Return Good for Evil

U.S. military casualties since the launch of Operation Khanjar (July 2):

• NAME NOT RELEASED YET
• Derwin Williams,  age 41
• NAME NOT RELEASED YET
• NAME NOT RELEASED YET
• NAME NOT RELEASED YET
• NAME NOT RELEASED YET
• Tony Michael Randolph,  age 22
• Aaron E. Fairbairn, age 20
• Justin A. Casillas, age 19
• Charles S. Sharp, age 20

Again, we lack reliable numbers for civilian deaths, although reports have surfaced in the American media of the death of a civilian woman killed by “ricocheting bullets.” (For more on the lack of coverage of civilian casualties by the U.S. media, see this excellent piece from TomDispatch.) However, according to a report from the Xinhua News Agency (the official news agency of the Chinese government–take it with a grain of salt, I suppose):

Air raids against suspected hideouts of Taliban militants in Ghazni province, south of Afghanistan, however, claimed the lives of eight civilians including two women, a member of the Provincial Council Abdul Nabi said Wednesday.

In talks with media, Nabi added that the raids took place at 3 a.m. local time (2330 GMT) in Gero district during which eight non-combatants were killed.

The victims, he added, include two women, two children and four men.

However, the U.S.-led Coalition forces admitted in a statement that “during this engagement, a ricocheting round killed a civilian female.”

It added that several armed enemy combatants were killed in the operation and Coalition forces found grenades and rifles in their hideout.

How many American troops and Afghan civilians have to die before Congress and the President end this war?