TURKEY - CEASE SENDING WARPLANES TO ATTACK KURDS IN IRAQ

The BBC reports that Turkey has again conducted bombing raids over Iraqi Kurdistan. We are certain to hear from Turkish authorities of so many Kurdish "terrorists" killed as a result.

Turkey needs to stop these attacks. Nothing good ever comes from dropping bombs on suspected insurgents. Instead the real victims are innocent civilians and villagers who happen to be the unintended targets for this war crime.

I have many times condemned attacks and bombing raids carried out by the U.S. I have called upon the US Air Force to cease bombing Iraqi enclaves and towns. I have deplored U.S. airplanes killing scores of Afghan civilians and children.

Bombing and killing from the air is never a solution. This applies to Turkey as well as to the U.S. Airplanes dropping bombs will only cause more hatred and killing. Turkey needs to mothball its fighters and bombers and seek a diplomatic peaceful solution to its problem with the Kurds.

NATO PLANES KILL 14 AFHGAN CIVILIANS IN RECKLESS BOMBING RAID

Here's another case of NATO (read U.S.) war planes dropping bombs on innocent Afghan civilians. Abdul Waheed Wafa writes in today's The New York Times that 14 Afghan workers were killed on Monday by a NATO air strike.

Waheed Wafa writes:

"The strike occurred late Monday night in the Norgram district of Nuristan when the Afghan workers of Amerifa Road Construction Company were sleeping in tents after a day’s work.

"“Fourteen of our mechanics and laborers were killed as they were asleep in their tents,” said Nurullah Jalali, the executive director of the construction company. “We just collected pieces of flesh from our tired workers and put them in 14 coffins.”

"The governor of Nuristan, Tamim Nuristani, said he could confirm that 13 workers had been “mistakenly” killed when NATO forces bombed the area based on what he said was an intelligence report that insurgents were infiltrating the area.

"“All these victims are civilians, and they were from nearby provinces,” Mr. Nuristani said.
A NATO spokesman said its forces had struck the area in an attack on what it believed were Taliban insurgents but could not confirm that the road workers had been killed."

I have commented many times before on the destruction to innocent life from NATO and U.S. war planes in Afghanistan. When the U.S. drops a bomb, the chances are that there will always be civilian casualties including women and children.

This is sufficient reason to end all air strikes. The airplane should not be used for dropping bombs or inflicting death. The U.S. Air Force and other military services should stop all combat flights over Afghanistan and Iraq. The killing of civilians is a certain result of a U.S. pilot dropping bombs on houses, villages, towns and cities. Because it is a foreseeable effect, the laws of war should be upgraded to ban such flights. No country, including the U.S., should be allowed to intentionally kill civilians even if insurgents or enemy soldiers are present.

U.S. AIRFORCE - STOP BOMBING CIVILIANS IN AFGHANISTAN

Once again there are reports that many civilians, including women and children died as a result of bombing in Afghanistan. See the BBC report today by Charles Haviland.

"Earlier several dozen villagers near the town of Gereshk told the BBC that "foreign forces" had bombed their area for two to three hours late on Friday after earlier clashes with Taleban rebels.


"They believed between 50 and 80 civilians had been killed, including women and children, and said they were bringing the bodies to the local authorities."

So far this year, there have been more than 200 civilians killed by war planes dropping bombs. This reinforces my argument that the United States should do away with its war planes. Airplanes have become a killing machine, and they do so in a cruel and fiery way. People should not be the targets of a airplane flying high above dropping incendiary bombs.

The United States military tries to claim it targets Qaeda forces and not civilians.

"Foreign forces and the Afghan government say the Taleban often take refuge in civilian areas after launching attacks, ordering people to shelter them."

However, when the U.S. Air Force bombs villages, it already knows or should know that it is bombing civilians. Just because Taliban take refuge in a civilian's home should not justify that the pilots can or should drop their bombs, civilians be damned.