U.S. Uptick in Civilian Deaths

Date: 23 April 2017 - 21:32

News ID: ۳۸۷۶۴

By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

According to reports by credible international aid agencies and human rights groups, the recent airstrikes by the United States in Syria have caused more than the official number of civilian deaths, a tragedy that has provoked an international outpouring of grief and outrage.
It masks another grim reality. Thousands of other civilians have also died in hundreds of U.S.-led or U.S.-backed airstrikes in Iraq and Yemen. However, it appears likely that the vast majority of those deaths were never enough for the U.S. military or its coalition partners to change course at least in the densely populated areas – far from it:
The Pentagon regime and White House officials claim "the written rules of engagement in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen have not changed,” and that they are doing everything they can to keep civilian populations out of harm’s way. But that’s just for show. There are signs and credible reports that military commanders on the ground are more empowered under President Trump to target everything and everyone on the ground.
The recent decision to drop the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat on Afghanistan was made by the top U.S. commander on the ground without Trump’s approval. Gen. John Nicholson says he made the decision on his own to drop the so-called "mother of all bombs" - MOAB. Trump himself declines to say where the order came from, but stresses that he has given the military complete flexibility.
That is license to murder. It means more non-nuclear bombs are going to be dropped on civilian populations and there will be more civilian deaths on the ground – with no accountability. And there are no mistakes here. They have all the technology, guided munitions, and intelligence to avoid civilian casualties. But they won’t. They refuse to release details about civilian casualties under review, and the reason is obvious; they are doing it deliberately.
In fact, the uptick in civilian deaths has been so sharp that it’s overwhelmed Airwars.org, a nonprofit that tracks civilian deaths from U.S. airstrikes in the Middle East. The site has had to scale back its monitoring of Russian airstrikes in Syria and focus instead on bombings carried out by the U.S. and its allies.
"Almost 1,000 civilian non-combatant deaths have already been alleged from coalition actions across Iraq and Syria in March — a record claim,” Airwars said in a statement recently.
Under these new circumstances, it is futile for the U.S. to deny the fact that it does not care about civilians, or that it is using the airpower to kill, maim, and just plain terrorize the civilian populations. The rising civilian casualty figures from the new escalation supports this claim, as do the thousands of photos and miles of film and video footage taken by those chronicling the ongoing air strikes – not to mention reports published by human rights advocates and international aid organizations.
It is also futile for the Pentagon officials to absurdly claim that "over 40,000 U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria have killed as few as 26 civilians”! Sad to say, it does not appear for now that the War Party will ever alter its deadly operations. Despite the rising number of civilian death tolls, the U.S. says it won’t change the targeting process or recommend any changes to it. It is time for the United Nations to intervene and end this senseless bloodshed.