The figure of 21 is the “official” one put forth by the puppet overnor of Helmand. As usual this represents a gross undercount. A more accurate rendering posted at my Afghan Victim Memorial Project data base (at http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold) follows below.
Sincerely,
Marc W. Herold
University of New Hampshire

50-80 civilians killed (incl. women and children)
Fiazullah’s whole family of 7

killed late Tuesday night, May 8, 2007

in the Garmawa area north of Sangin in Helmand Province. In what must surely be labeled a massacre, some 50-80 civilians were killed in a string of small villages. An occupation force convoy was attacked in the afternoon of May 8th. Later U.S. Special Forces called-in close in support. US/NATO war planes then bombed houses where they believed Taliban were hiding. Even the puppet governor of Helmand Province, Assadullh Wafa, admitted that 21 civilians had died in the bombing (a figure widely cited by the Associated Press which routinely and uncritically publishes accounts by the U.S. military and the Kabul client regime). Others put the deaths much higher. A resident of the bombed area, Mohammad Asif, said five homes in the village of Soro were bombed, killing 38 and injuring more than 20. “Foreign troops are killing Afghans every day, but our government has closed its eyes and does not see our casualties,” local resident Haji Ibrahim said. “There were no Taliban in our area,” Mohammad Rahim, a resident of Sangin, told Reuters by phone, adding he had seen 24 bodies in three houses. The village of Sarwan Qala was demolished. Carlotta Gall, one of the few independent news reporters, wrote,
“Hajji Mahmud, a shopkeeper who lives near Sarwan Qala, said he was one of those who brought the bodies and said 56 people had been killed, most of them women and children. “Three houses were completely destroyed,” he said in a telephone interview. “One of the houses belonged to Faizullah. The family of seven is dead, the whole family.” “Still now they are digging out bodies from the rubble,” he said. A resident of the bombed village, Abdul Nasir, who was away from the village on Tuesday night, said more than 60 people had been killed and many more wounded. “It was around 4 p.m. when the foreign vehicles came through on the main road,” he said. “The Taliban shot at them and they turned back. Then airplanes came and bombed the village at 10 p.m.,” he said. The Taliban were in the village during the day but left later and were not in the village at the time of the bombing, he said.”
A parliamentarian from Sangin said he had been told 100 people were dead and wounded. “It was a savage bombing which destroyed over 40 houses and killed and wounded 100 civilians, kids and women,” said Amer Dad Mohammad, vowing to bring the issue before the national parliament. Mohammad said 14 people from a single family were among the dead. “How long can this disaster of continued civilians casualties continue?” he said. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, confirmed that Taliban fighters had fired on the military convoy but said they had left the village long before the bombing. He denied that any Taliban were killed in the air strikes. 
As usual as part of news management, Western occupation forces and their Afghan satraps blocked all access to the stricken area (thereby preventing independent access to evidence and gaining time to piece together an “official account,” i.e. lie) . A U.S. military (propaganda) spokesman, a Major William Mitchell, said only militants had been killed, a claim which could not be independently verified. Later when this lie proved untenable, the occupation forces fell back upon the figures cited by the puppet governor.

And someday, we will ask this question: “WHY DO THEY HATE US” ...

And the administration (left or right, dem or con) will tell us: “beacause they HATE OUR WAY OF LIFE AND OUR FREEDOM.

And the supidests among us will believe that LIE ... and the circus will go on and on and on ...

Viets? evil
Soviets? evil
Iraqis? evil
Iranians? evil
Serbs? evil
Somalians? evil
Lebaneses? evil
Palestinians? evil
Soudaneses? evil

Americans? ANGELS OF FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY

seems like the angels are the one doing the most evil things in this world. .. or should I say COLLATERAL CARNAGE ...

I wonder if the defense Department will again trot out Col. Nicholson to apologize and give $2000 to each of the victims.  Of course not!  These dead civilians are of little concern to our “chickenhawk” leaders - simply unfortunate “collateral amage” from what could best be called the Army’s “Fallujah Strategy” of throwing out the baby to get at the bath water.  There is a certain “cleanliness” about slaughtering innocent men, women, and children from the anonymity of a B-52:  you don’t have to look into their frightened eyes as you murder them.