Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, announced at the Pentagon today that the drone attack that killed 10 members of an extended family in Kabul as the U.S. was withdrawing troops and civilians was a “mistake.” “This strike was taken in the earnest belief that it would prevent an imminent threat to our forces and the evacuees at the airport, but it was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology,” he said. He further said that he was “fully responsible for this strike and this tragic outcome.”
The question to be asked is the intention to continue fighting “terrorists” with “over the horizon” drone strikes, which has been the policy for years, with many other “mistakes” which are seldom acknowledged, or will they finally stop this barbarian practice, which has driven many of the “pilots” crazy, sitting in their offices in Nevada or elsewhere killing “targets” and whoever happens to be near them? Unfortunately, President Biden said last month that the U.S. would continue using the “over the horizon” drone attacks anywhere they found targets considered to be terrorists.
The Pentagon had claimed that the Kabul target was a suicide bomber heading to the airport, but a New York Times investigation followed the driver through his daily routine on CCTV footage, proving he was a nothing of the sort, and that hitting him in his own driveway resulted in the killing of women and children living there. The story that there were “secondary explosions” proving there were explosives in his car was simply a lie. Gen. Mark Milley had called it a “righteous strike,” but today issued a statement: “In a dynamic high-threat environment, the commanders on the ground had appropriate authority and had reasonable certainty that the target was valid, but after deeper post-strike analysis, our conclusion is that innocent civilians were killed. This is a horrible tragedy of war and it’s heart wrenching and we are committed to being fully transparent about this incident.” Perhaps he and others will finally admit that the 71,000 Afghan civilians killed over the past 20 years — and hundreds of thousands of combatants — were equally “heart wrenching” and a “horrible tragedy” — but then, someone would have to be held accountable.
