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Reframing Remembrance Day

As we honour today the men and women who have fought and died in uniform, it is important that our remembrance of them not be taken as an endorsement of war or a celebration of all things military. For many people, soldiers in uniform do not inspire feelings of pride but memories of horror, destruction, and death. Some of us are survivors of war or refugees. Others of us who were born here are Canadians because our parents or grandparents or great-grandparents fled the violence of wars in faraway lands.

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Dave Markland

Massacre cover-up exposed

By Dave Markland
| April 7, 2010

We saw last week that NATO was busy smearing British journalist Richard Starkey for reporting on the victims' version of events in Gardez during a murderous special forces house raid in February. Now Afghan investigators are finding corroboration for the villagers' version.

The New York Times has the story:

Afghan Investigators Say U.S. Troops Tried to Cover Up Evidence in Botched Raid
Richard A. Oppel, Jr. - NYT

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Dave Markland

NATO massacre covered up

By Dave Markland
| March 15, 2010

The Times (UK) breaks the story:

Nato ‘covered up’ botched night raid in Afghanistan that killed five
Jerome Starkey - The Times

KHATABA, PAKTIA, Mar 13 - A night raid carried out by U.S. and Afghan gunmen led to the deaths of two pregnant women, a teenage girl and two local officials in an atrocity which NATO then tried to cover up, survivors have told The Times.

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Dave Markland

Up to 18 Afghan civilians killed in airstrikes

By Dave Markland
| January 1, 2010

On Monday, Dec 28, President Karzai condemned a foreign airstrike in Kunar province, saying the attack killed 10 civilians including eight students. Now the UN's Kai Eide has weighed in on the matter:

UN Says Eight Afghans Killed In Weekend Raid Were Students

KABUL, Dec 31 (Reuters) - The United Nations said today that eight Afghan students died in a controversial nighttime raid last weekend, which NATO-led forces say only targeted insurgents but Afghan officials say killed 10 civilians...

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Dave Markland

More deaths, more denials

By Dave Markland
| December 9, 2009

Reuters reports on an incident in Afghanistan's Laghman province, which neighbors the capital of Kabul:

NATO Denies Civilians Killed In Afghan Attack

KABUL, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The NATO-led force has denied it had killed any civilians in an operation in eastern Afghanistan, but a provincial official said 12 people, probably civilians, had been killed in the attack...

The statement said the joint force came under "hostile fire from multiple positions and returned fire" in Armul village, in Mehtar Lam district.

"The joint force searched the compound without further incident and recovered multiple AK-47 rifles."

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Dave Markland

Cop who killed five U.K. soldiers 'a hero' say locals

By Dave Markland
| November 9, 2009

The recent killing of five British troops at the hands of an Afghan police officer has set the UK reeling, prompting wider calls for the pull-out of troops from Afghanistan. Once again, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting is the only outlet able (or willing) to put reporters on the ground to relate the story from the local point of view:

What Drove Afghan Policeman to Kill UK Troops?
By Aziz Ahmad Tassal and Mohammad Ilyas Dayee

LASHKAR GAH, Nov 5 (IWPR) - Western and Afghan forces try to find out why an otherwise normal young man snapped and killed men he had worked with for months.

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Dave Markland

Civilians die, protests result

By Dave Markland
| November 8, 2009

Several recent incidents have resulted in foreign troops killing Afghan civilians. First, AP reports on incidents in Helmand province and Khost province:

Afghan villagers say air strike kills 9 civilians
By Noor Khan

NOVEMBER 5 - An overnight air strike by international forces killed nine civilians, including at least three children, villagers said today. Afghan authorities said they had no reports of civilian deaths...

Residents of Korkhashien village drove the bodies to the governor's office in the nearby provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, and AP footage and photos showed at least two children among the dead...

Villager Abdul Rashin said the people were killed while harvesting corn in their fields.

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Dave Markland

Canadians and Dutch kill civilians

By Dave Markland
| October 4, 2009

The toll rises, this time with Canadian bullets:

Canadian troops fatally shoot two teens
Gloria Galloway - Globe and Mail

KABUL, Oct 3 - Two teenage boys travelling by motorcycle through the dangerous Panjwai district southwest of Kandahar city were shot and killed Thursday by Canadian soldiers on patrol.

The boys, 14 and 16, were going from their home village of Zangabad to see a friend in the Panjwai district centre, villagers said.

Shortly after 6 p.m., they rounded the corner in the hamlet of Pay-e-Moluk and came upon the Canadian soldiers conducting a meeting, or shura, near a mosque with village elders.

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Columnists

The next Vietnam

It is the evening of the day, I sit and watch the children play, Doin' things I used to do, they think they are new, I sit and watch as tears go by....

--"As Tears Go By," Jagger/Oldham/Richards

Often when I work late at night I listen to 1960s and '70s music on Internet radio. I came of age in the '60s and it brings back many memories of my youth and early adulthood. With a few exceptions they were good memories. In many ways it was a better world then. There were certainly more fish.

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Dave Markland

Germany and the Kunduz bombing

By Dave Markland
| September 17, 2009

The September 4 bombing by US aircraft in Kunduz province, north of Kabul, is bound to have long-lasting repercussions both in Afghanistan and Europe.

According to the Washington Post, a NATO fact-finding team estimated 125 people were killed in the bombing, at least two dozen of whom were civilians, "perhaps many more," the report adds. Other reports put the figure as high as 40.

Now it seems that the German colonel who ordered bombing was in breach of procedure and overstepped his authority, according to a leaked NATO report. More from the Independent:

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