New Film Chronicles Civilian Slaughter In Afghanistan

Civilians continue to be killed by American and coalition forces as the war in Afghanistan stretches into its eighth year with no end in sight. The civilian casualties have gone from the realm of tragedy and have now become frequent enough to turn the population against the United States in a war President Obama and congressional Democrats have escalated over the last several months.

Earlier this month, Dr. Roshnak Wardak, an Afghani member of parliament who has lived in both countries, told the Huffington Post that the attacks inside Afghanistan have been devastating to U.S. credibility.

"We became tired from these attacks. Every day there is discussion in the parliament," she said. "I'm against this kind of operation, very much against."

The bombings are costing the United States the support of the civilian population, said Wardak, an independent not affiliated with a party who described herself as a moderate. "Every time this bombardment happens by drone, tomorrow we discuss this matter in the parliament. And I'm so sorry that when we discuss this matter, American country and their leadership, their soldiers, they are losing their popularity among the M.P.s and also among, especially, the people. Very much they are losing their popularity," she said.

A new short film, to be released Thursday by Brave New Films and provided to the Huffington Post, interviews victims of those bombings. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with another $100 billion, over the objections of an antiwar faction of Democrats.

Be warned. It's not pretty.

Ryan Grim's book, This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America, is now out

Comments

[Lisa Savage]

Listen to the women of Afghanistan.

[maddogger]

This is the war we are not seeing at home.

[opine2u]

The Definition of Pure Insanity - America spending Hundreds of Billions of Dollars killing Hundreds of Thousands of Innocent civilians, in a mad dash to capture ONE World Criminal Mastermind with an unknown whereabouts, supposedly dwelling in a mountain side cave somewhere in Pakistan. Destroying an entire country and its crops that feed its people all for the sake of holding on to lands that don't belong to them, and to set up bases for future wars anticipated by the Commander in Chief and his Military Staff from out of thin air, on hunches and assumptions, based on deep psychological Military fears, without rhyme or reason, in a territory so far removed from any possibility of it having any relevance should any future conflict ever arise. All of this idiocy at the expense of America's reputation and its own financial stability.
Any bets, this administration will throw more money, troop's lives and civilian casualties at this insidious war leading nowhere. How many more will have to die to appease the Pentagon God's in their war rooms in Washington and around the world. Osama Bin Laden is not worth all of this Military madness.

[Joethepauper]

I found some films of Afghanistan pre-Taliban, pre Soviet invasion, pre 9-11. It's from 1965, and the people looked relatively prosperous and happy. Check out the second half of #33.....Afghan girls dancing around and smiling. I had to find something positive to counter this video. We should stop dropping 2000 lb. b0mbs and start dropping food and shoes. That guy shouldn't have to sell one daughter to be able to feed the other one. I'm not sure what the solution is, but I'm positive b0mbs aren't it. Arm Afghan women and girls with .22 cal. handguns and they will get rid of the Taliban for us. Every time a Taliban thug tries to do something (like throwing acid or beating legs).....­bang.....o­ne less Taliban for the women of Afghanistan to deal with (and our soldiers have one fewer Taliban to kill or capture).

Anyway, if anyone wants to see Afghanistan footage from 1965:
http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=kintner%20AND%20mediatype%3Amovies%20AND%20Afghanistan

[lkhstar]

What a terrible tragedy. I understand Obama is just keeping with his campaign promises but this needs to stop now, and perhaps we have only ourselves to blame since most of the public still supports this war. It's time to change that before it's too late and we endanger not just our reputation but our lives

[Delaware22]

Heartbreaking! War sucks! Just like the US flag-draped coffins, we need to see the reality of war every evening on the news. Maybe then, we will stop funding this nightmare. I expected better from Obama; hopefully, my vote wasn't wasted.

[Sngbrd02]

It is so sad to watch all of these images of dead and dying children. It is important for the American military to acknowledge that killing innocent civilians is breeding more anger and resentment towards American troops. As many people in Afghanistan are saying, "When you bomb a village and kill a civilian, you've lost that village forever."

[bobbyperu]

I'm afraid that if our plan isn't changed.

LBJ = Vietnam
BHO = Afghanistan

[longtimegone]

And the War on Poverty and the quest for social justice was postponed for forty years; no different now: green energy, universal health care, an end to the spy apparatus trained on Americans, no progress.

[Dionsmusica]

This is another segment of the Afghan war that is ineffective. When you're in country, all they talk about is now trying to capture hearts and minds, and then you have this happening, all over the place, and frequently. It will be impossible to befriend large swaths of the Afghan population when we're killing their people.

[zepfan81]

Which is why the "winning hearts and minds" strategy almost NEVER works. In fact in our history I don't think it ever has despite numerous efforts. It seems we only attempt to use it on "poor little brown people" as if they have no pride.

[gbrooks]

C'mon you Dem SOB's, aren't you against these wars and the senseless killings? Are you too scared to demand that your Congress DOESN'T fund this $hite? Do you vote for them again, despite the fact that they don't listen to the will of the people?

Come ON, enough excuses! We should demand a withdrawal and if they don't listen, give 'em a little reminder that they serve at OUR LEISURE!

[victorsays]

This is the true question for American do you want your soldier to sent into the line with the possibility of being killed but the casualty of innocence civillian will be reduce? Or do you want your UAV bombing villages killing both the enemy and civillians?

[bobbyperu]

How bout a third option that says that we shouldn't be there in the first place?

[zepfan81]

Explain, practically, how civilians aren't going to get hurt in a war? No matter how precise the weapons are, no matter how careful the troops are it is literally physically impossible to NOT hurt a civilian if they are in a combat zone. It happens here to a lesser extent in our inner cities. The simply fact is in war civilians can either become refuges or they can stay where they are and at the very least will have their property damaged. In war everyone dies, When will be finally realize this and stop thinking we can somehow make it less brutal?

[clevelandchick]

In WW1 civilian casualties were 10% all war deaths, WWII they were 40%, in Vietnam it was 70% and in Iraq/Afghanistan the civilian casualties are 90% of all deaths.

What caused that rapid increase of death among civilians and innocents is directly attributed to the military's reliance on air warfare. In the case of poor country like Afghanistan and a rag-tag guerilla force like the Taliban, the use of strategic bombing missions (an oxymoron if there ever was one) is akin to bringing a gun to a knife fight.

There is no such thing as a 'smart bomb'. Killing dozens or hundreds of Afghan civilians to take out a few Taliban is an insane counterproductive and downright evil military strategy.

[federalist papers fan]

Don't forget that the insurgents are waging war amongst the civilian population where as WWI and WWII the combatants were easily distinguishable military units.

[DrunkenTromboneMaster]

Bush Lite tastes great, doesn't it?

[clevelandchick]

It's definitely less filling.

[GreatNews27]

So now we have to stop exporting the one thing we're good at? Sheesh, killing innocent civilians is the only way to keep using all those bombs our tax dollars are paying for. Do you really want to put thousands more out of work? We have to keep bombing or the bomb makers will suffer. Get a clue!!

[fcsakes]

Precision bombing?

War is never ending, it sucks us dry, takes our young men and women, takes our money and resources. It murders innocents. Life is very short, little time for laughter, learning, gathering families, why do we keep destroying it? I cried all the way through this but tears are nothing, it is only that I feel so impotent.

This is wrong this is wrong this is wrong. We are hated, despised, incompetent warriors and we deserve it. All this because g.w.b. needed to duplicate and surpass his father in raining death on innocents.

Maybe I am wrong, but I feel we could be there building schools and hospitals, planting trees and crops, digging wells. How long do you think the taliban would last against that? Have we tried it?