Whom to Believe?

Buried in the middle of this story about the deaths of seven spooks in the middle of a CIA/army base in Afghanistan, was another small news item concerning death in that same Graveyard of Empires. This one wasn't played so prominently, no doubt because it was only some dirty wogs who lost their unimportant and swarthy lives:

Wednesday's blast came amid heightened tensions between NATO and Afghan officials over the U.S.-led raid in the northeastern province of Kunar over the weekend. An investigation ordered by Afghan President Hamid Karzai found that 10 civilians were killed, including eight schoolchildren.

"A unit of international forces descended from a plane Sunday night into Ghazi Khan," Mr. Karzai said in a written statement, and "took 10 people from three homes -- eight of them school students in grades six, nine and 10, one of them a guest, the rest from the same family -- and shot them dead."

A NATO statement questioned that assertion. "A joint Coalition and Afghan Security force entered the village of Ghazi Khan," the group said, and "came under fire from several buildings and in returning fire killed nine individuals. Several assault rifles, ammunition and ammonium nitrate used in bomb-making were discovered."

There was "no direct evidence" to substantiate the Afghan claims that unarmed civilians were killed, NATO added. The Afghan Defense Ministry denied its forces had a role in Sunday's operation.

So, whom to believe -- the Empire's direct employees, or its sock puppet Hamid Karzai, "the Mayor of Kabul?" I tend to think they're all liars; but if I had to pick, I'd say the issuers of the "NATO statement" are likely to be the champion liars.

I hope those students and their surviving families are properly grateful to America, and to the Obama administration in particular, for our efforts to fix them up with a stable and cooperative government. And I'm sure that atrocities of this kind have nothing to do with the motivation of suicide bombers to find a cluster of CIA torturers in their country, sidle up to them, and push down on the button. No, nothing to do with it at all. Remember, they hate us because we're so good. They hate us for our freedom. And don't you forget it.