Via Credo:
“In the middle of the night on Saturday, a U.S. military plane “repeatedly and very precisely” bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital filled with doctors, nurses and wounded patients in Kunduz, Afghanistan.1
The airstrike killed twelve Doctors Without Borders staff members and ten patients, including three children, and injured scores more. Some patients literally burned alive in their hospital beds.2
So far, the Pentagon has only released incomplete and contradictory accounts of what happened and why.
On Sunday, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) stated that: “Under the clear presumption that a war crime has been committed, MSF demands that a full and transparent investigation into the event be conducted by an independent international body. Relying only on an internal investigation by a party to the conflict would be wholly insufficient.”3
The world needs to know how and why this grave violation of International Humanitarian Law was committed.4 Those responsible for what we presume to be an atrocious war crime must then face justice. Please join Doctors Without Borders in calling for an immediate and independent international investigation.
Tell President Obama and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter: We join Doctors Without Borders and demand an investigation by an independent international body into the U.S. airstrike on the Kunduz hospital.
The Pentagon initially claimed that the hospital was hit by accident after U.S. troops nearby came under fire and called in the airstrike, then later changed its story and said that no U.S. troops were in the area and that Afghan troops called in the strike.5
But the Pentagon’s story simply doesn’t add up. According to Doctors Without Borders: “Not a single member of our staff reported any fighting inside the MSF hospital compound prior to the U.S. airstrike on Saturday morning… We reiterate that the main hospital building, where medical personnel were caring for patients, was repeatedly and very precisely hit during each aerial raid, while the rest of the compound was left mostly untouched.”6
Further, “The bombing took place despite the fact that MSF had provided the GPS coordinates of the trauma hospital to Coalition and Afghan military and civilian officials as recently as Tuesday, September 29, [five days before the airstrike] to avoid that the hospital be hit.”7
Shockingly, the bombing continued for more than half an hour after Doctors Without Borders staff began making frantic calls to U.S. and Afghan military officials.
The Pentagon’s claim that the hospital was bombed by accident is also contradicted by statements by Afghan officials, who have tried to justify the attack by claiming that the hospital was used by the Taliban for military purposes. Doctors Without Borders responded to this reprehensible claim with a statement saying:
MSF is disgusted by the recent statements coming from some Afghanistan government authorities justifying the attack on its hospital in Kunduz. These statements imply that Afghan and US forces working together decided to raze to the ground a fully functioning hospital with more than 180 staff and patients inside because they claim that members of the Taliban were present.
This amounts to an admission of a war crime. This utterly contradicts the initial attempts of the US government to minimize the attack as ‘collateral damage.’
There can be no justification for this abhorrent attack on our hospital that resulted in the deaths of MSF staff as they worked and patients as they lay in their beds. MSF reiterates its demand for a full transparent and independent international investigation.”8
The human cost of this crime far exceeds the staff and patients killed in the airstrike. The hospital, which in 2014 treated 22,000 and performed more than 5,900 surgical procedures, was the only free trauma care hospital in northern Afghanistan, where the Afghan military and the Taliban are currently engaged in heavy fighting. Doctors Without Borders has now closed the hospital.9
Join us in demanding justice for Doctors Without Borders.
We cannot allow this horrific act to be swept under the rug, and, as the Pentagon’s shifting account of the attack shows, we can’t trust the same people who may have participated in a war crime to investigate it. We need an independent investigation.
Thank you for taking action.
- “Statement on Kunduz Hospital Bombing,” Doctors Without Borders, October 4, 2015
- “Afghanistan: MSF Demands Explanations After Deadly Airstrikes Hit Hospital in Kunduz,” Doctors Without Borders, October 3, 2015
- “Statement on Kunduz Hospital Bombing,” Doctors Without Borders, October 4, 2015
- “Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) denounces blatant breach of International Humanitarian Law,” Doctors Without Borders, October 6, 2015
- Thomas Gibbons-Neff, “U.S. military struggles to explain how it wound up bombing Doctors Without Borders hospital,” Washington Post, October 5, 2015
- “Statement on Kunduz Hospital Bombing,” Doctors Without Borders, October 4, 2015
- “Afghanistan: MSF Demands Explanations After Deadly Airstrikes Hit Hospital in Kunduz,” Doctors Without Borders, October 3, 2015
- MSF Response to Spurious Claims That Kunduz Hospital Was ‘A Taliban Base’” Doctors Without Borers, October 4, 2015
- Alissa J. Rubin, “Doctors Without Borders Says It Is Leaving Kunduz After Strike on Hospital,” New York Times, October 4, 2015″
To sign go here: http://act.credoaction.com/sign/justice_for_dwb/?sp_ref=154756013.4.16253.f.67759.2&referring_akid=.6349950.r7v0cE&source=fb_share_sp
Tools of control 
I think it was an accident. Obviously, I have no way of knowing for sure. Either way, and I apologize for being insensitive, MSF should realize that they were in a war torn country that is in war. Accidents happen in war. You have to accept that risk going in. Nobody is perfect. If you can’t handle that risk, then don’t send your docs to a war zone.
MSF facilities are in danger all the time in Africa and have even been attacked. But, you don’t see them releasing statements like this to those groups at fault. You think investigations get put together when an MSF facility gets attacked by some rebel group in a coup? Doubt it.
Yes, America should not have bombed the buildings. But, whatever the reason is -bad intel, coordinates, etc- I’m assuming it was an accident. Now because people think American military is perfect they make it such a big deal. Either that or they are chasing money in some type of settlement situation. The second being the more likely of the two.
Look forward to seeing what the investigations decide to put out to the public.
It sounds like you’re excusing the bombing because it’s in a wartorn country. The country that bombed it is responsible for the war there, and bombing a hospital is a war crime and an unforgivable act of terrorism. You make it sound like MSF shouldn’t ask for justice, which is ridiculous. It is harder to hold rebel groups accountable, whereas in this case the US government, which presents itself as some kind of “moral leader” can be. A settlement is the least MSF should get. I want to see the people responsible be put in prison for life. As for it being an accident, I’m not convinced. The DoD knew exactly where the hospital was and they regularly engage in terrorism. This is just another example.
Sounds like you come from a lot of hate fueled opinions. Guess we will see what the investigation reveals.
I’ll tell you what’s hate-fueled: killing 12 innocent doctors who were saving lives and 10 patients who were burned alive in their beds. My opinions are fueled by compassion and common sense. You are nuts.