http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/world/asia/23afghan.html
This article is about NATO forces sending an air strike against what appeared to be Afghan insurgents, but resulted in a very large number of civilian deaths. This is not the first time that a NATO led operation has resulted in a high number of innocent casualties. The United States led Special Forces thought they were attacking insurgents en-route to attack a NATO unit not far from where they were situated. NATO has offered their apologies, but remain that it was in the best strategy to do what they did, based on their knowledge of the situation. This is the first large civilian death total since new measures taken last June to limit air attacks to only defensive missions.
Events such as this can have terrible effects on international relations. When civilians are being killed, government officials and the public can have rightfully severe negative reactions to it. Its understood that innocent lives can be a casualty of war, but it takes a toll after awhile. These "accidents" can occur with a startling frequency, and could possibly help people form beliefs that terrorism and other acts of destruction are legitimate forms of payback. I do not have a solution on how to perform valuable military strategy without ever causing innocent casualties. As of right now, NATO forces are doing their best to limit casualties, but it seems as if we might need more than that to keep the innocent from paying a terrible debt.
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There is a fairly recent article in The Economist that explains how NATO and US forces wore t-shirts that read "Just Do Marja," publicizing their plans to attack the Taliban controlled region. NATO has been making their intent and planned offensives public knowledge in an attempt to clear out all civilians before they attack. However civilian deaths are still increasing, because the Taliban won't let civilians leave the area. In another article I read, the Taliban have even gone so far as to use civilians as human shields. People can accuse NATO of not taking the effort to prevent civilian deaths, but there are so many sides to the story that are untold. I think we need to realize that NATO is trying to minimize civilian casualties, but we should also encourage them to go beyond their duties to protect innocent people. We the public should stay informed before we make judgments about the actions taken in war, or misunderstanding will arise and further complicate bad situations.
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