‘Collateral damage’ – a term popularized by the US military during the Vietnam War. In short it is the unintentional damage caused during an intentional military operation.
Today in Afghanistan ‘collateral damage’ took the lives of 22 civilians, among them women and children. The civilians were complying with evacuation orders given them by US troops when the trucks transporting them were destroyed by air strikes.
As is always the case, the US military conceded that the operation did occur, but that there had been no report of civilian casualties. Officials claim that the vehicles struck were transporting militants.
In a few weeks, maybe a month, coalition forces in Afghanistan will most likely issue the weakest of statements admitting that innocent people were killed, as is commonly the case. By then, who will care? They’re just 22 more people in a far distant land that most of us rarely consider on a daily basis. Frankly, when most think about Afghanistan all that comes to mind is al-Qaeda, 9/11, and an overwhelming sense for revenge.
I suppose if vengeance produces collateral damage then what does it really matter? The United States, and others, have been in Afghanistan for 7 years and the enemy that they face has only grown in strength, the man that they’ve been trying to kill or capture has eluded them for almost a decade, and in the process a lot of innocent people have been killed – more so than on 9/11.
Some in trucks, some not.