Eight years after 9/11

"General Stanley McChrystal tried to contact his subordinates after a Nato strike killed 125/100/70 civilians, but too many had been “partying it up” and could not be raised.
General McChrystal, head of International Forces in Afghanistan (Isaf), has since put a stop to drinking, admonishing staff for not having “their heads in the right place” on Friday morning a few hours after the attack, the Times reports.
One insider said: "Thursday nights are the big party nights, because Friday’s a 'low-ops’ day"

Mercenaries in Kabul : From Animal House to Apocalypse Now

"The charity group Swedish Committee for Afghanistan expressed outrage today in reporting a US attack on a remote hospital being operated by the group. The troops burst in to the hospital without explanation and conducted a full and rather violent search of the facility.
The troops reportedly tied up several employees and the family of some of the patients, ordered the bed-ridden patients out of their rooms and smashed down several doors."

ICC prosecutor eyes possible Afghanistan war crimes
"The chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court said on Wednesday that he was gathering information about possible war crimes committed by NATO soldiers and insurgents in Afghanistan.
"What we are trying to assess is ... different types of allegations, including massive attacks, collateral damage exceeding what is considered proper, and torture," he said"

US Increasing Force Size in Iraq by Adding Contractors
"A report by Raw Story’s John Byrne notes that despite President Obama’s pledge with withdraw troops from Iraq, the overall force size is actually increasing in recent months, as thousands of new private contractors are being brought in.
This is adding to concern that while the US is pretending to “stand down” in Iraq, it is actually still as active as ever and is just using contractors to do the jobs that were previously done by the American troops. This puts the whole pullout in a different light."

Haroon Siddiqui : Eight years after 9/11, we know that:

"The war on terror spawned infinitely more terrorism worldwide than there was before this war.

The war on Iraq was launched even though the U.S. – contrary to its public assertions – knew that Saddam Hussein had no WMDs and no links to Al Qaeda.

The war on Afghanistan has been going downhill ever since the mission of toppling the Taliban, hosts to the plotters of the Sept. 11 massacre, was swiftly accomplished in November 2001.

The two wars cost the U.S. 5,000 lives and $1 trillion. The Afghan war, which has lasted 50 per cent longer than the American involvement in the two world wars combined, has cost Canada 130 lives and about $15 billion.

NATO does not care enough about Iraqis and Afghans to count their dead. It is estimated that perhaps 1 million Iraqi civilians have been killed, and 4 million displaced. As for the Afghan dead, injured and displaced, there aren't even credible estimates."
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