No one asked their names | By Qais Azimy AJE
In the days following the rogue US soldier’s shooting spree in Kandahar, most of the media, us included, focused on the “backlash” and how it might further strain the relations with the US.
Many mainstream media outlets channelled a significant amount of energy into uncovering the slightest detail about the accused soldier – now identified as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales. We even know where his wife wanted to go for vacation, or what she said on her personal blog.
But the victims became a footnote, an anonymous footnote. Just the number 16. No one bothered to ask their ages, their hobbies, their aspirations. Worst of all, no one bothered to ask their names.
In honoring their memory, I write their names below, and the little we know about them: that nine of them were children, three were women.
The dead:
- Mohamed Dawood son of Abdullah
- Khudaydad son of Mohamed Juma
- Nazar Mohamed
- Payendo
- Robeena
- Shatarina daughter of Sultan Mohamed
- Zahra daughter of Abdul Hamid
- Nazia daughter of Dost Mohamed
- Masooma daughter of Mohamed Wazir
- Farida daughter of Mohamed Wazir
- Palwasha daughter of Mohamed Wazir
- Nabia daughter of Mohamed Wazir
- Esmatullah daughter of Mohamed Wazir
- Faizullah son of Mohamed Wazir
- Essa Mohamed son of Mohamed Hussain
- Akhtar Mohamed son of Murrad Ali
The wounded:
- Haji Mohamed Naim son of Haji Sakhawat
- Mohamed Sediq son of Mohamed Naim
- Parween
- Rafiullah
- Zardana
- Zulheja
This post makes a good point. The priorities of the U.S. media are so out of whack in cases like these that these things don’t get reported. They become meaningless statistics, blips on a radar that don’t register. There’s a campaign to be had here. The next time Afghan civilians die at the hands of the U.S. military, the NY Times, WaPo and other mainstream media outlets should put as much work into finding out about the people who died as they do the suspect. This is a war full of “forgotten” deaths. The media should be doing more to prevent them from being forgotten.