Was bombing Doctors Without Borders a war crime perpetrated by the US?

[Autumnleaf]

If so, who should be held responsible?

It appears the US did it.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/06/doctors-without-borders-airstrike-afghanistan-us-account-changes-again

 

[brinny]

Was bombing Doctors Without Borders a war crime perpetrated by the US?

If so, who should be held responsible?

It appears the US did it.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/06/doctors-without-borders-airstrike-afghanistan-us-account-changes-again

This was DELIBERATE??!!

Yes.

 

[Oafman]

I'm sure it wasn't deliberate.

But, what degree of negligence was involved? The hospital had been identified to both sides, so should not have been hit. And the attack was sustained over a few minutes; this was not just a weapon gone astray.

Something went badly wrong in the process and identifying and approving the site as a target. I'll leave it to lawyers to determine whether or not the degree of negligence was sufficient for this to be considered a breach of international law.

 

[Nithavela]

Countries can't commit war crimes, only people.

 

[Armoured]

Countries can't commit war crimes, only people.

*Notes poster's ethnicity* um... well this is awkward...

 

[Nithavela]

And when the war was done, it wasn't germany that stood trial in Nürnberg, it was a group of main criminals.

Really, look it up. By definition, only people can be indicted for war crimes. They might be able to indict the person who ordered the air strike, or the one flying the bomber. But not the USA.

 

[Open Heart]

Was bombing Doctors Without Borders a war crime perpetrated by the US?


This was DELIBERATE??!!

Yes.

No it was not deliberate. It appears that although a strike was called, the hitting of the hospital was a mistake. Either they hit the wrong place, or they didn't understand that the coordinates they were given were the hospital until it was too late or something along those lines. Their wires got crossed because THAT HAPPENS SOMETIMES. Mistakes do happen in war. Ask yourself this: for what possible reason would the US deliberately hit a hospital? Only if it were a front for a base. Believing this kind of nonsense is for paranoia junkies and America haters.

 

[Autumnleaf]

No it was not deliberate. It appears that although a strike was called, the hitting of the hospital was a mistake. Either they hit the wrong place, or they didn't understand that the coordinates they were given were the hospital until it was too late or something along those lines. Their wires got crossed because THAT HAPPENS SOMETIMES. Mistakes do happen in war. Ask yourself this: for what possible reason would the US deliberately hit a hospital? Only if it were a front for a base. Believing this kind of nonsense is for paranoia junkies and America haters.

Its not nonsense. The US actually bombed Doctors Without Borders and they are peeved about it. Look it up if you don't believe me. I think the US even admitted it and have changed the story 'explaining' it several times.

 

[Open Heart]

I think the US even admitted it

Please supply a source that says the US admitted they deliberately bombed a hospital in order to kill civilians. Sheesh. Preposterous.

 

[Open Heart]

I'm sure it wasn't deliberate.

But, what degree of negligence was involved? The hospital had been identified to both sides, so should not have been hit. And the attack was sustained over a few minutes; this was not just a weapon gone astray.

Something went badly wrong in the process and identifying and approving the site as a target. I'll leave it to lawyers to determine whether or not the degree of negligence was sufficient for this to be considered a breach of international law.

Best post so far. If more posts were like this, I think folks would find Americans feel really horrified by what happened. I don't know where the line is for criminal negligence. I hope for the sake of my country we didn't cross it. I feel just horrible about this.

 

[Dave-W]

This was DELIBERATE??!!

It depends on what part was deliberate.

Were they deliberately trying to use bombs? Yes
To go against the enemies of the Afghan government? Yes
Did they deliberately target civilians and medical personnel? Unclear but probably not.

There are too many factors here to make any kind of assessment by us on the outside; most of which are highly classified.

like what was the intel that led to this battle plan? Where did it come from and how reliable was it? Until those questions can be answered, no proper decision can be made.

 

[brinny]

No it was not deliberate. It appears that although a strike was called, the hitting of the hospital was a mistake. Either they hit the wrong place, or they didn't understand that the coordinates they were given were the hospital until it was too late or something along those lines. Their wires got crossed because THAT HAPPENS SOMETIMES. Mistakes do happen in war. Ask yourself this: for what possible reason would the US deliberately hit a hospital? Only if it were a front for a base. Believing this kind of nonsense is for paranoia junkies and America haters.

Did you read the OP?

 

[brinny]

It depends on what part was deliberate.

Were they deliberately trying to use bombs? Yes
To go against the enemies of the Afghan government? Yes
Did they deliberately target civilians and medical personnel? Unclear but probably not.

There are too many factors here to make any kind of assessment by us on the outside; most of which are highly classified.

like what was the intel that led to this battle plan? Where did it come from and how reliable was it? Until those questions can be answered, no proper decision can be made.

Thank you for sharing your opinion, of which we are all entitled to.

 

[Autumnleaf]

It depends on what part was deliberate.

Were they deliberately trying to use bombs? Yes
To go against the enemies of the Afghan government? Yes
Did they deliberately target civilians and medical personnel? Unclear but probably not.

There are too many factors here to make any kind of assessment by us on the outside; most of which are highly classified.

like what was the intel that led to this battle plan? Where did it come from and how reliable was it? Until those questions can be answered, no proper decision can be made.

When a country decides to use bullets or bombs to kill people, they take on a moral responsibility for doing that. When you kill people with those things that aren't voiceless, you take heat for it. I think the US got a little cavalier about throwing bombs and bullets around and gee whiz they focused the brunt of their trillion dollar military machine against a hospital. Wave it away like it was a technical glitch if that makes you feel better, but maybe we need to rethink why we think its okay to drop bombs over there in the first place. If Afghanistan accidentally bombed a hospital in the US would we give them the benefit of the doubt?

As it is we know our US soldiers over there have tolerated opium/heroin fields to flourish under the new government and they have turned a blind eye to new regime officials there sodomizing boys. Now we bomb a hospital over there? If the military industrial complex needs to keep making bombs to earn a living maybe we could drop them somewhere else where people don't live.

 

[brinny]

When a country decides to use bullets or bombs to kill people, they take on a moral responsibility for doing that. When you kill people with those things that aren't voiceless, you take heat for it. I think the US got a little cavalier about throwing bombs and bullets around and gee whiz they focused the brunt of their trillion dollar military machine against a hospital. Wave it away like it was a technical glitch if that makes you feel better, but maybe we need to rethink why we think its okay to drop bombs over there in the first place. If Afghanistan accidentally bombed a hospital in the US would we give them the benefit of the doubt?

As it is we know our US soldiers over there have tolerated opium/heroin fields to flourish under the new government and they have turned a blind eye to new regime officials there sodomizing boys. Now we bomb a hospital over there? If the military industrial complex needs to keep making bombs to earn a living maybe we could drop them somewhere else where people don't live.

Indeed.

 

[brinny]

Best post so far. If more posts were like this, I think folks would find Americans feel really horrified by what happened. I don't know where the line is for criminal negligence. I hope for the sake of my country we didn't cross it. I feel just horrible about this.

I agree that most Americans are abhorred by this atrocity.

This organization is a precious one, in that these doctors and ALL the people involved don't care where people in need are from or who they are, they TREAT them, regardless of where their borders might be, thus the name of this organization "Doctors Without Borders".

God have mercy, this should have NEVER ever happened.

And should NEVER ever happen again.

 

[brinny]

brinny said: ↑
Was bombing Doctors Without Borders a war crime perpetrated by the US?


This was DELIBERATE??!!

Yes.

No it was not deliberate. It appears that although a strike was called, the hitting of the hospital was a mistake. Either they hit the wrong place, or they didn't understand that the coordinates they were given were the hospital until it was too late or something along those lines. Their wires got crossed because THAT HAPPENS SOMETIMES. Mistakes do happen in war. Ask yourself this: for what possible reason would the US deliberately hit a hospital? Only if it were a front for a base. Believing this kind of nonsense is for paranoia junkies and America haters.

I was not asking a question.

 

[Open Heart]

Did you read the OP?

Yes, I did. But i wasn't responding to the OP. I was responding to the post that said it was a war crime, which I don't believe for a second. For it two be a war crime, civilians would have needed to have been deliberately targeted, not accidentally killed, not killed as collateral damage... Did you read through my response? I thought I was being very clear.

 

[bhsmte]

If so, who should be held responsible?

It appears the US did it.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/06/doctors-without-borders-airstrike-afghanistan-us-account-changes-again

Only if you can prove they had knowledge it wasn't a viable target and they deliberately bombed the hospital.

They may have been negligent in how they verified the target, but that is another matter.

 

[brinny]

Yes, I did. But i wasn't responding to the OP. I was responding to the post that said it was a war crime, which I don't believe for a second. For it two be a war crime, civilians would have needed to have been deliberately targeted, not accidentally killed, not killed as collateral damage... Did you read through my response? I thought I was being very clear.

Apparently your take on the OP and my take on the OP, differ.