Title : DON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE MIDDLE EAST? THERE'S A REASON FOR THIS.
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DON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE MIDDLE EAST? THERE'S A REASON FOR THIS.
Middle East Civilian
Deaths Have Soared
Under Trump. And
the Media Mostly
Shrugs.
By: Margaret Sullivan
The Washington Post
18 March 2018
Deaths Have Soared
Under Trump. And
the Media Mostly
Shrugs.
By: Margaret Sullivan
The Washington Post
18 March 2018
The numbers are shocking — or at least they should be.
2017 was the deadliest year for civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria, with as many as 6,000 people killed in strikes conducted by the U.S.-led coalition, according to the watchdog group Airwars.
That is an increase of more than 200 percent over the previous year.
It is far more if you add in countries like Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia and many others.
But the subject, considered a stain on President Barack Obama’s legacy even by many of his supporters, has almost dropped off the map.
Obsessed with the seemingly daily updates in the Stormy Daniels story or the impeachment potential of the Russia investigation, the American media is paying even less attention now to a topic it never focused on with much zeal.
“The media has unfortunately been so distracted by the chaos of the Trump administration and allegations of the president’s collusion with Russia that it’s neglected to look closely at the things he’s actually doing already,” said Daphne Eviatar, a director of Amnesty International USA.
That includes, she said, “hugely expanding the use of drone and airstrikes, including outside of war zones, and increasing civilian casualties in the process.”
Trump, of course, was a candidate who promised to “bomb the shit out of ’em [Islamic State],” and has since declared victory over the terrorist organization, while continuing to drop bombs.
But at what human cost?
Eviatar, and others who monitor these issues, deplore not only the deaths of innocent people but also the government secrecy that has worsened significantly over the past year.
The Pentagon no longer reveals, she said, “even the legal and policy framework the U.S. uses to guide these lethal strikes.”
That makes the role of dogged reporting even more important.
A recent New York Times article revealed that the United States launched eight airstrikes against the Islamic State in Libya, but disclosed only four.
The story noted that military commanders have decided to reveal strikes only if a reporter specifically asked about them — the Pentagon even has a name for this policy: “responses to questions.”
Too often, the questions never come.
“Drone strikes are more prevalent than ever before, and we are hearing about it less,” said Stephanie Savell, co-director of the Costs of War project at Brown University.
Part of the reason, she said, is a kind of distorted, post-9/11 flag-waving, combined with a heavy dose of news fatigue.
“We all know there’s stuff going on in the name of fighting terror, but there’s not much interest in the details,” Savell said. “It’s considered unpatriotic to question what’s going on with the military.”
And so, front pages, cable TV pundit panels and network news shows are far more likely to probe the palace intrigue at the White House.
“As someone whose job it is to, essentially, read every article I can find on the U.S. drone war and the consequences, I can’t help but feel disheartened when some former campaign aide’s public breakdown garners drastically more coverage on the same day as a story about how the U.S. killed 150 civilians after they repeatedly bombed a school in Syria,” said Allegra Harpootlian of ReThink Media, a nonprofit communications organization.
Although aggressive reporting on drone strikes and civilian deaths is relatively rare these days, it can yield impressive results.
A BuzzFeed investigation, for example, led to the U.S. government reversing course and admitting responsibility for the deaths of 36 civilians in Mosul. The follow-up story reported that no condolence payments to the families of the victims had been approved — and, given current policy, probably never will.
And a New York Times Magazine investigation in November — “The Uncounted” — revealed that the vaunted precision of U.S.-led airstrikes is both overestimated and underexplained.
Other reporting suggests the U.S.-led coalition’s aggressive bombing of the Islamic State may have been successful, by some estimations, but there is a heavy price to pay in how the United States is perceived.
Widespread civilian casualties, reported the Intercept, are “transforming the coalition in the eyes of locals from liberator into aggressor.”
NOTE: It's an unfortunate fact of American life that we don't expect the Trump Administration to be transparent. On the contrary, the Non Disclosure Agreements that White House staffers are forced to sign, is an apt symbol of just what Trump thinks about "transparency." Did you know that U.S. forces conducted an additional raid in Chad after the one that caused the deaths of four U.S. soldiers? Are you aware that Trump has sent more troops - 3,000 - into the bottomless sinkhole that is Afghanistan? And are you aware that we have changed sides in Syria, now supporting Assad and Russia rather than the rebels?
I am reminded of the eight year right wing drumbeat about Barack Obama's "criminal lack of transparency." Yes, that's right. Limbaugh, Jones, Fox and dozens of right wing televisions pundits raked Obama and his administration over the coals of hell over it. The "lack of transparency" culprit? "Fast and Furious." This was the gun sales program by Federal Agency Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) in order to track the flow of illegals guns from Mexican drug cartels into the U.S. In 2010 Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was gunned down with guns traced to the Fast and Furious program. Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder, was cited for criminal contempt of Congress by a vote of 255 to 67.
But Fast and Furious wasn't the only citation by the right wing that the Obama Administration was acting criminally. A year long investigation into the "crimes" of Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, was billed as one of the most intense Congressional investigation in U.S. history. The results of the Benghazi inquiry? Precisely nothing.
By the way, Fast and Furious was only the latest iteration of a gun running program that had been formed in 2006 during the Bush Administration.
But apparently Trump is immune to charges of "lack of transparency" unlike Obama. Hundreds if not thousands of civilians killed by U.S. forces in the Middle East? Additional troops to Iraq and Afghanistan? Secret strikes in Libya? Switching sides in Syria? Second Chad incursion?
Whatever the Pentagon is doing, Trump doesn't want you to know about it. He wants to conduct military policy and activities in secret. And Congressional demands for transparency? Zip. Media demands for full disclosure? Zilch. Now most of the accounts cited in Margaret Sullivan's piece and here, most have been reported. Not all. But they have been reported on the sly. Quietly. It's as if the Defense Department doesn't really want us to know just how deadly American air strikes have been in Syria or that we are actively bombing Libya and how many innocent civilians have been killed by U.S. military actions.
Yeah. Transparency. Trump.
Take Care!
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