Dead baby and teenager ruled to be 'collateral casualties'

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/dead-baby-and-teenager-ruled-to-be-collateral-casualties/2008/05/12/1210444338885.html

A BABY and a teenage girl killed in a battle between Australian soldiers and Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan last year were "collateral casualties" and did not die as a result of misconduct, a military inquiry has found.

The inquiry, headed by Colonel Peter Short, found that the baby, estimated to be up to six months old, had been used as a shield during a battle in Oruzgan province and may have died of concussion caused by grenades. But it found Australian troops had taken care to avoid harming civilians and were justified in using a mix of grenades and small arms fire.

"While obviously extremely regrettable that a baby should die in combat, I find that the actions of those people engaging the Australian forces … were deliberate with the almost certain knowledge that the baby was in that area," a report by Colonel Short says. "There is no weakness or deficiency in … procedures or training."

The report, released yesterday, found that the girl, aged 13 to 16, was killed in a building from which machine-gun fire had been aimed at the Australians and killed a soldier, Private Luke Worsley. "Such a collateral casualty is one of the risks of war."

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:
:cry:

:hi:

:eyes:

so glad the wars are going well.... "no weakness or deficiency in procedures or training".

No, all of us have just FUBAR "ed" the world....