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US Wars Kill Mostly Civilians |
By
Stephen Lendman |
| Post-9/11 alone, millions of civilians perished in US
direct and proxy wars. They were either in harm's way, deliberately targeted,
or perished from war related violence, preventable diseases or deprivation. Washington, like Israel, considers noncombatant civilians legitimate targets. International law calls killing them a war crime. Obama's Iraq war and Syria bombing aren't against IS terrorists. They're US recruited proxy foot soldiers, supported by American air power. Washington's Friday's Aleppo area bombing murdered dozens of noncombatant civilians - not a single IS terrorist. None were targeted. Noncombatant civilians alone were in the Birmahle area struck - no IS terrorists. No clashes were reported. US CENTCOM lied reporting "no indication that any civilians were killed in these strikes." It claimed "several ISIL fighting positions (were) destroy(ed)." It said "more than 50 ISIL fighters" were targeted. It bears repeating, ONLY civilians were killed - no IS terrorists. None were present - nor any IS "fighting positions." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) issued a statement "condemn(ing) in the strongest terms this massacre committed by the US led coalition under the pretext of targeting the IS in the village, and we call the coalition countries to refer who committed this massacre to the courts, as we renew our calls to neutralize all civilians areas from military operations by all parties." Since US warplanes began terror-bombing Syria last September, mostly noncombatant civilian men, women and children died. Reuters said US attacks "had little impact on the hardline Islamic State group…(It) fail(ed) to weaken it in areas it controls." Bombing supports its US proxy force mission to topple Bashar al-Assad. Obama wants a convenient US stooge replacing him. Washington' strategy includes murdering civilians in all its wars. In the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Ukraine, endless so-called humanitarian wars murdered millions of noncombatants advancing America's imperium. Horrific war crimes go unreported or are denied. When investigations are conducted they whitewashed. High-level government and Pentagon culpability doesn't matter. Millions of corpses attest to America's barbarity. During US-led NATO's terror-bombing of Libya, British Civilians for Peace (BCP) spokesman Dale Roberts said he "witnessed the effects of bombing on civilians." "This has included schools, hospitals, infrastructure and (other) civilian areas" unrelated to military sites. So-called Pentagon "Kill Teams" murder with impunity. US death squads have been used since WW II. In Korea, tens of thousands were murdered in cold blood. In Vietnam, Operation Phoenix was the most indiscriminate mass slaughter campaign since Hitler's death camps - exceeded in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. US terror-bombing since America entered WW II killed millions of noncombatants. Sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917) once said "(t)he immorality of war depends entirely on the leaders who willed it." If alive today, he'd have Bush and Obama in mind. Immanuel Wallerstein calls America "the most dangerous loose gun." In his opening Nuremberg address, Justice Robert Jackson denounced the "men who possess themselves of great power and make deliberative and concerted use of it to set in motion evils which leave no home in the world untouched." He called them "men of station and rank (who don't) soil (their) hands with blood." They use "lesser folk" to commit crimes of war and against humanity to enhance their status, privilege, wealth and power. In Afghanistan and Iraq, Pentagon commanders ordered US forces to kill all military-aged men on sight. During training, enemies are vilified, dehumanized to make killing easy. Recruits are programmed (brainwashed) to feel guiltless about cold-blooded murder - on the ground, from offshore or from 30,000 feet. Yet international and US laws are clear. US Army Field Manual incorporates Nuremberg Principles as well as the 1956 Law of Land Warfare. FM's paragraph 498 states any person, military or civilian, who commits a crime under international law is responsible for it and may be punished. Paragraph 499 defines a war crime. Paragraph 500 refers to a conspiracy, attempts to commit it and complicity with respect to international crimes. Paragraph 509 denies the defense of superior orders in the commission of a crime. Paragraph 510 denies the defense of an "act of state" as absolution for war crimes. These provisions apply to all US military and civilian personnel to the highest levels, including the president, defense secretary and joint chiefs chairman. It doesn't matter. American forces commit horrific atrocities and other war crimes in all US wars. Mass murdering noncombatant civilians is standard operating procedure. Obama claims he has moral authority to attack any nation he wishes on the pretext of humanitarian intervention. Commenting on US-led NATO's rape of Yugoslavia, the late Harold Pinter said: "When they said '(w)e had to do something,' I said: Who is this 'we' exactly that you're talking about?" "Under what heading do 'we' act, under what law? And also, the notion that this 'we' has the right to act,' I said, presupposes a moral authority of which this 'we' possesses not a jot! It doesn't exist!" The same holds for all US wars - lawless imperial ones pursued for global conquest and dominance. Lunatics in Washington make policy - waging endless wars on humanity, raping one country after another, murdering millions, claiming a divine right to rule. International laws, norms and standards don't matter - nor US constitutional and statute laws. No nation in world history threatens world peace more than America. None more risk ending life on earth. 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: 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. It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs. |
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