Funeral Nearly Becomes Disaster for U.S. and Afghans

Sarah Creech

Soc 202

4:51 

9/25/09

In this article an Afghan man is at his friends brothers funeral. The man, who died, had died of a heart attack and they were holding a funeral for him in his family’s village Logar. Many residents showed up to pay their respects. In the middle of the funeral American Helicopters flew overhead landed, and crashed the funeral. The blocked off the funeral and soldiers came at the mourners with their weapons drawn. The dead mans brother spoke English because he is a reporter and he went to talk to the commander of the unit. He told them that it was a peaceful funeral and that there must be some kind of mistake. The commander did not belive him at first and he demanded to see the body. After seeing it, and after much persuasion the man finally convinced the commander that he was telling the truth and the soldiers left in peace.

I think that this is absolutely horrible! I understand that troops feel like they have to keep an eye on things. But to burst into a funeral with no evidence that it is anything more than a funeral, is just crazy. I cannot imagine how upset and hurt I would be if my brother’s funeral were so rudely interrupted. I think it is really sad that these innocent people can’t have a normal life. Sometimes I think we forget about the war because we live in America and it’s not being fought here. But I think if people took more time to think about those poor people’s situation they would be much more sympathetic. 

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-troops-funeral-anger-afghans/Story?id=8519457&page=2