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U.S. drone strike kills 30 pine nut farm workers in Afghanistan

(www.reuters.com)
350 points tepidandroid | 2 comments | 19 Sep 19 16:51 UTC | HN request time: 0.418s | source
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whiddershins ◴[20 Sep 19 12:15 UTC] No.21025779[source]▶
I wonder why, even though we generally try to be skeptical of the news, I’m not seeing many comments here that question whether what this article is saying is even accurate.

How exactly does the reporter know which people are IS fighters? Is there some notion that militants don’t ever also farm?

Also in these comments there seems to be a huge double standard. The idea the United States might accidentally kill some civilians is somehow morally outrageous, but the regular and deliberate targeting of civilians by the Taliban and the IS as they attempt to completely destabilize the Afghan government is taken as somehow normal?

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esailija ◴[20 Sep 19 12:28 UTC] No.21025897[source]▶
> How exactly does the reporter know which people are IS fighters? Is there some notion that militants don’t ever also farm?

Guilty until proven innocent, right?

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1. dullgiulio ◴[20 Sep 19 12:32 UTC] No.21025945[source]▶
I think the parent is saying "how do reporters have better intel than the military?"

Then of course it might be the case here that civilians were targeted, by mistake or on purpose. But the parent point is quite valid.

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2. justin66 ◴[20 Sep 19 13:57 UTC] No.21026695[source]▶
A more apt question: why does the parent think the reporters claim to have better intel than the military?

It is baffling how poorly many people here read.