U.S. Airstrikes Kill, Not Protect, Afghan Women

Source: Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty "Wounded Afghan women lie in beds in a hospital in Mihtarlam, Laghman Province, on September 16, when NATO was accused of killing eight women who were gathering wood."

Afghan women out gathering firewood to cook breakfast were victims of a U.S. airstrike last weekend in the mountainous eastern part of the country. Some are hospitalized; eight of them will no longer have to worry about their rights under NATO occupation, because they are dead. The president of Afghanistan bleated loudly while the U.S. apologized to the families. ("Apologized" in this context means saying we are fighting the war on terror and your mother/wife/sister/grandmother/daughter was just collateral damage and here's some money.)

According to the New York Times report:

The airstrikes took place in the Alingar district of Laghman Province. The coalition said the strikes were called in around 2 a.m. during a firefight with insurgents that had been spotted moving through the area...

Coalition forces were apparently unaware that village women sometimes go into the woods in the early hours of the morning to fetch wood for cooking fires they need to have going by breakfast time.

Source: Reuters / women gathering cooking fuel in Bagram, northern Afghanistan

Sign my petition here to ask Amnesty International-USA to stop promoting the lie that NATO presence in Afghanistan benefits women.

Women in Pakistan, another U.S. "ally" and one that shares that mountainous border with Afghanistan, get killed by airstrikes, too. As do their husbands/fathers/sons/uncles/nephews and even their todllers and infants.

Source: The Atlantic, from a story on women in Peshawar, Pakistan protesting airstrikes that kill civilians on a regular basis.

CODEPINK and allies will be making a trip to Pakistan to stand with the families of airstrike victims in October. You can still join the Peace Delegation, or make a donation for a scholarship.

Meanwhile blowback included violent demonstrations against U.S. visible presence around the world at embassies in Thailand, Indonesia, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Kashmir, London and Benghazi (killed the ambassador there). US News & World Report said their polling showed the embassy attacks were the most watched news stories last week, even more than infotainment about the upcoming corporate-sponsored presidential election.

Most in the U.S. will believe mainstream media spin that these demonstrations are about an amateurish film insulting the founder of Islam. Sure they are. Presumably they have nothing to do with decades of violent repression of democracy and life around the globe.

I'll leave you with a favorite tweet from first anniversary of Occupy Wall St. demonstrations in NYC on September 17:

AliAbunimah: BREAKING: NYPD vows to protect Wall Street holy sites from angry protestors bent on offending the profit. #s17 #MuslimRage