“Pretty Understanding” vs “Shocked and Angry”

Afghan villagers are “understanding” but “not happy” following the apparent deaths of nine children in an American airstrike … “They’re pretty understanding,” said Hilferty, who was among the U.S. officials who traveled to the village, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southwest of Kabul.

“The people are very afraid. They have no idea why the Americans bombed their village.” … US troops have launched counter-insurgency operations across the south, killing dozens of civilians. “We don’t know how many civilians are being killed around the country, because nobody’s counting. Most places are too dangerous for foreigners to reach,” said a senior UN official in Kabul yesterday. “But the little we know is very worrying.”

Seven boys, ages 8 to 12, were playing marbles in front of a house, and two girls ages 9 and 10 were fetching water from the stream alongside when the planes struck at 10:45 a.m. Their rockets made 30 to 40 small craters in the ground around where the children died. The young man, their uncle, rushed toward the stream after the first plane struck and was cut down beside them, his mother said. Shocked and angry, villagers were mourning their children in this small hamlet.

Patches of dried blood, and the pitiful pile of hats and shoes, are the only evidence that remains of a bombing raid that went horribly wrong. The intended target was Mullah Wazir, a former member of the Taliban, described by the United States ambassador in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, as a “financier, facilitator, and organiser of terrorist attacks”. Locals say he is a businessman who imports motorcycles from Iran. The Americans are insistent they killed the man, but people in the village say Mullah Wazir left 10 days ago, after another raid nearby.

The attack, which does not seem to have netted the suspected Taliban member it was aiming at, raises questions as to the effectiveness of using air power to catch fugitive Taliban and Al Qaeda sheltering in villages.

An expert on military technology expressed some surprise at reports that U.S. forces employed an A-10, known for its ability to wipe out a broad swath of ground targets, if U.S. forces were aiming for one individual. “I have seen them in action, and they can lay down a pretty withering amount of ordnance,” … initial press accounts, suggesting that U.S. forces were in pursuit of one individual, raised questions such as, “Why were they using this aircraft? Why weren’t they using ground troops? ? I hate to say it, but the A-10 is kind of overkill if you’re trying to get one person.”

One 30 mm GAU-8/A seven-barrel Gatling gun; up to 16,000 pounds (7,200 kilograms) of mixed ordnance on eight under-wing and three under-fuselage pylon stations, including 500 pounds (225 kilograms) of Mk-82 and 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms) of Mk-84 series … The A10 Warthog is the first Air Force aircraft specially designed for close air support of ground forces. They are simple, effective and survivable twin-engine jet aircraft that can be used against all ground targets, including tanks and other armored vehicles … The A10 Warthog’s 30mm GAU-8/A Gatling gun can fire 3,900 rounds a minute and can defeat an array of ground targets to include tanks. Some of their other equipment includes an inertial navigation system, electronic countermeasures, target penetration aids, self-protection systems, and AGM-65 Maverick and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.