As for the first civilian casualties in Marja when a rocket landed on a house, casualties which have been named as the most important thing to avoid, NATO now reports that the rocket didn't miss its mark by the 300 feet they said; it was 600. Regrets were published, and rocket launching made taboo. Sadly, the whole attack was not made taboo, because there are other munitions that kill civilians just as nicely.
NATO reported that its troops had killed civilians in a second errant attack in as many days. A patrol of coalition forces in Kandahar province, which borders Helmand, spotted what it mistakenly thought was a group of insurgents planting bombs and called in an airstrike Monday that killed five of them and injured two others, Western military officials said.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials apologized for the error.[...]
Marines on the ground [...] the hidden explosive devices were both more numerous and more sophisticated than expected.
[...]
"It will take weeks to clear Marja, to really go house-to-house, road-to-road and make sure things are safe so the civilian population can actually work and have a livelihood," Dressler said.
What's left of them.
Well, at least we aplogize when we kill them.
The money quote.One Afghan man waved down a Marine patrol to warn that a certain road was strewn with buried bombs, each marked by a rock formation by the roadside. The Marines closed the route to vehicle traffic, and after a wait of several hours, an explosive ordnance disposal team surveyed it. Only one bomb was found. The Marines concluded that the purported good Samaritan, whom they had taken for a local farmer, was actually doing what he could to slow their advance."We know what we have to do," said Lance Cpl. Raymond Walker. "But who can tell the good ones from the bad ones? It's tough."
Ah, it's going to be a long road.
But, not all is lost. No reports of dead civilians came in today.
Meanwhile, in Pakistan…
The Taliban's top military commander has been captured in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and U.S. intelligence forces, according to U.S. government officials.[...]
Baradar has been in Pakistani custody for several days, with U.S. and Pakistani intelligence officials interrogating him, according to officials. It was unclear whether he was talking, but the officials said his capture could lead to other senior officials
Especially if we let Dick Cheney have a go at him.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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