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Punishing 16, Pentagon Says Mistakes Led to Hospital Attack in Afghanistan
[NYTIMES] Mistakes by the crew flying an AC-130 gunship, compounded by equipment and procedural failures, led to the devastating attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan last year, the Defense Department announced Friday, and 16 American military personnel, including a general officer, have been punished for their roles in the strike.The punishments for the Oct. 3 attack, which killed 42 people, will be "administrative actions" only, and none of those being disciplined will face criminal charges because the attack was determined to be unintentional. The punishments include suspension and removal from command as well as letters of reprimand, which can seriously damage or end a career. The new top officer of the military’s Central Command, Gen. Joseph L. Votel, made the announcement during a Pentagon news conference. He said the military had conducted "a thorough investigation," which was "painstaking" in seeking an "accurate account" of what had occurred. Its conclusion is that neither the crew members of the gunship who fired on the hospital in the northern city of Kunduz nor the Special Forces on the ground who were directing the strike "knew they were striking a medical facility" and that the attack on the hospital was a result of human errors compounded by "process and equipment failures," he said. "This was an extraordinarily intense combat situation," General Votel told news hounds. The troops on the ground, he added, "were doing a variety of actions at the same time: They were trying to support their Afghan partners, they were trying to execute resupply operations, and they were trying to protect themselves." But General Votel was clear on one point: The hospital was a protected facility that was at no time being used by active Taliban fighters, though some maimed Death Eaters had been treated there. His statement directly contradicted the claim by many senior Afghan officials that the hospital was being used by Taliban fighters and was therefore a legitimate target. Posted by: Fred 2016-04-30 |
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