Monday, October 05, 2015

Will dog-shields be more useful than human-shields?

So, US forces bombed a hospital in Kunduz in Afghanistan killing 10 patients and 12 staff members. Three children also died. So what? The US gives itself the right to bomb anywhere or kill anyone in the world as it likes and then either justify it on the grounds that baddies were hiding there or just shrug it off as 'collateral damage'. After all they have been killing thousands of Afghans for years with cutely named Daisycutter bombs and drones and no one has dared to question why. After every incident of slaughter of civilians the US says oops and promises to investigate the incident, which is like asking Jack the Ripper to investigate himself. However, this time it is different because the hospital was being run by a western charity based in Geneva in Switzerland, called Medecins Sans Frontieres and they are refusing to remain silent. They say that they had recently given the GPS coordinates of the hospital to US command and repeatedly phoned contacts in the Afghan government and in Washington to stop the bombing but it still went on for an hour and it hit the hospital precisely, while leaving the courtyard intact. They call it a war crime and have demanded an independent investigation. The US Commander, fellow called General John Campbell claimed that civilians were struck accidentally. He must think that people elsewhere are idiots. And he maybe right. No one ever questions America's right to kill anywhere it likes and in this it is supported by its triad partners, Britain and Australia. Thus the US has the right to supply weapons to 'moderate terrorists' in Syria, to get rid of the baddie, Bashar al-Assad, while bombing ISIS positions, and if a few, or hundreds of civilians die in the process then oops, it was collateral damage and they will investigate. But if Russia bombs terrorists in Syria then Putin is a thug. The strange thing is that the Indian media repeats this garbage endlessly without any analysis. Wonder why. Occasionally there is a bit of hand wringing by a western journalist but India seems to have accepted US hegemony with total humility, while claiming to be non-aligned. But violence breeds violence. In 2015 there have been 294 mass shootings, where at least 4 people have been shot, and 45 school shootings in the US. Till 31 August US police had killed 776 people, of whom 745 were men, about 2.5 everyday. These baboons even shot and killed a disabled man in a wheelchair who wanted to kill himself with a gun. Want to commit suicide, call US police. Of course Americans are also very kind-hearted. Dozens of dogs being bred for meat in South Korea were rescued by a US organisation and taken to the US where they will be put up for adoption. And the dogs were of every color, including brown. Perhaps all hospitals should use dogs as shields. That will keep them safe.

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