To: President Donald Trump
Doctors Without Borders hospital destroyed by U.S. military. Join call for independent investigation
On October 3, 2015, a U.S. airstrike bombed a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan killing at least 22 civilians--10 patients and 12 staff members--and wounding dozens more. To ensure that the truth about this bombing emerges in ways that help prevent another such atrocity, President Obama should immediately call for an inquiry from the independent and impartial International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC).
Why is this important?
On October 3, 2015, a United States airstrike destroyed a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan operated by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning charity Doctors Without Borders (also called Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF), killing at least 22 civilians--10 patients and 12 staff members--and wounding dozens more.[1]
Doctors Without Borders says the attack continued for 30 minutes after its staff gave U.S. and Afghan military officials the exact location of its hospital.[2]
How could this happen?
An early statement released by the U.S. military attempted to characterize the hospital bombing as a mistake, almost dismissing it as collateral damage.[3] Military officials subsequently altered their accounts of what exactly occurred four times in as many days, only recently acknowledging that U.S. Special Operations Forces "most likely did not meet any of the criteria [for authorizing airstrikes]."[4][5]
The magnitude of the tragedy and the astounding inconsistencies between U.S. and Afghan accounts of the bombing have prompted MSF officials to demand that President Obama call for an inquiry from the independent and impartial International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission.[6]
Doctors Without Borders' U.S. executive director, Jason Cone, underscored the reasoning behind this call to action. "All this confusion," he noted, "just underlines once again the crucial need for an independent investigation into how a major hospital, full of patients and MSF staff, could be repeatedly bombed.”[7]
Médecins Sans Frontières' international president Joanne Liu added, "If we let this go, as if it was a non-event, we are basically giving a blank cheque to any countries who are at war."[8]
President Obama has apologized for the bombing and said the Pentagon will conduct its own investigation.[9] But a Pentagon investigation is no substitute for one conducted by the IHFFC.
Sources:
1. http://www.wsj.com/articles/doctors-without-borders-closes-afghan-hospital-1443958030?mod=asia_home
3. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-doctors-without-borders-20151003-story.html
5. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/world/middleeast/doctors-without-borders-airstrike-kunduz.html
7. Ibid.
8. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/10/07/uk-afghanistan-attack-msf-idUKKCN0S10SZ20151007