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why some of arabs hate USA?
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Gharib
I want Khilafah back
Killing of Afghan civilians covered-up by Australian military
By James Cogan
19 May 2009
Information has surfaced this month that the Australian military has covered up the role of Special Air Service (SAS) personnel in the killing and wounding of civilians in Afghanistan.
In July 2006, a car occupied by the relatives of Afghan parliamentarian Haji Abdul Khaliq was riddled with gunfire. His brother-in-law was killed, his wife blinded and four others suffered varying degrees of injury. One young woman had to have her leg amputated.
The incident occurred close to Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province, the base of operations for a force of Dutch and Australian troops.
Local Afghan officials blamed the attack on an Australian patrol. Both the US and Australian military, however, denied that any operations had been taking place in the area. In February 2007, the head of the Defence Forces, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, testified before an Australian Senate inquiry: “We investigated it and we found no evidence of Australian troops involved in what was described as happening.”
The new information, contained in a Defence Department investigation and brought to light by the Melbourne Age, reveals that an SAS patrol had been operating in the immediate vicinity of the incident. The patrol had reported a “contact”—the firing of its weapons at an alleged enemy target. A Defence source told the Age that the SAS was monitoring movements along the roads and might have opened fire on the Khaliq family vehicle, suspecting it was carrying Taliban insurgents.
Khaliq told the Age that local sources had said to him that the Australian troops gave no signal for the vehicle to stop and that its windows were clear, enabling them to see that its occupants included women. After pouring gunfire into the car, the SAS made no attempt to assist the wounded.
The Age claimed that it was “almost certain” this information was not passed on to Houston before he gave his testimony to the parliamentary committee, where he was questioned about the incident.
This beggars belief. If true, it means that relatively low-ranking Defence Department investigators made a unilateral decision not to inform the head of the armed forces or the then government of Prime Minister John Howard that Australian troops may have killed and maimed the family of an Afghan politician.
If false, it means that both Houston and the Howard government lied to the parliament in order to conceal the fact that Australian operations had resulted in the slaughter of innocent Afghan civilians.
The response of the present Labor government has been to ensure that no independent investigation takes place into the cover up. Instead, it has attempted to bury the issue by requesting that Houston arrange for the military to investigate itself and report back to the defence minister.
In general, such internal inquiries find that the responsibility for civilian deaths cannot be determined, or were the result of a tragic accident—the “collateral damage” of war.
The reality is that the killing of civilians takes place in every war of occupation. It is one of the means used by the occupier to terrorise a population into submission. The illegal occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq have been accompanied by just such indiscriminate killings, along with collective punishment, assassinations, arbitrary detention and torture.
In Uruzgan province and other areas of southern Afghanistan, Australian special forces are at the forefront of a campaign of assassinations that has repeatedly resulted in civilian deaths.
In November 2007, the SAS killed three men, two women and a child during an assault on an alleged insurgent house. The intended target was not there. Last September, they shot dead a district governor and another man during another botched assassination attempt.
Australian forces are also accused of killing four civilians and injuring a number of others in January, during reprisal operations aimed at locating the insurgents responsible for the death of an SAS trooper. In February, they killed at least five children during a firefight with the Taliban.
During March and April, the Australian SAS reportedly carried a major operation in parts of Helmand province that resulted in the deaths of 80 alleged “Taliban”. In at least one case, it called in US air strikes on a civilian house where an insurgent commander was allegedly making a last stand.
This month, the military claimed that the SAS located and assassinated a local Taliban leader named Mullah Noorullah. The Australian explained on May 14 that the use of the SAS for targeted assassinations was “an Afghan variation on the Vietnam-era Phoenix Program”.
The Phoenix program involved the systematic murder of Vietnamese civilians suspected of supporting the Viet Cong (VC). In case after case, American special forces massacred men, women and children who were the family members of an alleged VC leader or innocent bystanders. Between 20,000 and 70,000 people were murdered and tens of thousands more were detained and tortured.
The same criminal methods were used in Latin American countries throughout the 1970s and 1980s by American funded and trained death squads to prop up pro-US rightwing dictatorships.
Australian troops, deployed in Afghanistan by the Labor government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, are performing a similar role today, on behalf of the strategic and economic interests of Australian and US imperialism.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/sasa-m19.shtml
i will get you one more article/video to look at.
By James Cogan
19 May 2009
Information has surfaced this month that the Australian military has covered up the role of Special Air Service (SAS) personnel in the killing and wounding of civilians in Afghanistan.
In July 2006, a car occupied by the relatives of Afghan parliamentarian Haji Abdul Khaliq was riddled with gunfire. His brother-in-law was killed, his wife blinded and four others suffered varying degrees of injury. One young woman had to have her leg amputated.
The incident occurred close to Tarin Kowt in Uruzgan province, the base of operations for a force of Dutch and Australian troops.
Local Afghan officials blamed the attack on an Australian patrol. Both the US and Australian military, however, denied that any operations had been taking place in the area. In February 2007, the head of the Defence Forces, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, testified before an Australian Senate inquiry: “We investigated it and we found no evidence of Australian troops involved in what was described as happening.”
The new information, contained in a Defence Department investigation and brought to light by the Melbourne Age, reveals that an SAS patrol had been operating in the immediate vicinity of the incident. The patrol had reported a “contact”—the firing of its weapons at an alleged enemy target. A Defence source told the Age that the SAS was monitoring movements along the roads and might have opened fire on the Khaliq family vehicle, suspecting it was carrying Taliban insurgents.
Khaliq told the Age that local sources had said to him that the Australian troops gave no signal for the vehicle to stop and that its windows were clear, enabling them to see that its occupants included women. After pouring gunfire into the car, the SAS made no attempt to assist the wounded.
The Age claimed that it was “almost certain” this information was not passed on to Houston before he gave his testimony to the parliamentary committee, where he was questioned about the incident.
This beggars belief. If true, it means that relatively low-ranking Defence Department investigators made a unilateral decision not to inform the head of the armed forces or the then government of Prime Minister John Howard that Australian troops may have killed and maimed the family of an Afghan politician.
If false, it means that both Houston and the Howard government lied to the parliament in order to conceal the fact that Australian operations had resulted in the slaughter of innocent Afghan civilians.
The response of the present Labor government has been to ensure that no independent investigation takes place into the cover up. Instead, it has attempted to bury the issue by requesting that Houston arrange for the military to investigate itself and report back to the defence minister.
In general, such internal inquiries find that the responsibility for civilian deaths cannot be determined, or were the result of a tragic accident—the “collateral damage” of war.
The reality is that the killing of civilians takes place in every war of occupation. It is one of the means used by the occupier to terrorise a population into submission. The illegal occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq have been accompanied by just such indiscriminate killings, along with collective punishment, assassinations, arbitrary detention and torture.
In Uruzgan province and other areas of southern Afghanistan, Australian special forces are at the forefront of a campaign of assassinations that has repeatedly resulted in civilian deaths.
In November 2007, the SAS killed three men, two women and a child during an assault on an alleged insurgent house. The intended target was not there. Last September, they shot dead a district governor and another man during another botched assassination attempt.
Australian forces are also accused of killing four civilians and injuring a number of others in January, during reprisal operations aimed at locating the insurgents responsible for the death of an SAS trooper. In February, they killed at least five children during a firefight with the Taliban.
During March and April, the Australian SAS reportedly carried a major operation in parts of Helmand province that resulted in the deaths of 80 alleged “Taliban”. In at least one case, it called in US air strikes on a civilian house where an insurgent commander was allegedly making a last stand.
This month, the military claimed that the SAS located and assassinated a local Taliban leader named Mullah Noorullah. The Australian explained on May 14 that the use of the SAS for targeted assassinations was “an Afghan variation on the Vietnam-era Phoenix Program”.
The Phoenix program involved the systematic murder of Vietnamese civilians suspected of supporting the Viet Cong (VC). In case after case, American special forces massacred men, women and children who were the family members of an alleged VC leader or innocent bystanders. Between 20,000 and 70,000 people were murdered and tens of thousands more were detained and tortured.
The same criminal methods were used in Latin American countries throughout the 1970s and 1980s by American funded and trained death squads to prop up pro-US rightwing dictatorships.
Australian troops, deployed in Afghanistan by the Labor government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, are performing a similar role today, on behalf of the strategic and economic interests of Australian and US imperialism.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/sasa-m19.shtml
i will get you one more article/video to look at.
Unfortunatly this is nothing unique, it is what happens in wars. One of the reasons I hate them so much... so many innocent people die. It does not really matter which side you are on in that way, it will happen sooner or later.
Not saying the people that does it shouldn´t be held accountable, they should. But to say it is just happening on one side is just naive.
Gharib
I want Khilafah back
where did i say that it's happening just on one side?
islam does not allow the killing of innocents no matter what, now you think about that. we do not go to fight wars inside populated cities, check the histoy of islam, it ruled for 1000 years show me one case where a civilian was killed during any war?
Gharib
I want Khilafah back
this is the transcript don't know if the video will play
A Survivor's Tale
This is how Australia first learnt that five children had been killed by ADF soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK EVANS, CHIEF OF JOINT OPERATIONS: During the conduct of this operation there was an exchange of fire between our forces and the Taliban. Tragically, a number of people were killed and wounded during this incident. Current reporting indicates that those killed include a suspected insurgent and, sadly, local nationals including five children killed and two children and two adults injured.
REPORTER: Can you give us any more details about how the children came to be caught in the crossfire? Was it dark? Was there a mistake?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK EVANS: The operation was conducted in the hours of darkness. I don't want to go into the tactical details with regards to the operation. What I can say is that we're conducting an investigation and the outcomes of that investigation will be made available to the Australian public.
REPORTER: Were they shot dead or was there an air strike called in?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK EVANS: I won't go into the tactical aspects of the operation.
But what actually happened that night? Who were these five children? How exactly did they die? And how did Australian troops make such a terrible mistake?
FAZEL RESHAD, JOURNALIST: He drove from Kabul to Kandahar - about seven hours.
We turned to a producer Dateline had previously worked with in Afghanistan, Fazel Reshad.
FAZEL RESHAD: It's very difficult for a journalist to get to Kandahar and to this village, it’s very very hard, it's not easy.
Fazel now lives here in Australia, but on our behalf, he asked his brother in Afghanistan, Wahab, to find survivors from that night. Wahab managed to track down people from the village of Surkh Morghab, 12 kilometres from the Australian base at Tarin Kowt in Oruzgan province. They had fled to Kandahar, where Wahab, who is not a professional cameraman, found them sheltering in this house. And for the first time, we are able to hear a version of events from the Afghan side.
This is Zaher Khan, and inside are his wife, and his children.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Can you tell us from the beginning how this incident took place?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): It was the worst time. Why should you care? God never visits this upon any other Muslim. We were at home and suddenly they burst in. Soldiers and fighters.. those Australians.
Khan says his sister-in-law, next door, heard the commotion and thought there were thieves at the house.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): She shouted to my brother, Amrullah Khan “Hurry up, there are thieves!” they thought there were thieves. And the soldiers threw bombs at them, killed him, his wife and their baby and blew them to pieces. So they were killed, my daughter got killed.. dear Malalai.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): How old was your daughter?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): My daughter was seven.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Do you remember what kind of weaponsthe Australian soldiers used in the attack? Heavy or light?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): They didn’t use heavy weapons, they had machine guns and grenades, but they threw the grenades at us.
Ferzad is Khan's 9-year-old son.
FERZAD KHAN (Translation): I was asleep that night and suddenly I heard bangs. Grenades were exploding and I woke up to see the foreigners taking my father away and there was still gunfire and other stuff. After that there were pieces of flesh everywhere. My uncle was killed and that was the worst incident.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Were you scared, and are you still scared?
ZERZAD KHAN (Translation): Yes, I was scared, my sisters, my brothers, we were all very scared.
Khan says the Australians placed a bag over his head and that he was taken away for questioning but released the next day.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): They took me to Tarin Kowt air base. My brother was blown to pieces - he was murdered on the spot. They returned the dead body to us and they released me the next day in the afternoon and they took the injured to the hospital. Well, they took some of the injured to Tarin Kowt air base.. and the others were taken to Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar.
Wahab, the local cameraman, went to the Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar to see if there was any official account of the death of Khan's daughter Malalai.
DR KARIM SAYDI, SURGEON (Translation): We get many civilian injuries from Helmand, Urozghan and nearby provinces. Let me check the record to see when the injured girl came in.
Dr Karim Saydi is a surgeon at the Mirwais Hospital.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Please, could you tell me first of all, was it a boy or a girl?
DR KARIM SAYDI (Translation): It was a girl.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): How old was she?
DR KARIM SAYDI (Translation): She was seven years old. When they brought the girl in, she had been severely injured and was already dead. She had died from severe shrapnel wounds - she had been critically wounded and didn’t survive.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): On what date was she brought in?
DR KARIM SAYDI (Translation): It was February 13. When we asked them who carried out the attack, they said the attack was carried out by NATO and Australian troops on our homes and village. And this little girl was wounded and now is dead. We asked the people who brought her in what her name was and they said it was Malalai.
to continue
A Survivor's Tale
This is how Australia first learnt that five children had been killed by ADF soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK EVANS, CHIEF OF JOINT OPERATIONS: During the conduct of this operation there was an exchange of fire between our forces and the Taliban. Tragically, a number of people were killed and wounded during this incident. Current reporting indicates that those killed include a suspected insurgent and, sadly, local nationals including five children killed and two children and two adults injured.
REPORTER: Can you give us any more details about how the children came to be caught in the crossfire? Was it dark? Was there a mistake?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK EVANS: The operation was conducted in the hours of darkness. I don't want to go into the tactical details with regards to the operation. What I can say is that we're conducting an investigation and the outcomes of that investigation will be made available to the Australian public.
REPORTER: Were they shot dead or was there an air strike called in?
LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK EVANS: I won't go into the tactical aspects of the operation.
But what actually happened that night? Who were these five children? How exactly did they die? And how did Australian troops make such a terrible mistake?
FAZEL RESHAD, JOURNALIST: He drove from Kabul to Kandahar - about seven hours.
We turned to a producer Dateline had previously worked with in Afghanistan, Fazel Reshad.
FAZEL RESHAD: It's very difficult for a journalist to get to Kandahar and to this village, it’s very very hard, it's not easy.
Fazel now lives here in Australia, but on our behalf, he asked his brother in Afghanistan, Wahab, to find survivors from that night. Wahab managed to track down people from the village of Surkh Morghab, 12 kilometres from the Australian base at Tarin Kowt in Oruzgan province. They had fled to Kandahar, where Wahab, who is not a professional cameraman, found them sheltering in this house. And for the first time, we are able to hear a version of events from the Afghan side.
This is Zaher Khan, and inside are his wife, and his children.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Can you tell us from the beginning how this incident took place?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): It was the worst time. Why should you care? God never visits this upon any other Muslim. We were at home and suddenly they burst in. Soldiers and fighters.. those Australians.
Khan says his sister-in-law, next door, heard the commotion and thought there were thieves at the house.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): She shouted to my brother, Amrullah Khan “Hurry up, there are thieves!” they thought there were thieves. And the soldiers threw bombs at them, killed him, his wife and their baby and blew them to pieces. So they were killed, my daughter got killed.. dear Malalai.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): How old was your daughter?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): My daughter was seven.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Do you remember what kind of weaponsthe Australian soldiers used in the attack? Heavy or light?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): They didn’t use heavy weapons, they had machine guns and grenades, but they threw the grenades at us.
Ferzad is Khan's 9-year-old son.
FERZAD KHAN (Translation): I was asleep that night and suddenly I heard bangs. Grenades were exploding and I woke up to see the foreigners taking my father away and there was still gunfire and other stuff. After that there were pieces of flesh everywhere. My uncle was killed and that was the worst incident.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Were you scared, and are you still scared?
ZERZAD KHAN (Translation): Yes, I was scared, my sisters, my brothers, we were all very scared.
Khan says the Australians placed a bag over his head and that he was taken away for questioning but released the next day.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): They took me to Tarin Kowt air base. My brother was blown to pieces - he was murdered on the spot. They returned the dead body to us and they released me the next day in the afternoon and they took the injured to the hospital. Well, they took some of the injured to Tarin Kowt air base.. and the others were taken to Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar.
Wahab, the local cameraman, went to the Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar to see if there was any official account of the death of Khan's daughter Malalai.
DR KARIM SAYDI, SURGEON (Translation): We get many civilian injuries from Helmand, Urozghan and nearby provinces. Let me check the record to see when the injured girl came in.
Dr Karim Saydi is a surgeon at the Mirwais Hospital.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Please, could you tell me first of all, was it a boy or a girl?
DR KARIM SAYDI (Translation): It was a girl.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): How old was she?
DR KARIM SAYDI (Translation): She was seven years old. When they brought the girl in, she had been severely injured and was already dead. She had died from severe shrapnel wounds - she had been critically wounded and didn’t survive.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): On what date was she brought in?
DR KARIM SAYDI (Translation): It was February 13. When we asked them who carried out the attack, they said the attack was carried out by NATO and Australian troops on our homes and village. And this little girl was wounded and now is dead. We asked the people who brought her in what her name was and they said it was Malalai.
to continue
Gharib
I want Khilafah back
continued
Zaher Khan tells us that aside from his daughter Malalai, seven people in total were killed by the Australian troops.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): One was Amrullah, my brother – God bless him. His wife, 25 years old – she was killed. A six–month–old baby was killed – still breastfed – very small. A three-year-old and my daughter, who was seven, were killed. My sister, who was staying with us, was injured and my sister-in-law’s nephew was killed.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Those who were killed, in what way did they die?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): One of them was struck in the neck.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Was it a man or a woman?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): It was a woman, my brother was blown to pieces from the waist down, I can’t describe how bad it was below his stomach. They killed him very savagely. What they did was criminal.
Kids were hit in the stomach, one had a leg blown off – we could not find it.
Khan claims there was no warning before the raid.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): No, my brother, I wish they had the decency to warn us before attacking, without finding out if there were women, children, babies.. it was night and everyone was asleep. They did not care, they just burst in suddenly.
Khan acknowledges there are often Taliban fighters in the surrounding areas, but claims there were none around his house at the time.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): Well, there are Taliban around the area, but there were no Taliban in my home – no sign of them. We didn’t even talk about them. It’s possible there are Taliban in the area, there are Taliban everywhere – I don’t deny there are Taliban.
The Department of Defence says that Australian troops were fired upon by Taliban insurgents. But Khan says that didn't happen.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): When the Australian troops attacked your familywas there any return fire from the people in your area?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): No, no one fired at them, they just suddenly rushed into my house.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Did you or anyone else see any dead members of the Taliban afterwards?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): No, they were all civilians – poor people in their homes. People who work all day to put food on the table, they are not Taliban, they are not armed.
Even if the killing of innocent civilians is unintentional, armies still have a legal obligation to prove they did not act recklessly in causing civilian deaths.
DR BEN SAUL, SYDNEY CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW: If you acted recklessly, then it still could be a war crime.
Dr Ben Saul is director of the Centre for International Law at Sydney University and he's also worked as a barrister at the International Criminal Tribunal investigating war crimes in Yugoslavia.
DR BEN SAUL: So the important thing is to ensure that your taking proper precautions to identify the enemy and to identify the civilians in the area and the likely costs to those civilians. So the question then becomes - what was the information upon which the Australian forces relied? How good was that information, what was the quality of it? Where did it come from? And depending upon the answers to those questions, you might find whether Australian forces were reckless or not.
Dateline asked the Department of Defence for a response to the allegation that Zaher Khan and his family were the victims of an unprovoked attack. They declined our request for an interview, saying in a statement that until their investigation is complete it would be inappropriate for Defence to comment... The Department also would not say when the investigation would be completed, or whether all its findings would be made available to the public.
The Minister for Defence, Joel Fitzgibbon, also declined to respond to any specific allegations raised by the Khan family. He issued a statement saying the incident is very distressing and of course, profoundly regrettable... But he also told Dateline... “I know that our troops operate within robust rules of engagement, in conformity with international law and I have no reason to doubt they were doing just that on this occasion”
Zaher Khan claims the Australians later returned and apologised.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): Later, they realised it was a ******** operation, they must have received a false report – they realised they had made a mistake. Innocent people died – they apologised.. my other younger daughter was murdered, God bless her. Will it feed us, bring back the dead, they are all murdered now – so an apology is ********. They need to do things carefully, people who help them – like interpreters – must be good or they will have civilian blood on their hands.
Khan says his surviving children have been traumatised by the attack.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): So now he has psychological problems, he is scared day and night now. It was a terrible incident for us and has affected our minds. They can’t sleep alone at night, they can’t go out, they have flashbacks, they can still see dead bodies, injuries. They keep screaming ‘There’s my uncle – the soldiers are coming again.’ It is always in their minds.
FERZAD KHAN (Translation): What can I want? Everything I had they have taken away. I am left with nothing – what can I say? They have finished us.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Do your brothers and sisters go outside at all?
FERZAD KHAN (Translation): No, we are always too scared, we are afraid they might attack again, they might bring back that horrible time.
Khan says the Australian troops haven't offered any compensation.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): Since that incident, about nine days ago, we haven’t received help from anyone - all they did was take some injured to hospital. This is a terrible time with the worst conditions, we have no food, no clothes, there is no room for us.
Zaher Khan says he understands the sacrifices of the Australian soldiers, but he can't forgive them.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): I understand these soldiers have left their country, their families and their comfortable lives to come and provide security and bring stability for us. The soldiers have left their families and their homes to bring security, sad incidents like this happen, but it resulted in harm and death for my family. Later the soldiers are sorry for their mistakes, what good is that to us? You tell me. They have promised us help but they have done nothing.
GEORGE NEGUS: During the week, the Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, informed us that the Oruzgan incident would be "thoroughly investigated by the ADF." Not to put too fine a point on it, you'd certainly hope so.
SBS Dateline | A Survivor s Tale
Zaher Khan tells us that aside from his daughter Malalai, seven people in total were killed by the Australian troops.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): One was Amrullah, my brother – God bless him. His wife, 25 years old – she was killed. A six–month–old baby was killed – still breastfed – very small. A three-year-old and my daughter, who was seven, were killed. My sister, who was staying with us, was injured and my sister-in-law’s nephew was killed.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Those who were killed, in what way did they die?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): One of them was struck in the neck.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Was it a man or a woman?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): It was a woman, my brother was blown to pieces from the waist down, I can’t describe how bad it was below his stomach. They killed him very savagely. What they did was criminal.
Kids were hit in the stomach, one had a leg blown off – we could not find it.
Khan claims there was no warning before the raid.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): No, my brother, I wish they had the decency to warn us before attacking, without finding out if there were women, children, babies.. it was night and everyone was asleep. They did not care, they just burst in suddenly.
Khan acknowledges there are often Taliban fighters in the surrounding areas, but claims there were none around his house at the time.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): Well, there are Taliban around the area, but there were no Taliban in my home – no sign of them. We didn’t even talk about them. It’s possible there are Taliban in the area, there are Taliban everywhere – I don’t deny there are Taliban.
The Department of Defence says that Australian troops were fired upon by Taliban insurgents. But Khan says that didn't happen.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): When the Australian troops attacked your familywas there any return fire from the people in your area?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): No, no one fired at them, they just suddenly rushed into my house.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Did you or anyone else see any dead members of the Taliban afterwards?
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): No, they were all civilians – poor people in their homes. People who work all day to put food on the table, they are not Taliban, they are not armed.
Even if the killing of innocent civilians is unintentional, armies still have a legal obligation to prove they did not act recklessly in causing civilian deaths.
DR BEN SAUL, SYDNEY CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL LAW: If you acted recklessly, then it still could be a war crime.
Dr Ben Saul is director of the Centre for International Law at Sydney University and he's also worked as a barrister at the International Criminal Tribunal investigating war crimes in Yugoslavia.
DR BEN SAUL: So the important thing is to ensure that your taking proper precautions to identify the enemy and to identify the civilians in the area and the likely costs to those civilians. So the question then becomes - what was the information upon which the Australian forces relied? How good was that information, what was the quality of it? Where did it come from? And depending upon the answers to those questions, you might find whether Australian forces were reckless or not.
Dateline asked the Department of Defence for a response to the allegation that Zaher Khan and his family were the victims of an unprovoked attack. They declined our request for an interview, saying in a statement that until their investigation is complete it would be inappropriate for Defence to comment... The Department also would not say when the investigation would be completed, or whether all its findings would be made available to the public.
The Minister for Defence, Joel Fitzgibbon, also declined to respond to any specific allegations raised by the Khan family. He issued a statement saying the incident is very distressing and of course, profoundly regrettable... But he also told Dateline... “I know that our troops operate within robust rules of engagement, in conformity with international law and I have no reason to doubt they were doing just that on this occasion”
Zaher Khan claims the Australians later returned and apologised.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): Later, they realised it was a ******** operation, they must have received a false report – they realised they had made a mistake. Innocent people died – they apologised.. my other younger daughter was murdered, God bless her. Will it feed us, bring back the dead, they are all murdered now – so an apology is ********. They need to do things carefully, people who help them – like interpreters – must be good or they will have civilian blood on their hands.
Khan says his surviving children have been traumatised by the attack.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): So now he has psychological problems, he is scared day and night now. It was a terrible incident for us and has affected our minds. They can’t sleep alone at night, they can’t go out, they have flashbacks, they can still see dead bodies, injuries. They keep screaming ‘There’s my uncle – the soldiers are coming again.’ It is always in their minds.
FERZAD KHAN (Translation): What can I want? Everything I had they have taken away. I am left with nothing – what can I say? They have finished us.
WAHAB RESHAD (Translation): Do your brothers and sisters go outside at all?
FERZAD KHAN (Translation): No, we are always too scared, we are afraid they might attack again, they might bring back that horrible time.
Khan says the Australian troops haven't offered any compensation.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): Since that incident, about nine days ago, we haven’t received help from anyone - all they did was take some injured to hospital. This is a terrible time with the worst conditions, we have no food, no clothes, there is no room for us.
Zaher Khan says he understands the sacrifices of the Australian soldiers, but he can't forgive them.
ZAHER KHAN (Translation): I understand these soldiers have left their country, their families and their comfortable lives to come and provide security and bring stability for us. The soldiers have left their families and their homes to bring security, sad incidents like this happen, but it resulted in harm and death for my family. Later the soldiers are sorry for their mistakes, what good is that to us? You tell me. They have promised us help but they have done nothing.
GEORGE NEGUS: During the week, the Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, informed us that the Oruzgan incident would be "thoroughly investigated by the ADF." Not to put too fine a point on it, you'd certainly hope so.
SBS Dateline | A Survivor s Tale
I don´t like killing innocent people either, where did I ever said I did approve of that, especially since I said that it was one of the things I hate about war
? Just saying that it seemed one sided to me. Glad it wasn´t. Don´t like the wars the US are in to be honest... not that I support the talibans in any way, they are insane, I just don´t think you can help anyone like this.I am not a historian, by the way, I can´t even point out when my own country did it. But they have, just as the nations ruled by Islam has. Or as all the terrorist organizations do. Wars means civilians and innocent people die.
darkendless
Guardian of Asgaard
Prove it. I don't believe you.
Why didnt the rest of Australia see it? If our soldiers did that we would know.
Gharib
I want Khilafah back
it was a hanfull of people not a town, my bad, but that still doesn't make things right. the ozzie soldiers are killing innocent civilians for nothing, did you read the 2 articles? the second one is from an SBS documentary shown on Dateline on the 8'th of may 2009
darkendless
Guardian of Asgaard
I don't believe it. You hate our soldiers being there. Would you lie to make our soldiers come home by saying your family was shot.
WHat you dont know is soldiers make field reports for small actions, such an action would have been documented.
Gharib
I want Khilafah back
i never said my family was shot and i'm not lying. i will get you the link to the documentary.
such action was documented, but the bloody government covered it up and if it wasn't for an afghan reporter we would have never known, just like we do know now about all the killing of civilians, did you read the articles i posted?
Gharib
I want Khilafah back
darkendless
Guardian of Asgaard
Eselam you fogot these small details which totally changes things:
LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK EVANS, CHIEF OF JOINT OPERATIONS: During the conduct of this operation there was an exchange of fire between our forces and the Taliban. Tragically, a number of people were killed and wounded during this incident. Current reporting indicates that those killed include a suspected insurgent and, sadly, local nationals including five children killed and two children and two adults injured. LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK EVANS: The operation was conducted in the hours of darkness. I don't want to go into the tactical details with regards to the operation. What I can say is that we're conducting an investigation and the outcomes of that investigation will be made available to the Australian public.
So instead of me thinking our troops wandered into a house and killed some innocents, the truth is they shot some kids caught in the cross-fire.
That doesn't really help your situation does it
LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK EVANS, CHIEF OF JOINT OPERATIONS: During the conduct of this operation there was an exchange of fire between our forces and the Taliban. Tragically, a number of people were killed and wounded during this incident. Current reporting indicates that those killed include a suspected insurgent and, sadly, local nationals including five children killed and two children and two adults injured. LIEUTENANT GENERAL MARK EVANS: The operation was conducted in the hours of darkness. I don't want to go into the tactical details with regards to the operation. What I can say is that we're conducting an investigation and the outcomes of that investigation will be made available to the Australian public.
So instead of me thinking our troops wandered into a house and killed some innocents, the truth is they shot some kids caught in the cross-fire.
That doesn't really help your situation does it
Gharib
I want Khilafah back
whatch the video don't take the bull crap your little general says, ask the witnesses, see the whole video then see how well it helps my situation.
darkendless
Guardian of Asgaard
Why should i listen to Zaheer? He's probably full of ****. Who wouldn't be. All those ******** in that country who hate people who are trying to help and now he hates Australians because his family got caught in the cross-fire. Its a shame and i feel for him, but i doubt he can understand just as you can't why his family died.
These people wouldn't be dying if your "brothers" would clean themselves up.
Where are your "brothers" anyway? What are they doing to help the situation rather than shamefully standing back and watching western countries take the fall.
Its all well and good for muslims to have a whine about whats going on but until they're prepared to do something they should shut the **** up.
Gharib
I want Khilafah back
first you call me a liar, then i present evidence to you, then the evidence is unreliable. nice going it worked out perfectly for you and don't try to justify yourself to me i already know. and my brothers aren't killing children nor other civilians, it's too bad for you coz you can't point the finger to no one but yourself, but still you blame the victims, as it has already been shown by you