U.S. Planes Bomb a Red Cross Site for Second Time. Error compounds error. In the first bombing, the depot, housing relief supplies for Afghan civilians, was erroneously chosen as a target by military planners. Furthermore, the bombs fell wide and hit the surrounding civilian neighborhood. This time, they used satellite-guided precision weapons to hit a target Pentagon planners put off limits after the first error. Oh, and there are big red crosses painted on the roofs of these buildings. At least there were no deaths in the bombing.

In other words, the pilots dropped their bombs where they were

instructed, and the bombs mostly hit the targets at which they were aimed.

The bomb that struck the residential neighborhood did so, the Central

Command said, when the guidance system malfunctioned on an FA-18 jet.

The Red Cross seemed stunned by the Pentagon’s admission today.

“Whoever is responsible will have to come to Geneva for a formal

explanation,” said Kim Gordon-Bates, the Red Cross spokesman there.

“Firing, shooting, bombing, a warehouse clearly marked with the Red

Cross emblem is a very serious incident. It is a serious thing. It cannot be

accepted, especially since we went through the notification of our facilities

twice. Now we’ve got 55,000 people without that food or blankets, with

nothing at all. Recognizing an error does not exactly solve the

humanitarian problem.” NY Times [“FMHreader”, “FMHreader”]

[If there are other warehouses storing relief supplies around the country with red crosses painted on their roofs, perhaps they should paint over them. They seem to look like bullseyes to pilots and planners… -FmH]