On July 1, 2002, the United States bombed an Afghan wedding in the small village of Deh Rawud. Located to the north of Kandahar, the village seemed fortified by the region's many mountains. For a few hours, its people thought they were safe from a war they had never invited. They celebrated, and as customs go, fired intermittently into the air. The joyous occasion however, turned into an orgy of blood. The U.S. Air Force reportedly used a B-52 bomber and an AC-130 gunship in a battle against imagined terrorists. According to Afghan authorities, 40 people were killed and 100 wounded. As expected, the U.S. military refused to apologize.
The bombing of Deh Rawud was a microcosm of the repulsive war that followed. While al-Qaida was not an imagined enemy, the invasion and destruction of Afghanistan was a morally repugnant — and self-contradictory — response to terrorism.
This latest crime against humanity in Afghanistan is a continuation of a trend that has spanned decades. Throughout history, Afghanistan has been brutalized simply because of its geographical location.
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