Report Faults Drone Operators in Afghan Deaths
By DEXTER FILKINS
NYT
KABUL, Afghanistan — The American military released a scathing report Saturday on the deaths of 23 Afghan civilians earlier this year, saying that “inaccurate and unprofessional” reporting by a team of Predator drone operators helped lead to an inadvertent missile strike on a group of innocent men, women and children.
The report said that four American officers, including a brigade and battalion commander, had been reprimanded, and that two junior officers had also been disciplined. General Stanley A. McChrystal, who apologized to President Hamid Karzai after the incident, announced a series of training measures designed to reduce the chances of similar events.
The incident, in which three vehicles were attacked and destroyed, illustrated the extraordinary sensitivity attached to the inadvertent killing of non-combatants by NATO forces. Since taking command here last June, Gen. McChrystal has made the protection of Afghan civilians his overriding priority, and he has sharply restricted the use of air attacks on suspected insurgents.
The overwhelming majority of civilian deaths in Afghanistan are caused by insurgents, but the growing intensity of the fighting, and the big push by American and NATO forces, has sent civilian casualties to their highest levels since 2001.
(More here.)
NYT
KABUL, Afghanistan — The American military released a scathing report Saturday on the deaths of 23 Afghan civilians earlier this year, saying that “inaccurate and unprofessional” reporting by a team of Predator drone operators helped lead to an inadvertent missile strike on a group of innocent men, women and children.
The report said that four American officers, including a brigade and battalion commander, had been reprimanded, and that two junior officers had also been disciplined. General Stanley A. McChrystal, who apologized to President Hamid Karzai after the incident, announced a series of training measures designed to reduce the chances of similar events.
The incident, in which three vehicles were attacked and destroyed, illustrated the extraordinary sensitivity attached to the inadvertent killing of non-combatants by NATO forces. Since taking command here last June, Gen. McChrystal has made the protection of Afghan civilians his overriding priority, and he has sharply restricted the use of air attacks on suspected insurgents.
The overwhelming majority of civilian deaths in Afghanistan are caused by insurgents, but the growing intensity of the fighting, and the big push by American and NATO forces, has sent civilian casualties to their highest levels since 2001.
(More here.)
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