elicotteri USA avrebbero massacrato donne e bambini in fuga

[Paola Lucchesi <paola.lucchesi@mail.inet.it>]

chi ha girato il messaggio chiede se ci sia conferma da altre fonti oltre
YellowTimes.ORG



------ Forwarded Message
From: "Viviane Lerner" <vlerner@interpac.net>
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 14:30:37 -0800
To: "GSN" <GSN@onelist.com>
Cc: "Network of East-West Women" <neww@neww.org>, "WAMM" <wamm@mtn.org>,
"WAND" <wand@wand.org>
Subject: "U.S. helicopters gunned down fleeing Afghan women and children"

I don't know this outfit, has anyone seen a confirmation
elsewhere?
Viviane
=========

 http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=72&mode=thread&order
"U.S. helicopters gunned down fleeing Afghan women and children"
By YellowTimes.ORG
on Saturday, January 05 @ 14:52:37 EST

By Christopher Reilly
YellowTimes.ORG Journalist

(YellowTimes.ORG) - A report that came out of Afghanistan
yesterday states that U.S. helicopters chased and killed
non-combatant Afghan women and children on December 29, much to
the dismay of the United Nations.

Britain's The Times reported that the United Nations is concerned
by recent reports stating that "non-combatant women and children
were chased and killed by U.S. helicopters during an attack on an
Afghan village that left 52 dead."

The newspaper said that the U.S. airstrike first took place in the
village of Niazi Qala in the Paktia province. This initial strike
was said to have killed ten civilian women and 25 children.

UN spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker said that after the women and
children were killed in the village, a second group of civilians
fled the attack and were gunned down by U.S. helicopters. All
fifteen of the fleeing villagers were killed.

A third group of civilians, who were trying to rescue survivors,
were also killed by the U.S. military, according to Ms. Bunker.

This latest incident has raised eyebrows not only among the
interim Afghan government, but also of Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN
envoy who brokered the creation of the new interim government in
Afghanistan.

According to Ms. Bunker, Mr. Brahimi is very "concerned at this
allegation that civilians were killed in not very clear
circumstances."

The official response from the Pentagon on December 29 came from
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Mr. Rumsfeld defended the
attack saying the Pentagon had received "multiple intelligence
sources" defining the village as a target.

Mr. Rumsfeld said that during the attack there was evidence of
ammunition and fuel supplies exploding, insinuating that there
were Taliban or al-Qaeda weapons stored in the village.

But Mr. Rumsfeld's statement failed to explain why women and
children were reportedly gunned down by U.S. military helicopters.

The new number of civilian casualties can be added to the list of
thousands and thousands of dead Afghans because of the Bush
administration's military decision making.

According to one comprehensive report released by Professor Mar W.
Herold, the number of dead Afghan civilians by U.S. bombs as of
December 6, 2001 was 3,767. As of January 5, 2002, this number
rose above 4,000.

The Pentagon's cloudy explanation of the accusation echoes past
statements, where the Pentagon denied certain attacks ever took
place even after many national newspapers confirmed that the
Pentagon was wrong.

- Associated article: "Over 3,767 civilians killed by U.S. in
Afghanistan; Pentagon misleads"

Christopher Reilly encourages your comments:
creilly@YellowTimes.ORG

YellowTimes.ORG urges its material to be reproduced, broadcasted,
or rewritten as long as a link to YellowTimes.ORG is included.




------ End of Forwarded Message