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'FRIENDLY FIRE' ACCIDENTS?
Sunday, 8th November, 2009 (11:24 PM) |
Tim Anderson Sun 8 Nov
The Afghan resistance must be celebrating. The occupying forces have suffered three major 'friendly fire' accidents within a few days. But are these just 'accidents', or the signs of a war machine cracking under pressure?
First, in Helmland province, an Afghan policeman of three years standing unexpectedly kills five British soldiers and wounds six others, then escapes, apparently with assistance from other police.
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Second, a "botched" NATO air strike kills eight collaborating Afghans (four soldiers, three policemen and an interpreter) and wounds another seventeen Afghan troops, including soldiers and police; a further five American soldiers and another Afghan interpreter were wounded, according to US sources.
Third, there was the 'fragging' incident at Ford Hood Texas, where a senior US officer killed 13 armed forces personnel and wounded more than 30 others. It is said that the Fort Hood shooter, Major Hasan, was under personal stress, but it also seems he was also not happy about being posted back to the Middle East.
These incidents were described by the US and British spokespeople as 'one off' incidents which 'would not deter' us from our mission, etc. But this is brave talk.
The 'friendly fire' attacks follow two months in Afghanistan with the highest rate of US and NATO casualties, US vacillation over further escalating the war and a fraudulent election ('resolved' by a 'no contest' run-off) which has further undermined the US-backed Karzai regime. Meanwhile the European 'allies' are quietly leaving this fiasco, one by one.
The commanding officer of the Grenadier Guards, whose troops were shot by insiders in Helmland, said "it's no change ... we have to be guarded, we have to anticipate reverses like this but to my mind this is a one-off." It was vital that the deaths did not "drive a wedge" between the Afghan police and his men, he said. However it was not a 'one off'. Afghan police exchanged fire with British troops last year in the Helmland capital.
The NATO bombings of collaborating Afghans will hardly help, and the latest Helmland attack has already further eroded political backing for the war in the UK. This incident will almost certainly be followed up by the Afghan resistance with promises of rewards for more such attacks and defections.
In the US, Nobel Peace Prize winner President Obama, struggled to find anything meaningful to say about the war to which he has already added tens of thousands of new troops. He tried to calm people and stabilise morale within his biggest military base.
A military depot owner at Fort Hood said US troops seemed to back President Obama more than they did former President Bush, mainly because Obama has talked about bringing more troops home. So expectations of Obama's peacemaking skills have been raised within the military, as well as by his Nobel peace prize.
In the meantime, fear and mistrust from these inside attacks will be corrosive within the US and UK military, at a time when opinion is turning slowly but decisively against the Afghan war.
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