Anything That Moves

Date: 18 July 2017 - 21:31

News ID: ۴۱۹۰۶

By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

A new investigation by Airwars shows that President Donald Trump’s bombing campaign against ISIL over several months has led to nearly as many civilian deaths as those overseen by the Obama White House over several years.
According to the investigation, at least 2,300 civilians were killed by coalition strikes from 2015 until the end of Obama’s term earlier this year. But as of July 13, roughly six months into Trump’s presidency, over 2,200 civilians have likely died from coalition strikes.
That translates to roughly 80 civilian casualties each month in Iraq and Syria during the Obama White House; during Trump’s short tenure in the White House, it’s been roughly 360 per month.
The reason for the trend may be attributed to the result of new war plan. It includes a shift to what Secretary of Defense James "Mad Dog” Mattis called "annihilation tactics” to defeat ISIL fighters and the president’s having "delegated authority to the right level to aggressively and in a timely manner move against enemy vulnerabilities.” In other words, American warplanes have the right to target anything that moves – anything.
This has concerned human rights watchdogs, the UN-appointed Commission of Inquiry for Syria and Amnesty International among them. They report that the U.S.-led coalition is responsible for a "staggering loss of civilian life” in Raqqa, Syria. The coalition is also linked to "relentless unlawful attacks” on civilians in west Mosul, Iraq.
The bottom line is more civilians are dying. Whatever the reason, that should concern the U.S. greatly. To the "civilized world” consternation, the air war has been ineffective. Iraq and Syria now house a rudimentary terrorist proto-state, a creature birthed into the world in significant part due to the geopolitical fantasies of Washington and allies.
Strange enough, Washington insists airstrikes will continue, which is a terrible idea. The air war has been a catastrophe on an almost unimaginable scale. Beyond propaganda, the fact remains that terrorism and ISIL wannabes of every sort are on the rise, creating an arc of instability and chaos throughout the region.
In all likelihood, this is a foreign-made nightmare. And it is destined to get worse, unless a clueless Washington and its terminally paranoid allies stop launching attacks in all directions, from Damascus to Raqqa to Iraq. The failure of the U.S. and its allies to account for the civilians killed in the air war raises serious concerns about their accountability and honesty over whom they kill.
The airstrikes have killed thousands of civilians in Syria in the last few months, and killed tens of thousands of civilians in Iraq over the last decade. The world is yet to see any investigations into these crimes and there is no reason to believe the war criminals will ever investigate them.
The U.S. hands in civilian deaths extend beyond direct bombings. Its push for regime change in Damascus is left unchecked: Training and funding and equipping "moderate” terrorist groups in Syria. Likewise, in Iraq many of the coalition members continue to give ISIL military assistance and training and equipment. They are helping the terrorist group commit war crimes against humanity and they haven’t been held accountable either. It’s a dark day for international law.