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Home > The Ugly Consequences of the U.S. Military Having Immunity to Commit
War Crimes in Afghanistan
________________________________________
The Ugly Consequences of the U.S. Military Having Immunity to Commit War
Crimes in Afghanistan
By Sarah Lazare [1] / AlterNet [2]
May 12, 2016
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The U.S. bombing of the hospital was a war crime. But the United States can
bomb any place it wantsa school, refugee camp, hospitaland they will not
be held accountable, said Hakim, a physician and mentor to the grassroots
organization Afghan Peace Volunteers. U.S. immunity is atrocious. Its
intolerable. They should be held accountable like every other human being.
Hakim, who requested his last name and city of residence be withheld for
security reasons, spoke with AlterNet from Afghanistan just weeks after the
Pentagon released a heavily redacted internal investigation [3] in which it
exonerated itself of war crimes for its October 2015 bombing of a Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz that killed 42 civilians. The 16
U.S. service members immediately responsible will face administrative
consequences but not court martial, and the high-level architects of U.S.
policy in Afghanistan will remain untouched. The military provided the
fallacious [4] justification that the massacre did not amount to a war crime
because it was unintentional.
Consistent with a longstanding pattern [5], the U.S. military, in lieu of
accountability, is now doling out condolence payments of $6,000 to the
families of those killed and $3,000 to the people wounded. But what is so
remarkable about this latest case is that the U.S. military is dodging real
consequences for a bloodbath it now admits to perpetrating (after originally
changing its story at least four times [6], including an initial denial of
culpability). Whats more, the Pentagon appears to be getting away with it,
even though MSF has a high media profile, thanks to its prominent role as a
western NGO. In November, MSF received considerable coverage for its
harrowing report [7] on the carnage inflicted by the U.S. military.
Patients burned in their beds, medical staff were decapitated and lost
limbs, and others were shot by the circling AC-130 gunship while fleeing the
burning building, the medical charity documented.
MSF has strongly rejected the U.S. militarys claim that it can investigate
itself, instead repeatedly demanding an independent and impartial
investigation by the International Humanitarian Fact Finding Commission
under the Geneva Conventions. But with the worlds attention focused on this
horrific crime against the MSF facility, another critical issue is falling
by the wayside.
The U.S. and Afghan governments have signed a deal that grants the American
military blanket immunity for all of its war crimes under Afghan law, from
shooting massacres to drone killings to aerial bombardments. These
atrocities have been waged since the turn of the century, with violent U.S.
intervention in the country stretching back decades. In the aftermath of
this latest mass killing, the notion that Afghans should have the right to
lead the charge for justice under their own political system and legal
framework is not even up for debate. Afghans right to self-determination is
largely missing from the human rights outcry over the U.S. militarys
massacre in Kunduz.
'A Failed Global System'
Despite the Obama administrations repeated declarations [8] that the war in
Afghanistan is winding down, the U.S. has been quietly expanding its role,
including [9] through the resumption of unpopular night raids two years ago.
In 2014 the U.S. and Afghanistan signed the Bilateral Security Agreement,
which locks in an American military presence, as well as the funding and
arming of Afghan military forces until 2024. A controversial provision of
the deal grants blanket immunity to American troops, declaring that the
United States shall have the exclusive right to exercise jurisdiction over
such persons in respect of any criminal or civil offenses committed in the
territory of Afghanistan. This immunity also extends to a parallel
agreement [10] between NATO and the Afghan government.
This deal persists despite the fact that there is little reason to think the
U.S. can be trusted with sole jurisdiction over its militarys crimes. As
the Afghanistan Analysts Network noted [11] years ago, The U.S. military
seldom publicizes the results of investigations into specific abuses,
including torture, deaths in detention and indiscriminate or
disproportionate use of force during ground operations. In the majority of
cases, there is little indication that anyone has been held accountable for
these abuses.
The Pentagons failure to take swift and meaningful action after U.S.
special forces killed, tortured and disappeared up to 18 people in the Nerkh
and Maidan Shahr districts of Wardak province between 2012 and 2013 is just
one example [12] of this failure. In those instances where the U.S. military
does levy prosecutions for atrocities, the charges rarely extend up the
chain of command. This failure precludes a more systemic indictment of the
war and its strategists, despite numerous large-scale atrocities that extend
far beyond the Kunduz bombing.
Seelai, a U.S.-based organizer with Afghans United for Justicewhose members
live in Afghanistan and abroadtold AlterNet that U.S. immunity inflicts a
further injustice on those seeking restitution by violating the most
fundamental principles of self-determination. The fact that the U.S.
military is occupying the land of Afghanistan and killing people there
without a response from the American public, that in itself is undermining
the ways in which the Afghan people would like to live their lives on a
day-to-day basis, said Seelai, who requested her last name be withheld for
security reasons.
For this reason, similar American demands for immunity have been
controversial around the world. The rejection of U.S. immunity by Iraq's
congress played a role in forcing the Obama administration to pull most U.S.
troops from the country in 2011. Meanwhile, the U.S. militarys effective
immunity in the Philippines has provoked widespread protest and outrage
[13].
But according to Hakim, There is no single political leader today who has
the guts to hold the U.S. or any party to the conflict responsible for
breaking the law. We have a failed global system and we need an
alternative.
Counting the Crimes
What would an honest accounting of the U.S. militarys harm to Afghanistan,
this century alone, look like? All publicly available figures indicate that
nearly 15 years of continuous war have devastated ordinary people and left
the Taliban stronger than ever.
In April, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
reported [14] that the first quarter civilian casualty data for 2016 showed
continued record numbers of civilian casualties. According to these
calculations, Actions by anti-government elements caused at least 60
percent of casualties while pro-government forces caused at least 19
percent.
However, journalists Emma Graham-Harrison and Rob Evans noted [15] earlier
this month in the Observer that there could be hundreds more civilian
victims of the past 15 years of fighting whose deaths are missing from the
records.
The spike in civilian deaths sheds light on the cycles of violence unleashed
by the United States. But how many of those people died directly at the
hands of American forces? According to [16] calculations released in
February by UNAMA, 103 civilian deaths and 67 injuries in 2015 can be
attributed to Aerial operations carried out by international military
forces. This marks a 9 percent increase from 2014.
The U.S. is less forthcoming about how many people are dying in its
bombings. While the U.S. military produces a monthly report [17] of air
strikes in Afghanistan, this list omits information about where the bombing
occurred, who was killed and for what reason. According to [18] calculations
by the watchdog publication Bureau of Investigative Journalism, on average
a civilian was killed every fourth drone or jet strike in 2015up from one
in 11 attacks the year before and the first time the casualty rate has risen
since 2011. The rate was last at such levels at the height of the Afghan war
in 2008.
Meanwhile, there are the difficult-to-measure impacts of destabilization,
starvation, poverty and infrastructure damage, not to mention the long-term
physical and psychological wounds the Afghan people have been forced to
endure. According to a report [19] from the Afghanistan Analysts Network,
Afghans are now the second largest group of refugees seeking asylum in
Europe. The analysts attribute this mass displacement to regime changes,
wars, fragile statehood, and economic despair.
At the very least, U.S. immunity obstructs the most modest advances toward
U.S. accountability and reparations for its crimes. At worst, it is a tool
of occupation and military dominance used to deny the self-determination of
the people of Afghanistan.
Yet, Seelai noted, Even though the U.S. is still involved in this war, no
attention is being focused on this. Thats one of the many reasons why the
U.S. government and military can get away with war crimes in Afghanistan.
Folks on the ground here in America, whose tax dollars are paying for this
war, they dont know about this.
Amid this silence, which extends to the 2016 presidential contest, Afghans
United for Justice has issued a series of demands [20], including the
prosecution of the U.S. military personnel behind the Kunduz bombing in
Afghanistan, under the countrys laws.
For Hakim, an ultimate solution will require solidarity from communities in
the United States. The reason the U.S. government can get away with this is
U.S. citizens believe too much in what your politicians tell you, he said.
You are not questioning your government enough. The U.S. militaryyour
militaryis the strongest military in the world, and your country exports
the greatest number of weapons. This is what it is doing to Afghans in a
faraway country that is no threat to you at all.
Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for
Common Dreams, she coedited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn
Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare [21].
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Twitter Tweet
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [22]
[23]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/world/ugly-consequences-us-military-having-immunity-
commit-war-crimes-afghanistan
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sarah-lazare-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://www.centcom.mil/news/press-release/april-29-centcom-releases-kunduz-i
nvestigation
[4] http://fpif.org/pentagon-shouldnt-get-absolve-bombing-hospital/
[5] https://theintercept.com/2015/02/27/payments-civilians-afghanistan/
[6]
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/06/doctors-without-borders-airst
rike-afghanistan-us-account-changes-again
[7]
https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/sites/usa/files/msf_kunduz_review.pdf
[8]
http://www.rs.nato.int/article/isaf-news/isaf-joint-command-formally-ceases-
operations.html
[9]
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/world/asia/afghanistan-quietly-lifts-ban-o
n-night-raids.html?_r=0
[10] http://mfa.gov.af/Content/files/SOFA%20ENGLISH.pdf
[11]
https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/the-nerkh-killings-the-problem-with-imm
unity-for-us-soldiers/
[12]
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/08/usa-afghan-civilian-killings-
require-rigorous-thorough-investigation/
[13]
http://bayanusa.org/no-immunity-case-of-us-troops-gang-rape-of-filipina-woma
n-must-surrender-to-philippine-jurisdiction/
[14]
https://unama.unmissions.org/un-chief-afghanistan-do-more-now-protect-civili
ans-unama-releases-civilian-casualty-data-first
[15]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/afghanistan-civilian-death-toll
[16] https://unama.unmissions.org/protection-of-civilians-reports
[17] http://www.afcent.af.mil/AboutUs/AirpowerSummaries.aspx
[18]
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2016/02/18/us-airstrikes-afghanistan-k
illing-civilians-greatest-rate-seven-years-new-figures-show/
[19]
https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160427FES-
Migration-IVs-paper-Engl.pdf
[20]
https://afghansunited.wordpress.com/2016/05/06/the-kunduz-hospital-airstrike
-is-a-war-crime/
[21] https://twitter.com/sarahlazare
[22] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on The Ugly Consequences
of the U.S. Military Having Immunity to Commit War Crimes in Afghanistan
[23] http://www.alternet.org/
[24] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > The Ugly Consequences of the U.S. Military Having Immunity to Commit
War Crimes in Afghanistan
The Ugly Consequences of the U.S. Military Having Immunity to Commit War
Crimes in Afghanistan
By Sarah Lazare [1] / AlterNet [2]
May 12, 2016
AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to Google+More
AddThis Share optionsShare to Email
The U.S. bombing of the hospital was a war crime. But the United States can
bomb any place it wantsa school, refugee camp, hospitaland they will not
be held accountable, said Hakim, a physician and mentor to the grassroots
organization Afghan Peace Volunteers. U.S. immunity is atrocious. Its
intolerable. They should be held accountable like every other human being.
Hakim, who requested his last name and city of residence be withheld for
security reasons, spoke with AlterNet from Afghanistan just weeks after the
Pentagon released a heavily redacted internal investigation [3] in which it
exonerated itself of war crimes for its October 2015 bombing of a Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF) hospital in Kunduz that killed 42 civilians. The 16
U.S. service members immediately responsible will face administrative
consequences but not court martial, and the high-level architects of U.S.
policy in Afghanistan will remain untouched. The military provided the
fallacious [4] justification that the massacre did not amount to a war crime
because it was unintentional.
Consistent with a longstanding pattern [5], the U.S. military, in lieu of
accountability, is now doling out condolence payments of $6,000 to the
families of those killed and $3,000 to the people wounded. But what is so
remarkable about this latest case is that the U.S. military is dodging real
consequences for a bloodbath it now admits to perpetrating (after originally
changing its story at least four times [6], including an initial denial of
culpability). Whats more, the Pentagon appears to be getting away with it,
even though MSF has a high media profile, thanks to its prominent role as a
western NGO. In November, MSF received considerable coverage for its
harrowing report [7] on the carnage inflicted by the U.S. military.
Patients burned in their beds, medical staff were decapitated and lost
limbs, and others were shot by the circling AC-130 gunship while fleeing the
burning building, the medical charity documented.
MSF has strongly rejected the U.S. militarys claim that it can investigate
itself, instead repeatedly demanding an independent and impartial
investigation by the International Humanitarian Fact Finding Commission
under the Geneva Conventions. But with the worlds attention focused on this
horrific crime against the MSF facility, another critical issue is falling
by the wayside.
The U.S. and Afghan governments have signed a deal that grants the American
military blanket immunity for all of its war crimes under Afghan law, from
shooting massacres to drone killings to aerial bombardments. These
atrocities have been waged since the turn of the century, with violent U.S.
intervention in the country stretching back decades. In the aftermath of
this latest mass killing, the notion that Afghans should have the right to
lead the charge for justice under their own political system and legal
framework is not even up for debate. Afghans right to self-determination is
largely missing from the human rights outcry over the U.S. militarys
massacre in Kunduz.
'A Failed Global System'
Despite the Obama administrations repeated declarations [8] that the war in
Afghanistan is winding down, the U.S. has been quietly expanding its role,
including [9] through the resumption of unpopular night raids two years ago.
In 2014 the U.S. and Afghanistan signed the Bilateral Security Agreement,
which locks in an American military presence, as well as the funding and
arming of Afghan military forces until 2024. A controversial provision of
the deal grants blanket immunity to American troops, declaring that the
United States shall have the exclusive right to exercise jurisdiction over
such persons in respect of any criminal or civil offenses committed in the
territory of Afghanistan. This immunity also extends to a parallel
agreement [10] between NATO and the Afghan government.
This deal persists despite the fact that there is little reason to think the
U.S. can be trusted with sole jurisdiction over its militarys crimes. As
the Afghanistan Analysts Network noted [11] years ago, The U.S. military
seldom publicizes the results of investigations into specific abuses,
including torture, deaths in detention and indiscriminate or
disproportionate use of force during ground operations. In the majority of
cases, there is little indication that anyone has been held accountable for
these abuses.
The Pentagons failure to take swift and meaningful action after U.S.
special forces killed, tortured and disappeared up to 18 people in the Nerkh
and Maidan Shahr districts of Wardak province between 2012 and 2013 is just
one example [12] of this failure. In those instances where the U.S. military
does levy prosecutions for atrocities, the charges rarely extend up the
chain of command. This failure precludes a more systemic indictment of the
war and its strategists, despite numerous large-scale atrocities that extend
far beyond the Kunduz bombing.
Seelai, a U.S.-based organizer with Afghans United for Justicewhose members
live in Afghanistan and abroadtold AlterNet that U.S. immunity inflicts a
further injustice on those seeking restitution by violating the most
fundamental principles of self-determination. The fact that the U.S.
military is occupying the land of Afghanistan and killing people there
without a response from the American public, that in itself is undermining
the ways in which the Afghan people would like to live their lives on a
day-to-day basis, said Seelai, who requested her last name be withheld for
security reasons.
For this reason, similar American demands for immunity have been
controversial around the world. The rejection of U.S. immunity by Iraq's
congress played a role in forcing the Obama administration to pull most U.S.
troops from the country in 2011. Meanwhile, the U.S. militarys effective
immunity in the Philippines has provoked widespread protest and outrage
[13].
But according to Hakim, There is no single political leader today who has
the guts to hold the U.S. or any party to the conflict responsible for
breaking the law. We have a failed global system and we need an
alternative.
Counting the Crimes
What would an honest accounting of the U.S. militarys harm to Afghanistan,
this century alone, look like? All publicly available figures indicate that
nearly 15 years of continuous war have devastated ordinary people and left
the Taliban stronger than ever.
In April, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
reported [14] that the first quarter civilian casualty data for 2016 showed
continued record numbers of civilian casualties. According to these
calculations, Actions by anti-government elements caused at least 60
percent of casualties while pro-government forces caused at least 19
percent.
However, journalists Emma Graham-Harrison and Rob Evans noted [15] earlier
this month in the Observer that there could be hundreds more civilian
victims of the past 15 years of fighting whose deaths are missing from the
records.
The spike in civilian deaths sheds light on the cycles of violence unleashed
by the United States. But how many of those people died directly at the
hands of American forces? According to [16] calculations released in
February by UNAMA, 103 civilian deaths and 67 injuries in 2015 can be
attributed to Aerial operations carried out by international military
forces. This marks a 9 percent increase from 2014.
The U.S. is less forthcoming about how many people are dying in its
bombings. While the U.S. military produces a monthly report [17] of air
strikes in Afghanistan, this list omits information about where the bombing
occurred, who was killed and for what reason. According to [18] calculations
by the watchdog publication Bureau of Investigative Journalism, on average
a civilian was killed every fourth drone or jet strike in 2015up from one
in 11 attacks the year before and the first time the casualty rate has risen
since 2011. The rate was last at such levels at the height of the Afghan war
in 2008.
Meanwhile, there are the difficult-to-measure impacts of destabilization,
starvation, poverty and infrastructure damage, not to mention the long-term
physical and psychological wounds the Afghan people have been forced to
endure. According to a report [19] from the Afghanistan Analysts Network,
Afghans are now the second largest group of refugees seeking asylum in
Europe. The analysts attribute this mass displacement to regime changes,
wars, fragile statehood, and economic despair.
At the very least, U.S. immunity obstructs the most modest advances toward
U.S. accountability and reparations for its crimes. At worst, it is a tool
of occupation and military dominance used to deny the self-determination of
the people of Afghanistan.
Yet, Seelai noted, Even though the U.S. is still involved in this war, no
attention is being focused on this. Thats one of the many reasons why the
U.S. government and military can get away with war crimes in Afghanistan.
Folks on the ground here in America, whose tax dollars are paying for this
war, they dont know about this.
Amid this silence, which extends to the 2016 presidential contest, Afghans
United for Justice has issued a series of demands [20], including the
prosecution of the U.S. military personnel behind the Kunduz bombing in
Afghanistan, under the countrys laws.
For Hakim, an ultimate solution will require solidarity from communities in
the United States. The reason the U.S. government can get away with this is
U.S. citizens believe too much in what your politicians tell you, he said.
You are not questioning your government enough. The U.S. militaryyour
militaryis the strongest military in the world, and your country exports
the greatest number of weapons. This is what it is doing to Afghans in a
faraway country that is no threat to you at all.
Sarah Lazare is a staff writer for AlterNet. A former staff writer for
Common Dreams, she coedited the book About Face: Military Resisters Turn
Against War. Follow her on Twitter at @sarahlazare [21].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [22]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[23]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/world/ugly-consequences-us-military-having-immunity-
commit-war-crimes-afghanistan
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/sarah-lazare-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://www.centcom.mil/news/press-release/april-29-centcom-releases-kunduz-i
nvestigation
[4] http://fpif.org/pentagon-shouldnt-get-absolve-bombing-hospital/
[5] https://theintercept.com/2015/02/27/payments-civilians-afghanistan/
[6]
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/06/doctors-without-borders-airst
rike-afghanistan-us-account-changes-again
[7]
https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/sites/usa/files/msf_kunduz_review.pdf
[8]
http://www.rs.nato.int/article/isaf-news/isaf-joint-command-formally-ceases-
operations.html
[9]
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/world/asia/afghanistan-quietly-lifts-ban-o
n-night-raids.html?_r=0
[10] http://mfa.gov.af/Content/files/SOFA%20ENGLISH.pdf
[11]
https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/the-nerkh-killings-the-problem-with-imm
unity-for-us-soldiers/
[12]
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/08/usa-afghan-civilian-killings-
require-rigorous-thorough-investigation/
[13]
http://bayanusa.org/no-immunity-case-of-us-troops-gang-rape-of-filipina-woma
n-must-surrender-to-philippine-jurisdiction/
[14]
https://unama.unmissions.org/un-chief-afghanistan-do-more-now-protect-civili
ans-unama-releases-civilian-casualty-data-first
[15]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/afghanistan-civilian-death-toll
[16] https://unama.unmissions.org/protection-of-civilians-reports
[17] http://www.afcent.af.mil/AboutUs/AirpowerSummaries.aspx
[18]
https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2016/02/18/us-airstrikes-afghanistan-k
illing-civilians-greatest-rate-seven-years-new-figures-show/
[19]
https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20160427FES-
Migration-IVs-paper-Engl.pdf
[20]
https://afghansunited.wordpress.com/2016/05/06/the-kunduz-hospital-airstrike
-is-a-war-crime/
[21] https://twitter.com/sarahlazare
[22] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on The Ugly Consequences
of the U.S. Military Having Immunity to Commit War Crimes in Afghanistan
[23] http://www.alternet.org/
[24] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B