Terrible news from Afghanistan

[BenBurch]

An American soldier has gone on a killing spree.

This is going to explode now. Right now.

ETA: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/world/asia/afghanistan-civilians-killed-american-soldier-held.html

 

[bynmdsue]

Better fire up the apology generator.

 

[shemp]

I'm sure it will blow over soon. It's not like he burned a Koran.

I'm not kidding. I predict that the fallout from this will be less than the fallout from the Koran burnings. Sad, but true.

 

[332nd]

I'm sure it will blow over soon. It's not like he burned a Koran.

I'm not kidding. I predict that the fallout from this will be less than the fallout from the Koran burnings. Sad, but true.

Sadly that was my first thought as well.

 

[MG1962]

A real shame - This sort of thing seems to go hand in hand with armed conflict. Hopefully we will learn how to identify the stresses that lead to this sort of thing before they happen

 

[BenBurch]

I'm sure it will blow over soon. It's not like he burned a Koran.

I'm not kidding. I predict that the fallout from this will be less than the fallout from the Koran burnings. Sad, but true.

That makes sense.

 

[WildCat]

I'm sure it will blow over soon. It's not like he burned a Koran.

I'm not kidding. I predict that the fallout from this will be less than the fallout from the Koran burnings. Sad, but true.

I think you're right. A stupid book is more important than human life over there.

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

I'm repeating this from memory, so I may get the figures wrong, but when I was at the Remembrance Day memorial ceremony held here in Edmonton last November, one of the speakers recounted what Canadian and Allied soldiers have helped build in Afghanistan since the liberation.

When allied troops first landed in Afghanistan, less than 50,000 Afghan children were in school, less than 10% of them were girls (an impressive figure given that it was a death penalty offense). Today, more than 2 million children are receiving some form of schooling, 40% or more being girls. Afganistan had less than 2,000 kilometres of paved roads before the liberation, today it has more than 30,000 kilometres.

Yet the mullahs and the media will do their part to ensure that this one traitor and burnt Korans are the public face of the Afghan mission.

 

[A'isha]

I think you're right. A stupid book is more important than human life over there.

They've gotten used to getting killed over there, that's all.

 

[Travis]

Maybe it won't produce the fallout that the Koran burning did but some people did die that clearly hadn't done anything. Absolutely terrible and sad.

 

[Monketi Ghost]

This sucks pretty hard. Who's willing to say we can "win hearts and minds" now?

We'd be better off G'ing the F O.

 

[JihadJane]

I'm repeating this from memory, so I may get the figures wrong, but when I was at the Remembrance Day memorial ceremony held here in Edmonton last November, one of the speakers recounted what Canadian and Allied soldiers have helped build in Afghanistan since the liberation.

When allied troops first landed in Afghanistan, less than 50,000 Afghan children were in school, less than 10% of them were girls (an impressive figure given that it was a death penalty offense). Today, more than 2 million children are receiving some form of schooling, 40% or more being girls. Afganistan had less than 2,000 kilometres of paved roads before the liberation, today it has more than 30,000 kilometres.

Yet the mullahs and the media will do their part to ensure that this one traitor and burnt Korans are the public face of the Afghan mission.

Yeah, like that guy who lost it in Fort Hood. Nobody spun that shooting spree as being representative of anything!

 

[Monketi Ghost]

I think you're right. A stupid book is more important than human life over there.

Remind me... which stupid book over here puts the life of the mother at risk because a possible baby is so precious...

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

So under our SOFA with Afghanistan, does he get tried by the U.S. or by Afghanistan?

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

So under our SOFA with Afghanistan, does he get tried by the U.S. or by Afghanistan?

Fallacy of the excluded middle.

You left out "summarily tossed into a pit of punji sticks".

 

[Sword_Of_Truth]

Yeah, like that guy who lost it in Fort Hood. Nobody spun that shooting spree as being representative of anything!

It was representative of radical islam. AKA "the guys who were killing the aforementioned girls for learning to read".

 

[angrysoba]

I'm sure it will blow over soon. It's not like he burned a Koran.

I'm not kidding. I predict that the fallout from this will be less than the fallout from the Koran burnings. Sad, but true.

I think this is very true.

A real shame - This sort of thing seems to go hand in hand with armed conflict. Hopefully we will learn how to identify the stresses that lead to this sort of thing before they happen

I think this is highly unlikely while the "armed conflict" bit remains part of the equation.

 

[Darth Rotor]

This shooting makes sense, in a morbid and tragic sort of way, along the lines of "I'll give you something to cry about" ...
Obviously, this soldier's got some non trivial stress issues, but it appears to me that the logic behind his acting out may have been the inane response to the burning of a Koran or fifty.

My guess on his thought process: "You gonna get all pissed off about Americans being here, you need to get pissed of for a good reason. Like this. (Goes forth and kills some people) OK, now you can be pissed off."

I could be wrong, of course. His girlfriend back home might have sent him a Dear John text/email/letter/skype and he lost it.

 

[MG1962]

I think this is very true.



I think this is highly unlikely while the "armed conflict" bit remains part of the equation.

Hey a guy can have his dreams can't he

 

[A'isha]

This shooting makes sense, in a morbid and tragic sort of way, along the lines of "I'll give you something to cry about" ...
Obviously, this soldier's got some non trivial stress issues, but it appears to me that the logic behind his acting out may have been the inane response to the burning of a Koran or fifty.

My guess on his thought process: "You gonna get all pissed off about Americans being here, you need to get pissed of for a good reason. Like this. (Goes forth and kills some people) OK, now you can be pissed off."

I could be wrong, of course. His girlfriend back home might have sent him a Dear John text/email/letter/skype and he lost it.

Reuters reports that "witnesses" say it was more than just a single soldier doing the shootings.

Western forces shot dead 16 civilians including nine children in southern Kandahar province on Sunday, Afghan officials said, in a rampage that witnesses said was carried out by American soldiers who were laughing and appeared drunk.

One Afghan father who said his children were killed in the shooting spree accused soldiers of later burning the bodies.

Witnesses told Reuters they saw a group of U.S. soldiers arrive at their village in Kandahar's Panjwayi district at around 2 am, enter homes and open fire.

The incident, one of the worst of its kind since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, is likely to deepen the divide between Washington and Kabul.

The U.S. embassy in Kabul said an American soldier had been detained over the shooting. It added that anti-U.S. reprisals were possible following the killings, which come just weeks after U.S. soldiers burned copies of the Koran at a NATO base, triggering widespread anti-Western protests.