War can be a tragically imprecise endeavor.
Mistakes happen and when they do the consequences can be dire in the extreme. Such was the case when an AC-130 gunship strafed and bombed a building that turned out to be a hospital in Afghanistan run by the medical organization Doctors Without Borders.
Several patients and staff members died.
What was President Obama’s reaction? After some hesitation initially, he hasĀ apologized to Doctors Without Borders. Of course, as the New York Times reported, the president’s apology possibly could draw some of the criticism from those who have ridiculed him during his entire time in office for being an “apologist in chief.”
This time, though, there should be none of that sniping.
It’s not the first time that a commander in chief has issued an apology for actions that occur on the field of battle. The Times points out that President Bush did so in 2004 in response to treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Iraq.
There once was a time, before the era of precision ordnance, that military powers didn’t feel the need to apologize for killing innocent civilians. The Allies deployed air power without such regard in Europe and over Japan during World War II. In the years since, though, we’ve come to expect much greater accuracy and an insistence that our forces take aim only at military targets.
Doctors Without Borders insists on an independent investigation into what happened in this instance. I’m OK with that, too. In its grief over the loss of life, DWB called the attack aĀ “war crime.”
President Obama said the attack was a mistake. He has apologized on behalf of the huge military apparatus he commands.
Let’s get to the truth before leveling accusations.