March 8, 2011
BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND
The news as I see it and the views as I want them.
March 8 is … Be Nasty Day. Finally, my day!
Afghanistan's president on Sunday rejected a U.S. apology for the mistaken killing of nine Afghan boys in a NATO air attack and said civilian casualties are no longer acceptable. Isn’t that why we are over thee in the first place because of the killing of American civilians? According to a statement from his office, Hamid Karzai told Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, that expressing regret was not sufficient in last week's killing of the boys, ages 12 and under, by coalition helicopters.
NATO has also apologized for the mistaken killings. Civilian casualties from coalition operations are a major source of strain in the already difficult relationship between Karzai's government and the United States, and they generate widespread outrage among the population. "President Karzai said that only regret is not sufficient and also mentioned that civilian casualties during military operations by coalition forces is the main reason for tension in relations between Afghanistan and United States," the statement said. "It is not acceptable for the Afghan people anymore. Regrets and condemnations of the incident cannot heal the wounds of the people." The killing of the nine boys took place on March 1 in the Pech valley area of Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, who directs day-to-day operations of coalition forces across Afghanistan, later issued a video statement of apology.
In the video, Rodriguez said troops at a base in the valley were responding to a rocket attack and dispatched attack helicopters to the location they were told the rockets came from. He said the helicopters thought they were engaging insurgents, but it later turned out they were boys from a nearby village who were cutting firewood. Karzai appealed to Petraeus to do more to prevent such incidents. He made the remarks to Petraeus during a Sunday meeting of the National Security Council, a body that includes Cabinet members and senior political and military officials. According to the statement, Petraeus said during the meeting that the killing was a mistake by coalition forces and extended his condolences and regret to Karzai and the Afghan people, promising that such an incident will not be repeated. "President Karzai said that repetition of such incidents would affect relations and the environment of trust between us. The continuation of such incidents is not tolerable and not acceptable for the Afghan people and government," the statement said. NATO operations against insurgents in eastern Afghanistan have caused friction with the Karzai administration in recent weeks after government charges that the military has caused a number of civilian deaths and casualties. Last week, Karzai warned President Barack Obama in a video conference call that U.S.-led forces must do a better job addressing civilian casualties. Earlier this month, the Karzai administration claimed that 65 civilians, including 40 children, were killed in a NATO assault on insurgents in Kunar. NATO has said that video of Kunar operations on Feb. 17 showed the main event of more than three days of fighting and it showed troops targeting and killing dozens of insurgents, not civilians. Civilian deaths have jumped this year primarily because of increased attacks from insurgents, according to U.N. data. Insurgents recently have started carrying out indiscriminate attacks against soft targets such as banks, supermarkets and sporting events.
NATO has also apologized for the mistaken killings. Civilian casualties from coalition operations are a major source of strain in the already difficult relationship between Karzai's government and the United States, and they generate widespread outrage among the population. "President Karzai said that only regret is not sufficient and also mentioned that civilian casualties during military operations by coalition forces is the main reason for tension in relations between Afghanistan and United States," the statement said. "It is not acceptable for the Afghan people anymore. Regrets and condemnations of the incident cannot heal the wounds of the people." The killing of the nine boys took place on March 1 in the Pech valley area of Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, who directs day-to-day operations of coalition forces across Afghanistan, later issued a video statement of apology.
In the video, Rodriguez said troops at a base in the valley were responding to a rocket attack and dispatched attack helicopters to the location they were told the rockets came from. He said the helicopters thought they were engaging insurgents, but it later turned out they were boys from a nearby village who were cutting firewood. Karzai appealed to Petraeus to do more to prevent such incidents. He made the remarks to Petraeus during a Sunday meeting of the National Security Council, a body that includes Cabinet members and senior political and military officials. According to the statement, Petraeus said during the meeting that the killing was a mistake by coalition forces and extended his condolences and regret to Karzai and the Afghan people, promising that such an incident will not be repeated. "President Karzai said that repetition of such incidents would affect relations and the environment of trust between us. The continuation of such incidents is not tolerable and not acceptable for the Afghan people and government," the statement said. NATO operations against insurgents in eastern Afghanistan have caused friction with the Karzai administration in recent weeks after government charges that the military has caused a number of civilian deaths and casualties. Last week, Karzai warned President Barack Obama in a video conference call that U.S.-led forces must do a better job addressing civilian casualties. Earlier this month, the Karzai administration claimed that 65 civilians, including 40 children, were killed in a NATO assault on insurgents in Kunar. NATO has said that video of Kunar operations on Feb. 17 showed the main event of more than three days of fighting and it showed troops targeting and killing dozens of insurgents, not civilians. Civilian deaths have jumped this year primarily because of increased attacks from insurgents, according to U.N. data. Insurgents recently have started carrying out indiscriminate attacks against soft targets such as banks, supermarkets and sporting events.
Governor Milquetoast of Illinois says he is going to do something, he just doesn’t know what. Quinn says will act on death penalty this week Gov. Pat Quinn says he will act this week on a bill that would abolish executions in Illinois. Quinn said Monday that he's "going to act" this week, but not Tuesday. He said there's still information he wants to read and research he wants to do before doing anything. What a piece of work.
A Michigan man was convicted of second degree murder for a death caused in a DUI. I fully appreciate a death resulted from a traffic accident but we are traveling down a slippery slope by convicting people of murder in these type of situations. Murder is a crime that requires intent. One must have the mens rea, the mind to commit the crime. Generally, criminal liability does not attach to a person who acted with the absence of mental fault. You are responsible for the actions you intended on doing and causing. The exception is strict liability but DUI does not fall into that category of crimes. This person may have intended to drive while intoxicated, but even that is suspect. He did not intend on killing anyone with his car, therefore he lacked the mens rea. We have other crimes he could have been prosecuted for, like manslaughter but I do not feel this should be a murder. Obviously, from the victims viewpoint, dead is dead but if you slid through an icy intersection and killed someone, you chose to drive in treacherous conditions, should you be guilty of murder? We could continue to expand the definition of various crimes until we live in a totalitarian state. We don’t want that, do we?
Apparently it takes two to three weeks to fully pilfer, pillage and plunder a Middle Eastern country. That is about how long it took for Egypt’s President steal what he had not yet stolen and transfer it out of the country to hidden, unknown accounts. Word out of Libya is that Colonel Gaddafi is negotiating to give up power in exchange for he and his family’s safe exit from Libya. He must have stolen all he could and is now ready to retire into luxury with his family. The fall of Tunesia took about that long also although I am not sure it had anything worth stealing. Bahrain and Yemen will collapse within three weeks of the real revolt starting. Saudi Arabia may take longer. It is a much wealthier country with closer ties to the United States.
It is much harder being President than it is to run for President. President Barack Obama reversed course Monday and ordered a resumption of military trials for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, making his once ironclad promise to close the isolated prison look even more distant. It is hard to comprehend how any American intelligent enough to vote in our last presidential election could have actually believed the lie Obama repeated hundreds of times about the immediate closure of Guantanamo Bay prison. Why bring these terrorists to this country, which causes Constitutional Rights to attach to them and house them and give them a trial. If any of them were found not guilty, we would have to release them. Who wants one of these accused terrorists as a neighbor?
BRUCE A. BRENNAN
DEKALB, IL 60115
COPYRIGHT 2011
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“We cannot change our past.
We can not change the fact that people
act in a certain way.
We can not change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do
is play on the one string we have,
and that is our attitude.”
We can not change the fact that people
act in a certain way.
We can not change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do
is play on the one string we have,
and that is our attitude.”
