How a Military Dictatorship Helps the Poor

In the AP article, Up To 80 Taliban Dead in US-led Strike, author Noor Kahn mentions that

At Mirwaise Hospital in Kandahar city, a man with blood on his clothes and turban said insurgents had been hiding in an Islamic religious school, or madrassa, in the village since the recent fighting.

"Helicopters bombed the madrassa and some of the Taliban ran from there and into people's homes. Then those homes were bombed," said Haji Ikhlaf, 40. "I saw 35 to 40 dead Taliban and around 50 dead or wounded civilians."

Another villager, Zurmina Bibi, cradled her wounded 8-month-old baby. She said about 10 people were killed in her home, including three or four children.

"There were dead people everywhere," she said, crying.

Of course, if you ask Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush, this kind of thing is so unimportant as to be unworthy of mention in the western media. In fact, they insist that these problems are so emphasized to the point of exaggeration by our media that we distort the whole mission, role, and success of the American forces.