War Handwavium

If you grew up in the US, you probably have heard of something called the “Boston Massacre”. But you might not know the details. So, an abbreviated history lesson:

 In October 1, 1768, British troops entered the colonial city of Boston to occupy it and quell the unrest that was brewing there as a result of unpopular British taxes on the colonies. On March 5, 1770, it all started when a young wig-maker’s apprentice, Edward Gerrish, went to a British post to complain to Captain Lieutenant John Goldfinch that he owed the wigmaker money. Goldfinch ignored him. Gerrish left and returned a couple hours later with a group of people and continued his complaint. Some of the people with Gerrish started throwing snowballs at Goldfinch. At this point, a British soldier named Private White challenged the colonists. Insults were exchanged. White strikes Gerrish on the side of the head with his musket. This escalated the situation, and the group of colonists grew to several hundred people.

Meanwhile, the nearby Main Guard position was manned by Captain Thomas Preston. Preston had been watching the situation escalate and eventually sent between 8 and 12 British soldiers, including Private Hugh Montgomery, with muskets and fixed bayonets to relieve White. When these dozen British soldiers reached White, they became pinned in by the several hundred colonists and a standoff emerged. The colonists were shouting at the British soldiers, shouting insults and shouting “fire!” to goad them into attacking.

A colonist struck Private Mongomery with a club. Montgomery fell to the ground, got up, shouted “Damn you, fire!”, and then fired his musket into the crowd.

A moment later the rest of the troops fired into the crowd. Eleven colonists were hit. Three died at the scene. Two would die from their wounds later.

A colonist, possibly Samual Adams, wrote up a one page pamphlet describing what had happened and distributed to the public. This is the headline:

THE HORRID MASSACRE IN BOSTON, PERPETRATED IN THE EVENING OF THE FIFTH DAY OF MARCH, 1770, BY SOLDIERS OF THE TWENTY-NINTH REGIMENT WHICH WITH THE FOURTEENTH REGIMENT WERE THEN QUARTERED THERE; WITH SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF THINGS PRIOR TO THAT CATASTROPHE

The “Boston Massacre” galvanized many of the colonists against British rule. Two hundred fifty years later, many Americans know of the “Boston Massacre” between British and Colonists and know it was one of the sparks that led to the Revolutionary War.

Right?

OK. Now. Fast-forward to August 22, 2008. The US is occupying Afghanistan in it’s pursuit of the Bin Laden. US forces call in an airstrike on a village named Azizabad because they believe there are Taliban forces there. The American air strike ends up killing thirty Afghan civilians, including women and children. The Afghan government claims about 90 civilians were killed. American military forces originally claim that a “handful” of civilians were killed.

What do you think is going to happen?

Do you think the Afghan people will react any differently to a foreign occupying army killing their own civilian people than the colonists in the New World reacted to British soldiers killing civilians in Boston?

 source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/washington/08inquiry.html