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It appears the military campaign in Afghanistan has worked very well, disrupting the activities of the bin Laden network and provoking the collapse of its protector, the Taliban regime. But questions about civilian deaths in Afghanistan need to be pursued for several reasons. One, such deaths should be avoided. Two, if bombs are mistakenly hitting civilians, perhaps they are hitting our own forces in error. We have already confirmed U.S. military deaths from so-called friendly fire. And three, such mistakes may indicate something wrong with our weapons.

It has been alleged that a U.S. air strike on the village of Niazi Kala in Afghanistan left at least 52 civilians dead. At first, the Pentagon said there was no collateral damage. Then it said that civilian deaths were a possibility. If there were civilian deaths, the Pentagon said, they may have been caused by secondary explosions because the bombs hit an arms cache. The Washington Post initially covered this controversy back on page 18, but it later emerged on page one. The New York Times reported the deaths in a story about a related topic.

In Britain, by contrast, front-page stories claimed the U.S. air strike had killed over 100 civilians, including women and children. The British papers claimed the U.S. had hit a wedding party and that the attack was a horrible blunder triggered by a warlord who wanted U.S. bombs to eliminate members of a rival tribe.

The CBS Evening News has aired a series of stories suggesting that our smart bombs may not be so smart. CBS News correspondent Vince Gonzalez interviewed a number of current and former employees at Eagle-Picher Technologies in Joplin, Missouri, where they manufacture the batteries that power the guidance systems of almost every smart weapon.

Rick Peoples, a former Marine and production engineer, says supervisors ordered him to ship out defective batteries because discarding them would have cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. “They threatened me several times with my check if I would not sign off on battery lots that had actually failed,” he told CBS News. Gonzalez said he spoke to other Eagle-Picher employees who confirmed a number of the allegations: “They couldn’t talk on camera because the company paid them thousands of dollars to sign documents in which they promised to stay silent. A deal the company also offered to Rick Peoples.”

In October, a smart bomb went off target and hit a senior citizens’ center near Heart, Afghanistan. In Kabul, smart bombs went astray and slammed into a residential area, reportedly killing 25 civilians. “People’s lives depend on those weapons working and chances are, they’re not going to work,” said Peoples. The Pentagon said the bombs malfunctioned. The same kind of malfunction could explain the accidental deaths of American soldiers. But that’s not good enough for Peoples. He has filed a whistle-blower suit against Eagle-Picher. The alleged cover-up, he said, “has jeopardized our national defense to the point where it is criminal fraud and someone should pay.” The same firm also supplies batteries for America’s nuclear bombs and missiles.

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