Fines for tampering with electricity meter range between SR5000 and SR100000 New amendments made in Electricity Law    Saudi Arabia deports 8,051 illegal residents in a week    Saudi Arabia is among world's top donors with assistance worth SR528 billion    GCC – Japan negotiations make progress in sealing free trade agreement    Inzaghi hails Al Hilal's fearless Club World Cup run    UNRWA calls for urgent fuel delivery to Gaza to prevent shutdown of basic services    Syria rules out foreign borrowing as central bank hails post-Assad recovery    Pakistan army kills 30 militants in cross-border clash near Afghanistan    State of emergency declared in Crete after wildfire devastates Ierapetra    OPEC+ further accelerates oil output hike by 548,000 bpd in August    Football world mourns Diogo Jota and brother André Silva at funeral in Portugal    Al Hilal exit Club World Cup after narrow defeat to Fluminense    Saudi Arabia tops global ICT Development Index for 2025    Hotel occupancy in Saudi Arabia rises to 63% as tourism workforce tops 983,000 in Q1 2025    Alkhorayef Commercial Company partners with XSQUARE Technologies to elevate logistics automation in Saudi Arabia    Portugal and Liverpool FC winger Diogo Jota dies in car accident in Spain    Michael Madsen, actor of 'Kill Bill' and 'Reservoir Dogs' fame, dead at 67    BTS are back: K-pop band confirm new album and tour    Michelin Guide launches in Saudi Arabia with phased rollout in 2025    'How fragile we are': Roskilde Festival tragedy remembered 25 years on    Sholay: Bollywood epic roars back to big screen after 50 years with new ending    Ministry launches online booking for slaughterhouses on eve of Eid Al-Adha    Shah Rukh Khan makes Met Gala debut in Sabyasachi    Pakistani star's Bollywood return excites fans and riles far right    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



An independent inquiry needed
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 06 - 10 - 2015

THERE may be many acts of bravery in every conflict but there is one courageous group of individuals who are so often overlooked. In the midst of raging battles, they carry no guns. When people are seeking to kill each other, they are seeking to do the exact opposite. They are trying to save lives.
Paramedics, ambulance drivers, doctors, nurses and surgeons all working slap bang in the middle of raging conflict regularly display a courage and a dedication and a selflessness which is remarkable. As is the case in the barrel-bomb blasted cities of Syria, the medics are also assisted by volunteers who have charged into the rubble of a new outrage, seeking to drag free the dead and injured.
And the bravery and the toughness of these heroic people has another dimension that is rarely remembered. They are having to try and help people with the most horrific injuries. Moreover, with multiple casualties, they are having to decide on the spot, who is to be treated first, because these injured have the best chances of survival. This triage process often leaves the nightmare thought that maybe the life-and-death choices made under extreme pressure were the wrong ones.
The medics at all levels who seek to treat and heal the wounds of war, deserve the most profound respect and consideration. They do not deserve to be targeted by any combatants.
The Medicins Sans Frontieres hospital in Kunduz came under aerial attack for an hour in the early hours of Saturday and 12 brave staff and ten of their patients were killed. US warplanes were supporting Afghan troops in their drive to retake the city from the Taliban. MSF says that not only did the Americans know the coordinates of the hospital but once the attack on the compound began, MSF people were calling US officials telling them they were making a mistake. Yet the air assault continued. MSF describes the slaughter as a war crime.
There have been rumors, denied by MSF, that Taliban fighters were in the hospital. But even if these reports are true, international law still does not permit a hospital to be targeted. It seems pretty clear that there has been the most horrific error here. It seems inconceivable that the Americans would deliberately blast a hospital.
President Obama has expressed his deepest regrets and said that the US Department of Defense is mounting an immediate investigation. Unfortunately an internal inquiry is not going to be enough. MSF has rightly said that in terms of producing an objective report into what went wrong, the American military investigating itself, is completely inadequate.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has echoed the call for an independent enquiry and it seems clear that it should be the UN that will set up this investigation. The problem is that Washington will almost certainly block such a move, if for no better reason than sensitive operational information would likely be revealed. Yet, unless the Defense Department rapidly produces a convincingly thorough report that sets out precisely how the US military got it so disastrously wrong and produces solid changes to engagement rules, the demand for an independent enquiry will remain extremely strong. The tragic truth displayed once more, this time in Kunduz is that smart bombs are only as clever as the people who drop them.


Clic here to read the story from its source.