Amid Media Blackout, Syrian Opposition Begs US-Led Coalition to Stop
Bombings
Published on
Thursday, July 21, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Amid Media Blackout, Syrian Opposition Begs US-Led Coalition to Stop
Bombings
Reports find US-led coalition has killed over 100 civilians since June, but
mainstream media keeps many in dark about West's role in stoking Syrian war
by
Nika Knight, staff writer
The leader of a Syrian opposition group warns that the recent killing of
dozens of civilians by the U.S.-led coalition would "prove to be a
recruitment tool for terrorist organizations." (Photo: Omar Haj Kadour/Getty
Images)
As the number of civilians killed by U.S.-led coalition forces in Syria
since June rises to above 100, the head of opposition group the Syrian
National Coalition (SNC) is asking the U.S. to suspend the coalition's
airstrikes against the Islamic State (ISIS) while the deaths are
investigated.
On Monday and Tuesday, dozens of civilians-including many children-were
reportedly killed by U.S.-led airstrikes in what observers called the "worst
week" for civilian deaths at the hands of the coalition.
Rebel groups have given civilians 48 hours to evacuate the northern city of
Manbij, where 56 civilians were killed by the coalition on Tuesday, in a
last-ditch effort to avoid further casualties, according to the Telegraph.
The Pentagon's internal news service, Stars and Stripes, reported Tuesday
that the Department of Defense is investigating the killings. In the Daily
Beast, however, Charles Davis reports:
The CENTCOM-supported SDF, meanwhile, has dismissed reports of mass
casualties in Manbij as "fabricated news" circulated by groups who "support
terrorism," according to a statement obtained by the Kurdish media network
Rudaw.
Independent monitors and anti-ISIS activists on the ground, by contrast,
insist that air support for the SDF has killed hundreds of innocents.
[...] According to Airwars, [a local monitoring group,] the civilian death
count from U.S.-led airstrikes in the area up to at least 190 since May 31.
Local activists claim the number is at least 368, and an activist with the
Free Manbij Media Center told the Daily Beast the death toll on July 19
alone was "more than 150 people, mostly women and children" who were "killed
while in their homes."
Members of a group previously funded and armed by the U.S. filmed themselves
beheading a child in a grisly video that circulated widely on Wednesday,
provoking further condemnation of the Obama administration's approach to the
Syrian conflict.
In a statement released late Wednesday, the head of the SNC warned the U.S.
"that the killing of civilians by the U.S.-led air campaign would 'prove to
be a recruitment tool for terrorist organizations,'" the Telegraph reports.
Indeed, critics of U.S. foreign policy have long made the same point. As
Murtaza Hussain, journalist at The Intercept, recently commented on Twitter:
Yet many in the West remain ignorant of the role it plays in stoking the
Syrian conflict-in large part, critics say, as a result of paltry media
coverage.
As Adam Johnson wrote Thursday for media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting (FAIR):
A coalition airstrike reported on Tuesday that killed at least 85
civilians-one more than died in the Nice attack in France last week-wasn't
featured at all on the front pages of two of the top US national newspapers,
the New York Times and LA Times, and only merited brief blurbs on the front
pages of the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, with the actual
stories buried on pages A-16 and A-15, respectively.
[...] By contrast, the Nice attack garnered multiple front-page stories in
the New York Times and LA Times, as well as significantly more than 20-word
blurbs in the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.
According to Airwars, Johnson adds, "the total number of civilian deaths
since the beginning of airstrikes in September 2014 has been 190. To
increase this number by almost 50 percent in a matter of days would indeed
be a radical departure from the normal course of events-rendering it more
than newsworthy."
Meanwhile, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein drew connections
between U.S. foreign policy in Syria and terrorist attacks in the West in a
press release Thursday: "What will a potential President Clinton or Trump do
as the War on Terror continues to 'come home' to San Bernardino, Beirut,
Paris, Istanbul, and Nice?" Stein asked.
"ISIS-a direct outgrowth of the Clinton-supported U.S. invasion and
occupation of Iraq-is a force that feeds on the outrage of people on the
receiving end of our disastrous, belligerent approach to foreign policy and
national security," Stein added. "Clinton's destruction of Libya added to
the chaos by unleashing vast stockpiles of Libyan weapons that then became
available to ISIS[...] Groups like ISIS cannot be stopped by more violence."
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
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Amid Media Blackout, Syrian Opposition Begs US-Led Coalition to Stop
Bombings
Published on
Thursday, July 21, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Amid Media Blackout, Syrian Opposition Begs US-Led Coalition to Stop
Bombings
Reports find US-led coalition has killed over 100 civilians since June, but
mainstream media keeps many in dark about West's role in stoking Syrian war
by
Nika Knight, staff writer
. 23 Comments
.
. The leader of a Syrian opposition group warns that the recent
killing of dozens of civilians by the U.S.-led coalition would "prove to be
a recruitment tool for terrorist organizations." (Photo: Omar Haj
Kadour/Getty Images)
. As the number of civilians killed by U.S.-led coalition forces in
Syria since June rises to above 100, the head of opposition group the Syrian
National Coalition (SNC) is asking the U.S. to suspend the coalition's
airstrikes against the Islamic State (ISIS) while the deaths are
investigated.
. On Monday and Tuesday, dozens of civilians-including many
children-were reportedly killed by U.S.-led airstrikes in what observers
called the "worst week" for civilian deaths at the hands of the coalition.
. Rebel groups have given civilians 48 hours to evacuate the northern
city of Manbij, where 56 civilians were killed by the coalition on Tuesday,
in a last-ditch effort to avoid further casualties, according to the
Telegraph.
. The Pentagon's internal news service, Stars and Stripes, reported
Tuesday that the Department of Defense is investigating the killings. In the
Daily Beast, however, Charles Davis reports:
The CENTCOM-supported SDF, meanwhile, has dismissed reports of mass
casualties in Manbij as "fabricated news" circulated by groups who "support
terrorism," according to a statement obtained by the Kurdish media network
Rudaw.
Independent monitors and anti-ISIS activists on the ground, by contrast,
insist that air support for the SDF has killed hundreds of innocents.
[...] According to Airwars, [a local monitoring group,] the civilian death
count from U.S.-led airstrikes in the area up to at least 190 since May 31.
Local activists claim the number is at least 368, and an activist with the
Free Manbij Media Center told the Daily Beast the death toll on July 19
alone was "more than 150 people, mostly women and children" who were "killed
while in their homes."
Members of a group previously funded and armed by the U.S. filmed themselves
beheading a child in a grisly video that circulated widely on Wednesday,
provoking further condemnation of the Obama administration's approach to the
Syrian conflict.
In a statement released late Wednesday, the head of the SNC warned the U.S.
"that the killing of civilians by the U.S.-led air campaign would 'prove to
be a recruitment tool for terrorist organizations,'" the Telegraph reports.
Indeed, critics of U.S. foreign policy have long made the same point. As
Murtaza Hussain, journalist at The Intercept, recently commented on Twitter:
Yet many in the West remain ignorant of the role it plays in stoking the
Syrian conflict-in large part, critics say, as a result of paltry media
coverage.
As Adam Johnson wrote Thursday for media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting (FAIR):
A coalition airstrike reported on Tuesday that killed at least 85
civilians-one more than died in the Nice attack in France last week-wasn't
featured at all on the front pages of two of the top US national newspapers,
the New York Times and LA Times, and only merited brief blurbs on the front
pages of the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, with the actual
stories buried on pages A-16 and A-15, respectively.
[...] By contrast, the Nice attack garnered multiple front-page stories in
the New York Times and LA Times, as well as significantly more than 20-word
blurbs in the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.
According to Airwars, Johnson adds, "the total number of civilian deaths
since the beginning of airstrikes in September 2014 has been 190. To
increase this number by almost 50 percent in a matter of days would indeed
be a radical departure from the normal course of events-rendering it more
than newsworthy."
Meanwhile, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein drew connections
between U.S. foreign policy in Syria and terrorist attacks in the West in a
press release Thursday: "What will a potential President Clinton or Trump do
as the War on Terror continues to 'come home' to San Bernardino, Beirut,
Paris, Istanbul, and Nice?" Stein asked.
"ISIS-a direct outgrowth of the Clinton-supported U.S. invasion and
occupation of Iraq-is a force that feeds on the outrage of people on the
receiving end of our disastrous, belligerent approach to foreign policy and
national security," Stein added. "Clinton's destruction of Libya added to
the chaos by unleashing vast stockpiles of Libyan weapons that then became
available to ISIS[...] Groups like ISIS cannot be stopped by more violence."
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
