Pentagon's John Kirby on Drone Strike: "Things That I Said Obviously Have Not Turned Out To Be Correct"

[DKW 86 7,419]

Pentagon's John Kirby on Drone Strike: "Things That I Said Obviously Have Not Turned Out To Be Correct"

 

Posted By Ian Schwartz

On Date September 17, 2Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby acknowledged his statements about a drone strike in retaliation for the Kabul airport bombing in August that killed 13 American service members and over 180 civilians securing the U.S. withdrawal from the country.

 

 

Q: Thank you, John. I have two separate questions. The first one is on the 26th -- 29th attack. As General McKenzie said, the statement from CENTCOM on that day, at the end it mentioned the possibility of civilian casualties. So I'm still wondering why General Milley, on September 1st, still called this -- this strike righteous -- righteous attack.

MR. KIRBY: I think General McKenzie answered that question quite well, Fadi. I'm not sure that I can add to that. And I'm not going to speak for Chairman Milley. But as you saw from General McKenzie, within 24 hours of an indication that there could have been civilian casualties, he launched an investigation, as is his responsibility. And he just completed it. And they -- they did it fairly quickly, but I think they wanted to take the time to be as contextual as possible. So I think he already spoke to that.

Q: Yes, but, I mean, you said that within 24 hours, but General Milley came out on September 1st, that's more than 24 hours, and still called...

(CROSSTALK)

MR. KIRBY: Again, Fadi, again, I'm not going to -- I'm not going to re-litigate the past statements here. As General McKenzie mentioned, every leader in the department that spoke to this in the moment that it was spoken to was speaking to you in good faith based on the information that we had. And that includes me, by the way. Things that I said obviously have not turned out to be correct.

But it was done in as a good faith an effort as possible, to be as transparent as we could with what we knew at the time. Obviously, we now know more things and different things that has completely changed the character of this strike. And, again, we're trying to be as open and transparent as we can when we know things.

From August:
 

On Sunday, Capt Bill Urban of Central Command said the US had carried out a targeted drone strike aimed at "eliminating an imminent" threat to Kabul airport.

"We are confident we successfully hit the target," he said, adding: "Secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material."

 

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2021 by DKW 86

[I_M4_AU 7,810]

Is this strike two for Milley?

[jj3jordan 2,052]

3 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

Pentagon's John Kirby on Drone Strike: "Things That I Said Obviously Have Not Turned Out To Be Correct"

 

Posted By Ian Schwartz

On Date September 17, 2Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby acknowledged his statements about a drone strike in retaliation for the Kabul airport bombing in August that killed 13 American service members and over 180 civilians securing the U.S. withdrawal from the country.

 

 

Q: Thank you, John. I have two separate questions. The first one is on the 26th -- 29th attack. As General McKenzie said, the statement from CENTCOM on that day, at the end it mentioned the possibility of civilian casualties. So I'm still wondering why General Milley, on September 1st, still called this -- this strike righteous -- righteous attack.

MR. KIRBY: I think General McKenzie answered that question quite well, Fadi. I'm not sure that I can add to that. And I'm not going to speak for Chairman Milley. But as you saw from General McKenzie, within 24 hours of an indication that there could have been civilian casualties, he launched an investigation, as is his responsibility. And he just completed it. And they -- they did it fairly quickly, but I think they wanted to take the time to be as contextual as possible. So I think he already spoke to that.

Q: Yes, but, I mean, you said that within 24 hours, but General Milley came out on September 1st, that's more than 24 hours, and still called...

(CROSSTALK)

MR. KIRBY: Again, Fadi, again, I'm not going to -- I'm not going to re-litigate the past statements here. As General McKenzie mentioned, every leader in the department that spoke to this in the moment that it was spoken to was speaking to you in good faith based on the information that we had. And that includes me, by the way. Things that I said obviously have not turned out to be correct.

But it was done in as a good faith an effort as possible, to be as transparent as we could with what we knew at the time. Obviously, we now know more things and different things that has completely changed the character of this strike. And, again, we're trying to be as open and transparent as we can when we know things.

From August:
 

On Sunday, Capt Bill Urban of Central Command said the US had carried out a targeted drone strike aimed at "eliminating an imminent" threat to Kabul airport.

"We are confident we successfully hit the target," he said, adding: "Secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material."

 

 

 

 

Whomever wrote the last sentence, a total lie to make the strike sound more legitimate and deflect suspicion, should be prosecuted.

[CoffeeTiger 5,108]

They made a mistake, were mistaken about the facts, but they investigated, and then admitted they were wrong and released the correct info. 

 

I know Conservatives are jumping all over this as a 'failure of government/military' type thing, but It's how government should function when a mistake is made. 

 

Hopefully they'll study how the mistake occurred and will be more careful in the future. 

[jj3jordan 2,052]

20 minutes ago, CoffeeTiger said:

They made a mistake, were mistaken about the facts, but they investigated, and then admitted they were wrong and released the correct info. 

 

I know Conservatives are jumping all over this as a 'failure of government/military' type thing, but It's how government should function when a mistake is made. 

 

Hopefully they'll study how the mistake occurred and will be more careful in the future. 

They admitted it because The Guardian published it and they had no way to control it. No sir they would never have admitted this had it not been published. The "secondary explosions" comment is the proof that they were lying and covering up.  SUVs full of children don't produce secondaries.  They got caught lying to the US public.

This was a hasty irresponsible attempt to distract the public from the absolute total failure of planning and execution of the withdrawal and criminal failure of security of the troops sent in to assist. Claiming successful retaliation could potentially tamp down the righteous anger from the US citizens patriots service members and families of victims of this negligent failure. 

That's what it was and it didn't work.

[DKW 86 7,419]

19 hours ago, CoffeeTiger said:

They made a mistake, were mistaken about the facts, but they investigated, and then admitted they were wrong and released the correct info. 

 know Conservatives are jumping all over this as a 'failure of government/military' type thing, but It's how government should function when a mistake is made. 

Hopefully they'll study how the mistake occurred and will be more careful in the future. 

Bro, They only LIED TO US FOR 20 Years about Afghanistan, and Drone Strikes and strength of Afghan Army, and whatever else you want to think about.

20 Years of lies. Do you not get that? It wasnt partisan, It was policy. Do you not see this? Are you such a DNC sycophant that you just cannot allow yourself to see the truth?

Edited September 22, 2021 by DKW 86

[homersapien 11,371]

On 9/19/2021 at 1:12 PM, I_M4_AU said:

Is this strike two for Milley?

It's a war.  It remained a war even as we were trying to leave.

s*** happens in wars.  Sometimes that s*** is very tragic and a regrettable mistake.  Nothing has changed in that regard, nor will it ever.  At least it wasn't deliberate - like the My Lai massacre.

And had it been a car bomb, you guys would be going berserk over Biden's failure to cover our departure.

Edited September 22, 2021 by homersapien

[DKW 86 7,419]

The Drone strike was in retaliation for a car bomb that killed 13.

[I_M4_AU 7,810]

1 hour ago, homersapien said:

It's a war.  It remained a war even as we were trying to leave.

s*** happens in wars.  Sometimes that s*** is very tragic and a regrettable mistake.  Nothing has changed in that regard, nor will it ever.  At least it wasn't deliberate - like the My Lai massacre.

And had it been a car bomb, you guys would be going berserk over Biden's failure to cover our departure.

Yes it was a tragic mistake.  It was a hastily planned act with not real intel because Biden needed to look strong to the American public.  The Pentagon said it targeted ISIS-K and knew it was a good strike because of the secondary explosions even thought there were no *boots on the ground*.   The only reason it was investigated was the Taliban said theses people were aid workers.

I guess our *over the horizon* attacks need a little work.

[homersapien 11,371]

13 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said:

Yes it was a tragic mistake.  It was a hastily planned act with not real intel because Biden needed to look strong to the American public.  The Pentagon said it targeted ISIS-K and knew it was a good strike because of the secondary explosions even thought there were no *boots on the ground*.   The only reason it was investigated was the Taliban said theses people were aid workers.

I guess our *over the horizon* attacks need a little work.

We've ignored "real" intel since the beginning of this war.

From what I've read, this car was being followed for a couple of days with a drone.  They miss-interpreted some metal water containers as bombs.

Now whether or not the real - or political - fear of a car bomb approaching Kabul biased that decision, we'll never know for sure. 

Again, that's the general nature of war.

Edited September 22, 2021 by homersapien

[DKW 86 7,419]

So SSDD for the last 20 years and no one cares about the truth anymore. It wasnt partisan, it was policy. 

[jj3jordan 2,052]

If they followed it for two days they probably knew it was a local worker not a bomber.  The analyst would have reported it was not a threat. However the administration told them their assessment was wrong and they needed a win. They decided to kill it anyway for the overall good of the cause. A small price to pay to accomplish their goal and take the heat off Biden and his incompetent abandonment and retreat. He was a worthless afghan anyway. Until the found out about the 7 children.  A classic case of knowing the truth and still doing the wrong thing. 

[DKW 86 7,419]

I dont know if they knew that much detail, but if they had been following it that long, how did they miss the kids?

That seems like an easy thing to see the kids loading into the SUV. Kids are still kids.If you can identify water cans, you can surely see children.

[homersapien 11,371]

I don't approve of what happened nor do I defend it.  I am simply relating what little I've read about it - and it's very little.

If you guys want to hold our military responsible for a terrible mistake, that's fine with me.  In fact, I will join you.

All I am saying is that it wasn't necessarily criminally negligent (although that remains to be determined) nor do I believe a family was murdered in cold blood by our military for political reasons.  Such things happen in war - particularly in this war - and they have happened no matter who is the president or chief-of-staff. More than 71 thousand Afghan civilians were killed over the last 20 years by American troops.

Even so, making this out as a crime is a little premature and until we find out all the facts, blaming specific people without more information is obviously self-indulgent partisanship.

Edited September 23, 2021 by homersapien

[DKW 86 7,419]

I will hold the Intel part of our govt responsible. There is likely little to know way that the Military (those that kill bad guys and break things) knew anything more than they were told, "Take out the White SUV in this picture." The Intel People have effectively straight up lied OR are so dumb that they make horribly bad decisions and interpretations SINCE BEFORE THE START OF THE WAR. For 20 years we were sold BS on Iraq and Afghanistan. It wasnt all wrong, but enough of it was absolutely wrong that we stayed in a war zone killing brown skinned civilians over nothing and have likely killed off any chance for peace in the region for 2-3 generations AND blew about $6TN on effectively nothing but arming the Taliban. 

2001 A rag tag bunch of bedouins named the Taliban are in control of Afghanistan.
2021 A well armed and well trained 20th to 21st Century Fighters are in control of Afghanistan with the bare bones of an Army that could kill any other in the region and maybe take out Israel. I am also 100% sure that the MIC in America will continue to train, equip, and sell parts to them at the same time. There is no chance that doesnt happen. The MIC in this nation is there only to make $$$.

Edited September 30, 2021 by DKW 86