insurgents.

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Who bears responsibility for civilian casualties?

There is considerable attention right now on a number of incidents in which civilians were killed in Iraq. I worry that they are being looked at without the proper context. Leaving aside Haditha for now, let's look at another incident that has been brought up in Ishaqi.

Based on credible intelligence, Coalition Forces conducted a raid in the vicinity of Ishaqi on March 15th capturing Ahmad Abdallah Muhammad Na'is al-Utaybi, aka Hamza, a Kuwaiti-born, al-Qaeda cell leader, and killing Uday Faris al-Tawafi, aka Abu Ahmed, an Iraqi involved in making improvised explosive devices as well as recruiting locals to join the insurgency.

The forces, upon arrival, began taking direct fire from the building. As the enemy fire persisted, the ground force commander appropriately reacted by incrementally escalating the use of force from small arms fire to rotary wing aviation, and then to close air support, ultimately eliminating the threat.

The close air support mentioned was an AC-130 Spectre gunship which ultimately leveled the building, but in addition to some serious weaponry Spectre has some amazing cameras and sensors on board. These would have allowed a clear view as to where fire was coming from and whether or not US troops entered the building, but let's see what the press has to say about this. From the BBC:

According to the Americans, the building collapsed under heavy fire killing four people - a suspect, two women and a child.

But a report filed by Iraqi police accused US troops of rounding up and deliberately shooting 11 people in the house, including five children and four women, before blowing up the building.

The video tape obtained by the BBC shows a number of dead adults and children at the site with what our world affairs editor John Simpson says were clearly gunshot wounds.

I don't understand why they find it surprising that some of these people had gunshot wounds since the US admits we used small arms, helicopter gunships and Spectre all of which cause gunshot wounds of varying calibers. The implication was that our forces executed these people and then blew up the building to hide the evidence. I would bet that Spectre's cameras showed that to be false.

But let's step back and look at why those people died at all, and who bears responsibility for their deaths.

I blame the insurgents.

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