Wednesday, March 27, 2002

Slate: Today's Papers: A Moot Beirut? By Eriq Gardner ... "The LAT fronts a fascinating new look into the highly publicized Dec. 10th American bombing mistake that almost killed Hamid Karzai, named as prime minister the following day. The "friendly fire" is now believed to have taken out three Green Berets and 25 Afghan allies. According to the story, American military and members of the Northern Alliance were leading an offensive mission against the Taliban. A commander called for airstrikes to wipe out the enemy. An Air Force serviceman calculated the position where the strikes needed to be made, but then the battery to his global positioning system unit needed to be changed. Once that situation was remedied, the serviceman's own coordinates came up on the unit, and this was the data that was relayed."

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