Cutting through the fog of war

The U.S. bombing attack on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, was grotesque, lasting more than half an hour and burning people alive in the kind of facility that international rules of war recognize as a safe haven. There should have been no question about the nature of the work done in the building. Doctors Without Borders reportedly told U.S. military officials midattack that it was under fire from a helicopter gunship. Yet the attack continued, destroying the facility, killing 12 staff members and 10 patients, including three children, and wounding 37 more.

The Pentagon acknowledged the hospital mistakenly was struck and promised to investigate. Gen. John F. Campbell, who leads the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, reportedly suspects U.S. troops failed to follow established protocol in approving and conducting the attack. …

War, it is said, is conducted in a fog, and while civilian deaths are to be avoided and lamented, they also are inevitable. …

Although Campbell said Afghan forces requested the air support, the decision to provide it and the approval of the target came from within the U.S. command. He told a Senate committee this week that he has ordered the “entire force to undergo in-depth training in order to review all of our operational authorities and rules of engagement.”

Doctors Without Borders understandably is outraged by the attack, which led it to close its operations in Kunduz. President Barack Obama on Wednesday offered his apology to Joanne Liu, the head of Doctors Without Borders, but the organization is pressing its allegation that the attack constitutes a war crime and has called for a nonprosecutorial investigation under the Geneva Convention.

The medical relief organization is within its rights to seek that independent assessment, and the U.S. government should cooperate.

— Los Angeles Times