How US Handles Afghanistan's Civilian Deaths: Blame the Button-Pushers

Please excuse a quick polemical comment before I post a report from The New York Times on the US military's handling of civilian deaths from drone attacks in Afghanistan.

If US commanders or, for that matter, President Obama really wanted to be up front and above board on this issue --- given our supposed campaign for “hearts and minds” in this conflict --- they would say: “Civilians die in war zones. They die from being caught up in the fight, even though they take no part in it. Civilians die from our tactics of unmanned planes firing missiles in this conflict. That is regrettable, but that is war.”

They would say that rather than pretending that these deaths --- which, let it be remembered, the US military denied at the time, just as they have initially denied on every occasion that they carry responsibility --- are the outcome of a one-off mistake by “rogue operators”.

Afghanistan Correction: US Military “Marjah NOT a Bleeding Ulcer”

The US military has posted a press release and a copy, with redactions, of its official report. This was Juan Cole's report, via EA, at the time. Meanwhile, the story from Dexter Filkins of The New York Times:


The American military on Saturday released a scathing report on the deaths of 23 Afghan civilians, saying that “inaccurate and unprofessional” reporting by Predator drone operators helped lead to an airstrike in February on a group of innocent men, women and children.

The report said that four American officers, including a brigade and battalion commander, had been reprimanded, and that two junior officers had also been disciplined. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who apologized to President Hamid Karzai after the attack, announced a series of training measures intended to reduce the chances of similar events.

The attack, in which three vehicles were destroyed, illustrated the extraordinary sensitivity to the inadvertent killing of noncombatants by NATO forces. Since taking command here last June, General McChrystal has made protection of civilians a high priority, and has sharply restricted airstrikes.

The overwhelming majority of civilian deaths in Afghanistan are caused by insurgents, but the growing intensity of the fighting this year has sent civilian casualties to their highest levels since 2001.

General McChrystal’s concern is that NATO forces, in their ninth year of operations in Afghanistan, are rapidly wearing out their welcome. Opinion polls here appear to reflect that.

“When we make a mistake, we must be forthright,” General McChrystal said in a statement. “And we must do everything in our power to correct that mistake.”

The civilian deaths highlighted the hazards in relying on remotely piloted aircraft to track people suspected of being insurgents. In this case, as in many others where drones are employed by the military, the people steering and spotting the targets sat at a console in Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

The attack occurred on the morning of Feb. 21, near the village of Shahidi Hassas in Oruzgan Province, a Taliban-dominated area in southern Afghanistan. An American Special Operations team was tracking a group of insurgents when a pickup truck and two sport utility vehicles began heading their way.

The Predator operators reported seeing only military-age men in the truck, the report said. The ground commander concurred, the report said, and the Special Operations team asked for an airstrike. An OH-58D Kiowa helicopter fired Hellfire missiles and rockets, destroying the vehicles and killing 23 civilians. Twelve others were wounded.

The report, signed by Maj. Gen. Timothy P. McHale, found that the Predator operators in Nevada and “poorly functioning command posts” in the area failed to provide the ground commander with evidence that there were civilians in the trucks. Because of that, General McHale wrote, the commander wrongly believed that the vehicles, then seven miles away, contained insurgents who were moving to reinforce the fighters he and his men were tracking.

Read the rest of the article....

Iran Report: The Fight on the Cultural Front (Erdbrink)

Thomas Erdbrink, one of the few "Western" reporters in Tehran, writes for The Washington Post:

Nearly a year after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed election victory led to wide-scale protests and a fierce government crackdown, members of Iran's thriving and internationally acclaimed cultural scene have emerged as a driving force for the opposition.

Filmmakers, singers and rappers are, in their own way, pushing for social and political changes, and many are paying the price of speaking out against a government that brooks little dissent. In response to films, songs and paintings inspired by the largest grass-roots opposition movement the country has seen since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the government has arrested artists and markedly increased censorship.

Although some artists have left the country to escape restrictions, others remain in Iran and have turned their work into tools of activism. But the protest message has to be subtle or indirect, and even then the work is often produced secretly, using legal loopholes or underground distribution networks to evade the notice of authorities.


When world-renowned director Jafar Panahi decided to make a film about a family caught in the turmoil after last June's election, he did not ask for permission from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. Instead, the filmmaker turned his apartment into a film studio, with his wife cooking for the crew and friends playing the leading characters.

In March, security forces raided the home and arrested Panahi, the cast and his family.

"According to the law, nobody needs permits to film in their own house," he said in an interview. "But the government does not obey its own rules." Panahi was held for nearly three months; top directors such as Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami called for his release. State media reported that he had been making an "illegal movie."

On Tuesday, Panahi was released on $200,000 bail, pending the start of his trial.

"They arrest individuals to set an example to others," Panahi said Wednesday as his apartment slowly filled with guests, including actors and writers who gave him a hero's welcome. "My interrogators accused me of working for foreign intelligence agencies and said I was trying to make a movie highlighting problems in Iran. But I believe the rights and demands of millions who demonstrated have been ignored. I want to give them a voice."

He isn't the only one. The latest song by popular underground rapper Hich Kas, "Nobody," has become an instant hit, often blasting from cars on Tehran's busy streets. Hich Kas sings:

Good days will come when we do not kill each other

Do not look badly upon each other

A day we are friends and hug each other like in our school days

Read rest of article....

The Latest from Iran (29 May): Statements for 22 Khordad/12 June

1655 GMT: Visiting Panahi. Mehdi Karroubi has met with Jafar Panahi, the prominent filmmaker who was detained for almost three months before being released this week.

1650 GMT: CyberPolice? Lots of chatter today that Google was filtered in Iran, at least for a short time.

1635 GMT: To Russia, With Criticism. All is still not well in Tehran over Moscow's position on the nuclear issue.

After President Ahmadinejad's public telling-off of Russia earlier in the week, senior Iranian lawmakers have taken up the criticism. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani went after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev by exalting his predecessor,

If the approach agreed on with the former Russian president (Vladimir Putin) had been pursued, it could have served the interests of both sides. Concerning nuclear issues, Russia has always sought to fit things within the frame of its own interests, and efforts must be made to return this approach to its precise path.

Kazem Jalali of Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said said Moscow was under the same "analytical misconception" as the US but offered a way back, "Russia can be effective in rejecting the [sanctions] resolution, and can save face internationally through a positive response to Iran's letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency."

NEW Iran Document: Mousavi “Greens Will Not be Stopped by Arrests, Prisons, or Killing”
NEW Iran: A Poem for Executed Teacher Farzad Kamangar
Friends or Obstacles?: Iran, Human Rights, & US “Concern”
Iran Analysis: When Allies Co-ordinate (Mousavi & Karroubi)
NEW Iran Analysis: When Allies Fight (Tehran and Moscow
The Latest from Iran (28 May): A Pause in Discussion?

1435 GMT: Political Prisoners Watch. Maziar Khosravi, editor of the Hammihan website, has been released from detention. Khosravi had been detained after his reports on last June's attacks on Tehran University's dormitories.


Activists are reporting that student activist Majid Tavakoli, who is on hunger strike, has been moved out of solitary confinement.

1410 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. As news emerges of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani reasserting his critical statements from last year (see 1350 GMT), we also get a report that assailants have raided the office of Rafsanjani's daughter, Faezeh Hashemi.

1405 GMT: The Students' Declaration. Student activists have released a statement calling for innovation in civil disobedience and asserting "perseverance on the way to democracy".

1350 GMT: And More Statements. I don't we think we quite expected, selecting the title for this morning's updates, how appropriate it would be.

We have posted in a separate entry the English translation of Mir Hossein Mousavi's latest lengthy critique of the Government and statement of the Green Movement's defiance.

And another prominent politician is making mischief: Agence France Presse reports that the website of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has posted the 2009 letter he sent to the Supreme Leader, criticising the regime:

Even if I keep quiet, part of the people, groups and parties will undoubtedly not bear this situation any more and set off social upheavals, examples of which can be seen in street rallies and universities....

The website also posts extracts from Rafsanjani's Friday Prayer sermon of 17 July --- the last one he has given:

What should we do? Our key issue is to return the trust which the people had and now to some extent is broken....

It is not necessary that in this situation people be jailed. Let them join their families. We should not allow enemies to rebuke and ridicule us because of detentions. We should tolerate each other.

1245 GMT: Monitoring the Cleric. Back from a break to find the report that banners supporting Ayatollah Yusuf Sane'i for 4 June --- the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death --- have been removed from Khomeini's mausoleum because of "deceitful phrases".

Posters for Sane'i, a critic of the current Government, were also removed from the recent Tehran Book Fair.

0810 GMT: Corruption vs. Corruption at Highest Levels. The political battle within the establishment over corruption allegations continues.

More details on the Fatemi Street insurance fraud, with which 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi is allegedly involved, have emerged.Two companies were established in 2005/2006, and Rahimi reportedly used his influence to arrange large loans (eventually more than $1 billion) for them, receiving 10-15%.

Ahmadinejad supporters have countered that Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior official in Iran's judiciary, has seized 300,000 hectares of land. Emrooz claims that the President, in his speech this week in Kerman, implied that Larijani's brothers, Speaker of Parliament Ali and head of judiciary Sadegh, blocked the Government from taking back the property.

0805 GMT: Raising the Stakes (cont.). More on this week's Friday Prayer, on the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death, from the Supreme Leader (see 0650 GMT)....

The warm-up act for Ayatollah Khamenei will be President Ahmadinejad.

And Ayatollah Khamenei's title, at least according to his office? “The Leader of All Muslims in World Affairs”.

0800 GMT: Another Statement. Visiting the family of political prisoner Mohsen Armin, a senior member of the Mojahedin of Islamic Speaker and former Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mehdi Karroubi declared that the "imprisonment of the Revolution's children is a shame".

0755 GMT: Film Corner. Concern is growing over filmmaker Dariush Shokouf, an Iranian expatriate in Germany, who has disappeared. Shokouf, a vocal critic of Iran's regime, was last seen in Cologne, boarding a train for Paris.

0750 GMT: The Executions. We have posted a poem by Fatemeh Shams in memory of teacher Farzad Kamanager, executed on 9 May.

0650 GMT: Raising the Stakes. Golnaz Esfandiari of Radio Liberty reports that the Supreme Leader will lead Tehran Friday Prayers this week, presiding at the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini.

Friday will be the anniversary of Khomeini's death in 1989.

This will be the first time that Ayatollah Khamenei has led Friday Prayers since his appearance one week after last year's Presidential election.

0555 GMT: Two weeks before the anniversary of the 2009 election, and we awake to a flurry of opposition statements.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, in his latest meeting, asserts that Iran should be "run by freedom and justice not by imprisonment". He argues, "We do not want the Government to give up rule in the name of Islam, but the content [of its rule] is empty and it does not address our desires."

Mousavi adds that this Government "monologue", meeting the wishes of the people with repression rather than discussion, leads to "tyranny" and "dictatorship".

The Assembly of Combatant Clergymen, like Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi earlier this week, use the "historical importance" of the month of Khordad (May/June) to invoke the legacy of Ayatollah Khomeini, remember the Presidency of Mohammad Khatami, and cite "the great participation" of the Iranian people in last year’s election.


The clergymen say this participation could have led to a better future for Iran; instead, it ws met by the brutal confrontation of the Government, which continues today with "heavy and unfair" prison sentences. They call for the release of all political prisoners and free elections.

The banned Islamic Iran Participation Front declares that the reform movement is an attempt to fix errant behaviour arising from narcissism, despotism, and fundamentalism that had shaped. The continuation of that effort of that effort led to a bitter showdown, with Government attacks on people’s freedom, security, and dignity in the name of religion.

The party calls for adherence to the Constitution and recognition of people’s demands for their rights, free assembly, political parties, a free press, and free elections.

Iran Document: Mousavi "Greens Will Not be Stopped by Arrests, Prisons, or Killing"

Mir Hossein Mousavi's latest statement, made in a meeting political prisoners detained during the Shah’s regime. Translation from the Facebook page supporting Mousavi:

Mousavi, while noting the difficulties of the early days of the revolution, said, “No system is without problems...[however], if the general frameworks were preserved,  our Iran would have moved in a good direction.”

Mousavi, referring to the anniversary of the passing of Imam Khomeini [4 June] and recalling the unique and historic funeral of Imam Khomeini in which millions of people participated, called this great participation a sign of the support of the nation for the revolution and what have had happened in its first decade of the revolution: “Without trying to ignore some of the problems, this [great participation] was a sign that many of the principles were achieved [at that time]....

"Always different governments give a series of indices as the indicators of their success, such as GDP, wealth and productivity or non-material aspects such as education and human dignity....At the beginning of the [Iran-Iraq] war the massive number of pure and loyal individuals whom the revolution gave to us, was the index and sign of the rightfulness of our system. We have always known the front lines as the sign of our rightfulness and also as a sign that the system have had been successful in achieving its principles.


"But unfortunately there has been gradual deviation and in the recent years we have also found some main problems such that today we cannot answer to the younger generation. Even when we explain to them that what were the goals of the early days of the revolution and after the revolution what changes happened in the country, we cannot convince them. The only reason is because we were derailed from the path.”

Mousavi said: “Before revolution there was no freedom. The topics of printed and main books were very limited and [books] were circulated in an underground network. But after the revolution there were Book Fairs to show that this system does not believe in limiting thoughts, and indeed a cultural revolution was formed.

"But even in this one case compare what we wanted to the unprecedented events of this year’s Book Fair in which even the books and writing of some of the Marjas (senior religious figures) were banned. They eliminated the booth displaying the books of Martyr Ayatollah Beheshti, who was one of the founders of this revolution. As usual there have been restrictions on books on literature and social sciences. These are only small signs of the divergence from the principles of the revolution."

Mousavi, warning about the continuation of this trend, said: “The system is moving toward monologue so that it does not tolerate any other view. Monologue by itself leads to tyranny and dictatorship and...[is] the most important factor inhibiting development.

“What we are witnessing now is the policies that targeted the transparency and free flow of information. It is not surprising that in our country the issues of corruptions, lies and dictatorship are expanding, because if there are no free thoughts, then in a monologue environment these issues are natural.”

Mousavi discussed the relation between the Green Movement and the principles of the revolution and said: “Green is for freedom and justice. Justice for the people who participated in the revolution: this country with all its diversified ethnicities, cultures and languages belongs to them, and justice in social, political, and economic aspects is part of their rights, as well as freedom....If it does not exist, people’s rights will be violated. There was a time that we wished the prisons would be empty, and we celebrate the day Evin prison would be shut down, but now there are new constructions in Evin to make more cells to imprison more people. This is another sign of corruption and divergence [from our principles].”

Mousavi noted: “We did not want to form a government and define a framework in the name of Islam [which is] empty of content and has no sign of the principles and dreams that emerged from our religion and beliefs. If a system is to stay by filling the prisons or by beating and arresting students, Muslim workers and teachers, artists, filmmakers and journalists, can one defend such a system in the world?”

Mousavi stressed that seeking freedom and justice is a serious demand in this atmosphere: “The Green Movement is an ongoing process which will not stopped by arrests, threats and imprisonments or even by killings, because it contains the demands that have emerged from the true and human needs of our nation. This movement is a four-season movement. It revitalizes and appears in different forms....t has emerged from the human demands of our nation, and it is a continuation of the long-time struggles of our nation to achieve freedom and justice.”

Mousavi referred to the goals and mottos of the Green Movement: “When we say the Constitution, the issue is clear; when we say there must be no corruption and lies and there must be justice, the issue is clear. Promoting awareness is the greatest tool of the Green Movement.

"We don’t want to fight with anyone. We are defending our rights. Our tool is to spread awareness among the people and we are not blocking anyone’s path. They can propagate against us that we are not telling the truth. We don’t expect them to act fair, either in their state-run TV and radio or in their other media.”

“During the election campaign, one of the most important and most effective posters that was was “No Lies”. I saw it for the first time in Tehran, and within 24 hours I saw it in one of the most remote areas of the country because it was the tangible and serious demand of the people.

“The fact that they cannot tolerate even one free, normal weblog free and today that in cyberspace there is not even one medium in our hands that is safe from filtering: all are signs that their main source of fear is the issue of awareness. Therefore anyone in any place who feels responsible should make efforts based on his/her capability to spread political and social awareness, even if it would be by saying a minor point in a gathering.

“We should spread awareness from family environments to the gatherings of friends and relatives and among the different classes and provinces. The Green Movement does not have a complex goal. We don’t want corruption and lies; we want respect for the people; we want to have a proper judiciary system that would not be oppressive.

"They should not be able to force someone to confess, then based on that confession, execute him/her or beat the prisoners. [They should not] release the prisoners and, after a couple of weeks, contact him/her and ask them to give forced interviews or, if they do not agree, call them back to prison."

Mousavi added: "I always say that how unfamiliar with the truth are those who have created these extensive prisons. Many times during the month of Ramadan and our national and religious celebrations,  there was the opportunity to return freely to the principles despite the past. This would have automatically made people optimistic. Even now if they say that a free and competitive election will be held and there will not be cheating, you'll see that people will breathe a sigh of relief.

"A regime that cannot investigate the attack on university students' dormitory with bravery and explain to people what really happened and cannot deal with those who cheated....[that] is a weak regime. The strength of a regime is in its ability to explain problems.

"In the case of Kahrizak Prison, they claim to have sentenced three persons. Kahrizak is a national issue, and for this reason all discussions about Kahrizak must be in front of people's eyes so that it will not be repeated and people will be convinced that justice was served.

"Even this vague result that they (the authorities) announced with three people sentenced must be explained  so we know who these three people are and how they relate to those whose names were announced in the Parliament (a reference to to former Tehran Prosecutor General and current Presidential aide Saeed Mortazavi, who was declared by a parliamentary committee to be responsible for the death of political prisoners at Kahrizak prison)."

Mousavi said: "We all hope that this false path turn into the right path. (Should this happen) people will be satisfied, no matter who does it or in what circumstances. People have fought and have suffered to achieve freedom and justice and to not be under tyranny and dictatorship. (They have fought) to have posts and statures rotate so that everybody in any position remains responsible to the people. “

Mir Hossein Mousavi addressed the political prisoners from before the revolution and added: "These attacks and arrests don't solve the issue. Didn't Shah's regime fall despite putting you in jail? The regime fell....The question is whether those arrests saved Shah's regime?

"The status of media and the flow of free information and news around the globe is very different from the era when you were imprisoned. First thing in the morning by reviewing a few websites, one can get all the news, (when) before announcements were spread hand-to-hand with all kinds of difficulties and sometimes with danger and eventually would have reached only a few. Satellites and the international media and communications are all very important [today].”

Mousavi emphasized: "Some think that by creating an atmosphere of fear and terror, they can manage the affairs, but the country must be governed and should be governed with freedom and justice, not with Evin prison.”

Iran: A Poem for Executed Teacher Farzad Kamangar

On 9 May, teacher Farzad Kamangar was executed with four other Iranians: Farhad Vakili, Mehdi Eslamian, Shirin Alamhouli, and Ali Heydarian. Days after the event, we published a poem by Simin Behbahani.

An EA correspondent has sent us another poem, written in remembrance of Kamangar, by Fatemeh Shams:

Iran Document: Simin Behbahani’s Poem for the Executed

It was autumn… I have not seem Newton
Nor have I plucked the red apple of Gravity

It was autumn, the gallows rising, a chair
Go up, don’t fall, tell everyone you flew away


It was autumn, the chair shook a bit
The apple fell, I tasted God

It was autumn, gravity means you hanging at the gallows
After you I have banned gravity

It was autumn, gravity is an absolute lie
I have drawn your likeness suspended, lifeless

I am suspended between earth and your memories
I have breathed your memories into all the elegies

The execution of the order, your death without further ado
I have run, one with your naked feet

It was autumn, I’ve seen Newton, But especially you
Smiling, the way autumn does.