By Debra Sweet

16 people in the U.S. military will not be prosecuted for repeated bombings of the Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, last October 3. After a six-month investigation, the Pentagon says the 16 will face administrative sanctions because they "failed to comply with the law of armed conflict and rules of engagement."

"The incident, in which a U.S. aircraft bombed a Doctors Without Borders medical facility continuously for at least 30 minutes, left 42 civilians dead—including medical staff and patients. The attack destroyed the main building, including the emergency room and intensive care unit. Some patients were burned alive in their hospital beds," reports Mother Jones.

Revcom.us said at the time, "Doctors Without Borders revealed that the U.S. military continued the bombing for 30 minutes after receiving phone calls telling military contacts that the hospital was being bombed. 'All parties to the conflict including in Kabul [the U.S.-backed Afghan regime] and Washington, were clearly informed of the precise location of the MSF [Médecins Sans Frontières] facilities—hospital, guesthouse, office.' And hospital staff told reporters there were no Taliban fighters in the area.

"The bombing sent shockwaves through the devastated city of Kunduz, the latest focal point in the clash between the U.S.-backed regime of Dark Ages Islamic fundamentalist warlords who have aligned with the U.S., and on the other side, the oppressive Dark Ages Taliban—all of whom represent nothing but exploitation and oppression. The Kunduz hospital treated civilians as well as those wounded in fighting without regard to which side they were on—which is what a hospital should do."

The MSF Hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, which U.S. forces claim to have misidentified when attacking last year.

When the Taliban or ISIS terrorizes civilians, we hear instant outrage from the Pentagon and vows to "carpet bomb" not only the fighters, but their families, from wannabe presidents. 

The Pentagon announces that these fighters on assignment from the best equipped military in world history bomb civilians, it's not even punishable, nor a crime, because, according to them, targeting of the hospital by the 16 people (who have not been identified) was "unintentional."

The authorities have been allowed to pose this as merely about what those unnamed 16 airmen and soldiers did, as if they were not under orders, and as if the last 15 years of war on Afghanistan was not an aggressive war against a people that never attacked the U.S.  Who are the real criminals?

► Read the Statement from Médecins Sans Frontières on the Pentagon announcement.