Friday, February 26, 2010

Inevitable Civilian Casualties?

Last month we noted that the mid-month time period was once more significant, since we would see the New Moon in conjunction with Neptune and Chiron making strong aspects to the U.S. Moon and Midheaven. Prognostication is tricky with Neptune, being such a slippery planet, but we did in fact witness some interesting mid-February activity, with the first civilian deaths from the U.S. military stepped-up anti-Taliban offensive in Helmand Province.

The following headline and story appeared on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now:

12 Die as U.S. Bombs Wrong House as Part of New Afghan Offensive

Thousands of US and NATO forces have launched one of the largest military offensives of the eight-year war in an attempt to remove the Taliban from the city of Marjah in Helmand province. US officials have described the operation as a success so far, but on Sunday twelve Afghans died when two rockets fired by NATO slammed into the wrong house. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called for an investigation into the deaths. Ten of those killed were from the same family. The US said the dead included nine civilians and three insurgents. Prior to the errant bombing, Admiral Mike Mullen, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a goal of the operation was to have no civilian casualties.

Of course there have been many more civilian deaths reported in the weeks following this report from February 15th – as many as three times the original number – but this was the first. The transit of Neptune and Chiron continued, and transiting Mars made a close aspect also to U.S. Midheaven in the weeks following the New Moon.

This report is interesting in the light of the Neptune transit, with the New Moon, to both the Midheaven and Ascendant of the U.S. chart as well as to the U.S. Moon at 27 Aquarius, only a degree away. There is certainly a confused attitude on the part of the public in this country and even within the administration. Is the war in Afghanistan producing inevitable civilian casualties because the U.S is defending its interests and waging a just and necessary war or is there another way to look at this foreign policy objective, begun under President Bush after 9-11 and continued by the Obama administration, as one that has become a quagmire with initial motives other than those officially stated in the beginning? Or even worse is there actual deception that is still ongoing? These questions are murky, as befits a Neptune transit. The U.S. public is definitely beginning to question the war in general.

With Chiron also involved we could even suspect that the American public is more concerned about the morality of this war than might be evident on the surface of public opinion, especially as revealed on the TV screen. If dozens of civilians in this country were killed by a series of bomb attacks directed at a criminal element but targeting “the wrong house” it is safe to assume that there would be a far greater outcry.

In the coming month the New Moon of course conjuncts Uranus and Mercury as Uranus sextiles U.S Pluto and opposes U.S. Neptune, while transiting Neptune conjuncts U.S. Moon exactly. It is also interesting to note that U.S. Uranus makes an inconjunct to U.S. Eris which can be linked to war-like activity just as Mars is. In Greek mythology, Eris was the mythological sister of Ares (Mars).

This combination of transits suggests unexpected events along the same lines as in the previous month, presumably involving the Afghan war but possibly relating to an equivalent issue elsewhere in the world. There will continue to be confusion on the part of the U.S. public and a growing empathy with the citizens of other lands that are directly impacted by military decisions made in Washington.

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