IPFS Stephen Lendman

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US-Led Coalition Warplanes Killing Civilians, Media Scoundrels Silent

US-Led Coalition Warplanes Killing Civilians, Media Scoundrels Silent

by Stephen Lendman

When Russian and Syrian warplanes target terrorists, false accusations of killing civilians follow. When US-led coalition terror-bombing massacres noncombatants, media scoundrels report nothing.

On October 26, Amnesty International (AI) headlined "USA must come clean about civilian deaths caused by coalition airstrikes in Syria," saying:

"Eleven coalition attacks examined by (AI) appear to have killed some 300 civilians during two years of strikes targeting" ISIS.

Some AI truth-telling is better than none. Mixing it with misinformation tarnishes its alleged good intentions. 

US-led bombing of Iraq in June 2014, followed by Syria three months later, massacred unknown hundreds, maybe thousands of defenseless civilians. No one has a full and accurate count.

Attacks were on vital infrastructure, government targets and civilian areas - not ISIS or other terrorist groups as AI reported.

America and its rogue allies consider civilians legitimate targets, killing them indiscriminately in all their war theaters. When caught red-handed, claims about tragic mistakes made ring hollow.

AI raised the issue of America killing civilians with its war department in late September, so far getting no response.

According to AI's Lynn Maalouf, "(w)e fear the US-led Coalition is significantly underestimating the harm caused to civilians in its operations in Syria." The same holds for Iraq and other US war theaters.

"Analysis of available evidence suggests that in each of these cases, Coalition forces failed to take adequate precautions to minimize harm to civilians and damage to civilian objects. Some of these attacks may constitute disproportionate or otherwise indiscriminate attacks" - amounting to crimes of war and against humanity Maalouf failed to stress.

"It's high time the US authorities came clean about the full extent of the civilian damage caused by Coalition attacks in Syria. Independent and impartial investigations must be carried out into any potential violations of international humanitarian law and the findings should be made public," she added.

To date, CENTCOM disgracefully acknowledged one death, willfully concealing evidence of its high crimes. AI believes civilian fatalities from US-led coalition airstrikes may exceed 1,000.

A grief-stricken survivor of one incident said "(m)y mother, aunt, wife and children - a daughter who was four years old and a son who was two-and-a-half - were all killed. The woman and her son who I'd rescued were killed. Everyone but me was killed."

AI video and photos show bodies of numerous dead children alone, their mutilated bodies painful to view, victims of US imperial ruthlessness.

Whenever America investigates its own war crimes, whitewash follows every time, coverup instead of acknowledgment of mass murder - happening over and over again in all US war theaters.

Instead of protecting civilians from harm like Russia, Washington treats them like combatants, slaughtering them indiscriminately.

AI discredited itself by disgracefully lying, falsely claiming "the Syrian government and its allies (including Russia)…are responsible for the vast majority of violations…" 

Truth is polar opposite. America, its rogue allies and terrorist foot soldiers bear full responsibility.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

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