The hearing took place three days after the deadly attack in Kunduz, which Doctors Without Borders, and many others, quickly labeled a war crime.
The bombing killed 12 staff members, ten patients, as well as three children. The strikes reportedly came in waves and burnt people alive in their hospital beds, the Guardian reported.
Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), have further stated that Campbell’s testimony constituted an admission of a war crime.
“To be clear,” Campbell began at the hearing, the bombing was “a US decision made within the US chain of command.”
The commander went on to explain that while the attack was allegedly carried out at the request of Afghan forces, ultimately the decision to follow through was in the hands of the Pentagon.
“Even though the Afghans request that support, it still has to go through a rigorous US procedure to enable fires to go on the ground. We had a special operations unit that was in close vicinity that was talking to the aircraft that delivered those fires,” Campbell explained to the Senate armed services committee.
He stated that the hospital was “mistakenly struck,” as the US would “never intentionally target a protected medical facility.” Campbell did not elaborate on how such a deadly “mistake” happened, and instead declared that he is waiting for more information from their investigation.
The story the US has provided has changed four times in four days.
On Saturday, the military claimed they did not know whether the hospital was struck by their fire, but noted that US military strikes “may have caused collateral damage.”
On Sunday, the story shifted to claim that the strike took place in the:vicinity of the hospital, and hinted that it may have been hit by accident, and not targeted.
The following day, on Monday, Campbell admitted that US forces in the area were not threatened — but had fired at the request of the Afghan forces who were receiving fire from insurgents.
“We have now learned that on October 3rd, Afghan forces advised that they were taking fire from enemy positions and asked for air support from US forces. An airstrike was then called to eliminate the Taliban threat and several civilians were accidentally struck. This is different from initial reports which indicated that US forces were threatened and that the airstrike was called on their behalf,” Campbell’s statement on Monday asserted.
By the time of the hearing on Tuesday, the story had changed once again, with Campbell admitting that, ultimately, the US went through a “rigorous procedure” before making the decision to fire.
“The US military remains responsible for the targets it hits, even though it is part of a coalition,” director general of MSF, Christopher Stokes, told the Guardian.
During the hearing, Campbell also stated that he recommends Obama scrap his plans to withdraw troops down to the size of what would be required to protect an embassy.
“Want some blood on your hands, just like your government?” One protester asked another while holding up a tube of fake blood before the hearing began.
