After confessing that the Red Cross was bombed on purpose, Pentagon officials continue to insist that Afghan villages which contain "al Qaeda collaborators" are legitimate targets. CNN : Afghan village a 'legitimate target' - "The official said (of) the village of Chowkar-Karez ... "The people there are dead because we wanted them dead" ... The village was attacked about 2330 local time on October 22 with torrents of withering fire from an AC-130 aerial gunship, known in the military as "Spooky." ... Pentagon officials take issue with the term "civilians" in the context of the military action in Afghanistan saying members of the Taliban and al Qaeda often do not wear uniforms. Chowkar-Karez, they say, provided support and refuge to terrorists ... Taliban authorities have said that between 90 and 100 civilians were killed in the U.S. attack. CNN's Nic Robertson has not been able to verify the Talban's statements on casualties but was allowed to visit the ruins of the village which had been virtually leveled by the attack ... the village's 15 houses had been destroyed, and the rubble contained no articles of obvious military value. Instead, he said, boxes of soap, children's shoes, women's clothing and other domestic articles lay among the destruction. Among the wreckage were fragments of missiles, bombs and shrapnel." This story might be contrasted with a statement just days ago by the head of the CNN news department who said that Focusing on civilian Afghan casualities would be 'perverse' (UK IndyMedia Site)< /A>