State Dep’t Doesn’t Call Afghanistan Hospital Strike ‘Disgraceful,' the Term It Applied to Israeli Mishap
(CNSNews.com) – A State Department spokesman demurred when asked Monday whether the administration would describe a deadly U.S. airstrike on a hospital in Afghanistan as “disgraceful” – the term it used when an Israeli missile landed near a U.N.-run school in Gaza during last year’s offensive against Hamas.
In its immediate response to that Aug. 3, 2014 incident, which killed at least ten people, the State Department said [1] the U.S. was “appalled by today’s disgraceful shelling,” adding that the school’s coordinates had been “repeatedly communicated to the Israeli Defense Forces.”
And, then-State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki added, “The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians.”
At Monday’s daily briefing, spokesman Mark Toner was reminded about that statement in the light of Saturday’s airstrike on a hospital in Kunduz operated by the charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in which 22 people were killed.
Associated Press reporter Matt Lee asked Toner whether it was “still administration policy that the suspicion that militants are operating nearby a site like this … does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of innocent civilians? Is that still the administration’s position?”
“We always take great care and we are very adamant about stating when we see elsewhere attacks in areas where there could be civilian casualties to avoid civilian casualties,” Toner said. “That obviously stands.”
He added that the U.S. takes “every measure possible” – and encourages other governments to do the same – “to avoid civilian casualties, even when that involves close-quarter combat.”
Lee pointed out that MSF says it had given the fighting parties in Afghanistan the GPS coordinates of the hospital – much as the Israeli military had been given the coordinates of U.N.-run facilities in Gaza.
“The question is: If the suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes on a humanitarian facility for which the coordinates had been given, that it seems to have changed,” he said.
“I think it’s safe to say, you know, that this attack, this bombing, was, uh, not intentional,” Toner said. “I can’t get into what may or may not have happened on the ground, whether the coordinates were known, whether they were acknowledged. It’s just too much speculation at this point.”
Lee then noted that in an Aug. 2014 statement, Psaki had called for an investigation – but had used the term “disgraceful” to describe the Gaza incident ahead of any such investigation.
“That statement began by saying that the U.S. is appalled by the disgraceful shelling. That’s before an investigation even happened. So can you say now, knowing what you did, that you – that this shelling of this hospital was disgraceful and appalling?”
“Um, again, I, I would only just reiterate our, uh, our, uh, sincere condolences to the victims of this attack and, uh, just again underscore the fact that we’re going to investigate this thoroughly,” Toner replied.
Israel faced widespread condemnation over civilian deaths during its two-month operation against Hamas. At one point in July, Secretary of State John Kerry in an unguarded moment caught on camera acerbically questioned Israel’s approach [2], saying, “It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation.”
Last November, however, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey said [3] Israel had gone to “extraordinary lengths” to avoid civilian casualties.
Asked at the time about Dempsey’s assessment, Psaki said “it remains the broad view of the entire administration that they could have done more and they should have taken more – all feasible precautions to prevent civilian casualties.”
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in a statement Tuesday the Pentagon “deeply regrets [4]” the loss of life at the Kunduz hospital.
“The U.S. military takes the greatest care in our operations to prevent the loss of innocent life, and when we make mistakes, we own up to them. That’s exactly what we're doing right now,” he said.
“We will do everything we can to understand this tragic incident, learn from it, and hold people accountable as necessary,” he said.
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