WAR ALERT: Iran DIRECTLY ATTACKS Israel In Retaliatory Strikes, Israel Returns Fire

After reports surfaced the immediately after president Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement, Israel attacked Iran in an airstrike raid.  Now, Iran has retaliated sparking fears that this could be the beginning of another war.

The initial airstrikes against Iran by Israel were said to have killed 23 people, both Syrian and non-Syrian, but all military personnel.

According to The Daily Mail UK, Iran and Israel traded blows on the Syrian border overnight, marking the first time Tehran has directly attacked Israel. Last night, Iranian forces fired 20 rockets from Syria at Israeli front-line military positions in the Golan Heights, the Israeli military said.

Israel said the 20 Iranian rockets were either shot down by its Iron Dome air defense system or fell short of the Golan targets, claiming the Quds Force, an external arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, carried out the launch.  And Israel has already retaliated to some extent. In retaliation, Israel launched dozens of missiles on Iranian positions in Syria, which hit a radar station, air defense positions, and an ammunition dump, Syrian state media said.

This exchange of fire came less than a day after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 Iran atomic agreement, which lifts sanctions on Tehran in exchange for a halt on its nuclear program. Israel has been on heightened alert in recent days, anticipating an attack from Iran following the Iranian regime’s vows to retaliate to what it says are recent Israeli strikes in Syria targeting Iranian outposts.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told a cheering crowd of thousands [last] Tuesday that if any country decides to betray the 2015 nuclear deal, there will be “severe consequences.”  Although Rouhani didn’t specifically name the United States, he did say that Tehran is “prepared for all possible situations.” –SHTFPlan

This was the heaviest artillery barrage by Israel against Iran since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2001. “We hit nearly all the Iranian infrastructure in Syria,” Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman told a security conference on Thursday morning. “They need to remember the saying that if it rains on us, it’ll storm on them. I hope we’ve finished this episode and everyone understood.”

 

WAR: Israel Launches Airstrikes On Syria Immediately After Trump Withdraws From Iran Nuclear Deal

It was announced yesterday that president Donald Trump was withdrawing the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement.  Almost immediately after the president announced the withdrawal, Israel began bombing Syria allegedly targeting Iranian missile sites.

Nine pro-Syrian fighters were reportedly killed in the Israeli airstrike near the Syrian capital of Damascus on Tuesday. The attack came just moments after Trump announced the withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal enacted by Barack Obama.

“Over the years, Iran and its proxies have bombed American embassies and military installations, murdered hundreds of American servicemembers, and kidnapped, imprisoned, and tortured American citizens,” Trump said in a statement on Tuesday, according to Business Insider. “We will be instituting the highest level of economic sanction,” Trump continued. “Any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons could also be strongly sanctioned by the United States.”

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told a cheering crowd of thousands Tuesday that if any country decides to betray the 2015 nuclear deal, there will be “severe consequences.”  Although Rouhani didn’t specifically name the United States, he did say that Tehran is “prepared for all possible situations.” –SHTFPlan

Israeli forces determined there were”abnormal movements of Iranian forces” in Syria as motivation for the attack. On Tuesday night, state-owned media outlets in Syria reported that its air defenses had intercepted two Israeli missiles; however, the Syrian media is believed to have inflated its defensive capabilities in the past. The reported strikes targeted an “arms depot belonging to Hezbollah and the Iranians,” according to Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, according to the Associated Free Press.

US officials are now becoming increasingly concerned that Iran could retaliate, and strike Israel. According to CNN, there are increasing concerns Iran is on the cusp of an attack against Israel, several US military officials told the mainstream media outlet. Intelligence is not clear on when an attack could come and what form it would take, they said, with one official noting that “if there is an attack it might not be immediately clear it’s Iran.

“When it comes to weapons and defending our country, we will not negotiate with anybody,” President Hassan Rouhani said.  The US’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear agreement will be a “historic mistake,” he added.

Wag the Dog: The Syrian Airstrike Charade

The news is rife with the Syrian airstrikes and the theatrical narrative: the united coalition of brave allies against the despotic Assad to secure the blessings of liberty, etc., etc. The reality: The U.S. threw more than 100 missiles against soft Syrian targets with Britain firing rockets from four aircraft as France flew planes around and cruised the waters with a few ships. The target (a suspected but not verified chemical weapons facility) was destroyed…before chemical weapons use, or manufacture could be verified. Once again, the Western Hegemony “showed” that bad ‘ol puddy-tat, that anti-Saudi Arabian, anti-Petrodollar Assad…showed him that his “Clorox Bleach” assault on mannequins as verified by white hat “Light-Brite” technicians would not be tolerated! “Mission accomplished!” in the words of US President Donald Trump.

Yet the brave allies didn’t screw with the Russians directly, now, did they? 

If each of those Tomahawks cost an even $1 million, the US spent over $100 million plus the cost of the operation…five times that? More than half a billion dollars, right? To accomplish what?

To accomplish much, in this order more or less:

1. To wipe out any and all traces of an alleged chemical weapons facility to cover up the fact that there was never anything manufactured there and used against any civilians. The excellent tactical logic: “We’ll use the guise that it poses a threat, blow it up, and we’ll use intelligence reports and a puppet (such as Dunsford) to say the threat was real…target destroyed, and nobody can prove otherwise.”


2. Saudi Arabian Interests: Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge published an article on 4/15/18 “Overthrow the Syrian Regime, but Play Nice with Russia.” That article provides a copy of a Wikileaks cable released in 2015 by the Saudis specifically directing the US to carry out a regime change in Syria, without involving or instigating the Russians. Saudi Arabia has wanted this for years.


3. “Justification” to do it again, but this time for an invasion…as Iran (the main target) cannot be taken without first taking or negating Syria.


4. UK’s Theresa May is facing opposition for her Brexit position. Much in the manner that Thatcher’s sagging popularity in the early 1980’s was bolstered by the Falklands War; May’s hawkish stance helps her ratings.


5. President Trump’s approval ratings are up.


6. Deflects attention from the “Stormy” Daniels fiasco and the other woman involved with one of the President’s associates.


7. Deflects attention from Mueller’s actions and the ongoing battle with the White House.


8. Deflects attention from the fact that National Guard troops were deployed to the US border in keeping with the “in the interests of national security” mantra, but in direct violation of Posse Comitatus…for the real reason of conditioning and accustoming the American people to a “regular” sight of a military presence patrolling the streets of “Fisher Price Land.”


9. Justification of continued troop presence, with naval and air assets remaining in the theatre until regime change in Syria is obtained.


10. Justification of defense expenditures.

There are plenty of sources that clearly point to all of this scripted orchestration by the coalition of allies. Hal Turner published a slew of photos showing canisters of chlorine gas found at the alleged Douma atrocity site…but the canisters were manufactured in Germany, not Syria. Durden’s previously-cited article has a collage of photos showing children laying on the ground for photos as “casualties” and then posing smiling with fake blood and makeup-created wounds. The photo shows casting photographers with film “takes” and a studio with costumes and makeup supplies.

Something seriously “wrong” happened this past weekend. Quietly, almost unnoticed and certainly underreported, on Thursday, 4/12/18 an article surfaced entitled Lawmakers say Trump exploring rejoining Pacific trade talks, by Ken Thomas and Kevin Freking of the Associated Press.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership surfacing again, eh?

Here’s an excerpt from that piece:

“I’m sure there are lots of particulars that they’d want to negotiate, but the president multiple times reaffirmed in general to all of us and looked right at Larry Kudlow and said, ‘Larry, go get it done,"” said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb.

Eleven countries signed the agreement last month. Trump’s rejection of the deal has rattled allies and raised questions at home about whether protectionism will impede U.S. economic growth.

Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, said he was “very impressed” that Trump had assigned Kudlow and Lighthizer “the task to see if we couldn’t take another look at TPP. And that certainly would be good news all throughout farm country.”

That last sentence was great, wasn’t it?

“Good news all throughout farm country.”

Have you ever heard a line so freaking ridiculous in all your life? What farm country? Is this “Senator” Roberts looking at one of those “Fisher Price” farms on his desk? The one with the barn that “moos” when you pull the barn door open? The one with all the happy, clean, interchangeable-body figures with hats, hair, and faces to differentiate them by their roles…farmer-father-figure, plastic-braided-hair farmgirl figure, etc.  A plastic cow with a tail that swivels, minus the dung. Plastic fences that bound the farm. And all the figurines fit neatly inside that cardboard silo with the metal bottom and the plastic cap.

That “farm country” has been engulfed by Agribusinesses such as Cargill and Monsanto. Farms feeding the millions with produce harvested by illegal aliens and robots. These crooked, thieving politicians lie to our faces and paint a Potemkin picture for the camera and stage, while they roam the countryside in the night, pillaging and enslaving the country with rapacity and protected by immunity they conferred upon themselves. Last bill passed into law? People: They, the Congress, voted themselves pay raises, and bonuses!

Obama’s TPP died by the President’s hand: now he’s pulling the stake out of its heart.

So, as you may deduce, there is plenty to be seen behind the scenes while “Operation Clorox” was conducted in Syria. Examine the information before you take a drink of that Grape Kool-Aid and blindly fall for the rhetoric. The Deep State is fully in control and moving ahead with their own agenda. They just “wagged the dog” this past weekend, and not only did most Americans fall for it…all Americans paid for it as well. Eventually when the Globalists’ plans escalate further into war, payment will be rendered in lives.

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Jeremiah Johnson is the Nom de plume of a retired Green Beret of the United States Army Special Forces (Airborne).  Mr. Johnson is also a Gunsmith, a Certified Master Herbalist, a Montana Master Food Preserver, and a graduate of the U.S. Army’s SERE school (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape).  He lives in a cabin in the mountains of Western Montana with his wife and three cats. You can follow Jeremiah’s regular writings at SHTFplan.com or contact him here.

This article may be republished or excerpted with proper attribution to the author and a link to www.SHTFplan.com.

In 24 Hours, Multiple False Media Reports Cause an Air Strike On Iran and Financial Markets to Crash

In just 24 hours, multiple false media reports caused financial stocks to crash, and led to an airstrike that could have provoked an international war.

Trump Has Killed More Civilians with Illegal Drone Strikes in 9 Months Than Obama Did in 8 Years

While the mainstream media focuses on anything but the current state of U.S. intervention in the Middle East, the Trump Administration is breaking records by accumulating a horrific number of civilian deaths.

Former President Obama earned the nickname of “Drone King” when he dramatically escalated the use of drone strikes, while also downplaying the number of innocent civilians who became “collateral damage.” In the two years that his administration devoted to publicly spending millions of taxpayer dollars to fight the Islamic State group, the estimated civilian death toll ranged from 2,300 to 3,400, according to Airwars, an organization tracking deaths in the war against ISIS.

During @BarackObama"s 29 months at helm of ISIS war we tracked 855 alleged civilian casualty events which likely killed 2298-3398 civilians pic.twitter.com/RUVvcy5zX9

— Airwars (@airwars) August 22, 2017

President Trump has been in office for just 9 months, and he has already surpassed Obama’s murderous record with estimated numbers as high as 4,500 civilian deaths.

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Trump made headlines in December 2015, when he declared that if elected, he would not only kill members of ISIS—he would also “take out their families.” He is following through on that promise, according to a report from Steven Feldstein, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State.

Feldstein noted that researchers have documented the rise of “frequent killing of entire families in likely coalition airstrikes” under the Trump Administration. This trend led to “the deaths of at least 57 women and 52 children in Iraq and Syria” in May.

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While this may come as no surprise, considering the fact that Trump promised to “bomb the hell out of ISIS” while on the campaign trail, his administration’s offensive against the Islamic State is not the only ongoing war that is killing civilians.

According to a report from United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documenting civilian causalities during the first half of 2017, “aerial operations” led to a “43 percent increase in civilian casualties compared to the first six months of 2016, including a 67 percent increase in civilian deaths.”

While Trump bragged about giving military commanders “total authorization” to make combat decisions in Afghanistan, Washington Rep. Adam Smith said he believes that this move is contributing to the increase in civilian deaths.

“You really have the military making decisions that were designed to be made by the civilian authorities running the military,” Smith said. “We’ve seen an increase in civilian casualties. … I think they’ve become a little too indiscriminate in what they’re doing.”

The report from Feldstein noted that the Trump Administration has “substantially escalated air strikes and bombings” and the U.S. military “has already used 20 percent more missiles and bombs in combined air operations in 2017 than in all of 2016.”

The alarmingly high civilian death toll has continued to build up over the months. For example, from May 23 to June 23 of this year, at least 472 civilians were killed by U.S. airstrikes. That is significantly more than the 459 civilians who have been killed by terrorist attacks in Europe—in the last 12 years.

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While the argument can be made that Trump is doing the same thing Hillary Clinton would have done if she was elected, the question has to asked as to how anyone can justify killing innocent civilians in the first place.

Obama surpassed Bush’s record, and now Trump has surpassed Obama’s record—but the only thing that has actually been “accomplished” is that thousands of innocent civilians have lost their lives, hundreds of thousands of civilians have lost their homes and their communities, and the civilians who do survive in the countries the United States is targeting now, will grow up hating America for destroying their home in the name of “Freedom.”

It’s Not Terrorism When We Do It—Syrians Report US Use of Chemical Weapons on Town of 200K

The outrage and empathy on behalf of the civilians in Syria that was expressed by politicians and media personalities alike when they found an opportunity to blame a chemical attack on Assad’s government was a distant memory this week. Instead, reports that a US-backed coalition dropped a cluster of airstrikes containing illegal chemicals on a city housing 200,000 people was almost completely ignored by western media.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) broke into the Islamic State-held city of Raqqa for the first time on Tuesday. While popular outlets such as Reuters reported that “as artillery and coalition aircraft pounded targets in the city, SDF fighters moved in small groups into the district,” there were some key aspects they appeared to leave out.

International outlets and witnesses on Twitter noted that some of the airstrikes resembled cluster bombs or white phosphorus, both of which are internationally banned on residential areas.

45 civilians killed in #Raqqa #Syria due to #US-led coalition airstrikes that used White Phosphorus! #UNSC and MSM must be busy for that! pic.twitter.com/mEo0C9fZBM

— maytham (@maytham956) June 8, 2017

Xinhua News, China’s state press agency, reported that “Tens of civilians were killed on Thursday when the U.S.-led airstrikes targeted Syria’s northern city of Raqqa with white phosphorus,” citing a report from Syria’s Sham FM radio.

Russia’s Riafan.ru reported that “Coalition forces led by the United States of America shell Raqqa and suburbs of white phosphorus munitions,” citing reports on Twitter, which said the U.S.-backed coalition conducted 20 air raids.

Although the total number of civilian deaths has not been confirmed, early reports suggest that nearly 50 people were killed. The U.S. has yet to acknowledge whether white phosphorus was used during the raids.

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White phosphorus is described as an “incendiary and toxic chemical substance used as a filler in a number of different munitions that can be employed for a variety of military purposes.”

The chemical was banned internationally after the 1980 Protocol on Incendiary Weapons restricted the “use of incendiary weapons as a means or method of warfare during armed conflict.”

The use of chemical weapons is clearly prohibited in international armed conflicts. The International Committee of the Red Cross noted that “employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices is listed in the Statute of the International Criminal Court as a war crime.”

If the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces are successful in regaining control of Raqqa from ISIS, then the question remains of who will control the city moving forward. The SDF announced plans in April to run the city using a civilian council—with the help of more than 3,000 U.S. ground troops—which would further a divided Syria, and would keep the U.S. is at odds with Assad’s government.

The same president who claimed to be heartbroken over the “innocent babies” who were reportedly killed in April in a chemical attack that was immediately blamed on Assad’s government—despite evidence that suggested otherwise—has said nothing about the reports that suggest his country could be guilty of the same crime he condemned.

While it is not likely that the United States will fully address the reports, it should be noted that by remaining silent, the mainstream media is also reminding the public of its hypocritical nature.

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The same MSM that provides obsessive coverage of everything President Trump posts on Twitter, has seemingly ignored the flurry of Tweets from various users suggesting the use of chemical weapons by a U.S.-backed coalition.

HARROWING footage from #ISIS-held Raqqa. The US-led Coalition is using mass White Phosphorus bombing civilian populated neighborhoods #Syria pic.twitter.com/aUcfWLdRSL

— Rami (@RamiAILoIah) June 8, 2017

Media’s Obsession Over Trump’s ‘covfefe’ Typo, Shows How Easily American’s Can Be Controlled

If you turn on the television or log on to the internet today, you will be bombarded with the non-news of President Donald Trump tweeting out a typo in which he used the arrangement of characters, ‘covfefe’.

The mainstream media picked up this covfefe Tweet and began shoving it down the collective throats of Americans, literally instantly.

CNN, the NY Times, WaPo, USA Today, the Telegraph, the Guardian, NPR, and virtually every other mainstream media outlet in the world jumped on the bandwagon of non-news covfefe fluff and filled the airways with this inane blither.

While there are plenty of reasons to call out Donald Trump, covfefe, a random typo in the middle of the night is hardly newsworthy. However, it does serve as a remarkable distraction from the very real and very deadly US airstrikes in the Middle East.

Last week, while the media pushed distractions over Trump’s rantings out on the airways, a Pentagon investigation admitted that more than 100 civilians had been killed in a US airstrike in Iraq in March, but largely placed the blame on IS.

Following that admission, at least 35 civilians were killed, most of whom were women and children in Syria last Thursday. Before that, in mid-May, US airstrikes murdered nearly two dozen farm workers – mostly women – in a village in eastern Raqqa, as well as at least 59 civilians in residential areas of Deir al-Zor.

Yesterday, the Intercept reported that entire families, including infants, were ‘massacred’ by the US-led coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

“A U.S.-led coalition warplane targeted heavy machine guns at civilians trying to flee the city of Al-Tabaqa, which is witnessing heavy clashes between gunmen,” reported the local anti-ISIS activist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently. The air raid led to “the death of a whole family.” Following the attack, photos of the young children from the al-Aish family circulated widely on social media and local news sites, including pictures of 3-year-old Abdul Salam and 6-month-old Ali.

Photos shared on social media showed 6-month-old Abdul Salam al-Aish and 3-year-old Ali al-Aish, who were killed in a U.S. airstrike near the town of Tabqa.

The strike that massacred this innocent family was one of thousands. As RT reports, figures show that a total of 14,192 rockets, bombs, and other munitions were dropped in the first four months of 2017, up from 9,442 during the same period in 2016.

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While these strikes are being touted as a means of ‘wiping ISIS off the face of the planet,’ the US government and the West, in general, is ignoring the fact that they are slaughtering innocent civilians. 

Does anyone really believe that a mother or father who watches a US bomb blow their innocent 3-year-old son to a fine red mist will think that this is okay because it is in the name of ‘fighting terrorism’?

Sadly, the heavily sedated masses, content with the day’s talking points handed down to them by the mainstream media, are mostly unaware and in entire acceptance of this foreign policy.

Murdering someone’s child creates a ‘terrorist’ out of every single person related to that child. 

When will people wake up to this fact?

Sadly, corporate media’s complete lack of coverage on the reality of ‘collateral damage’ has fostered a society who is okay with civilian casualties. Through slick reporting and dehumanizing spin, the thousands of innocent children blown to bits by US bombs are written off as little more than a statistic in the war on terror.

If a single image of dead children was allowed a platform on the mainstream media, this madness would likely be over rather quickly. Indeed, we have seen this happen before with the famous photo of Kim Phuc — aka napalm girl.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning photo showed the world the reality that is occupation and war. This photo — a single reminder of the brutal nature of war — ultimately brought it to an end.

The AP photographer Huynh Cong “Nick” Ut, who snapped the shot, explained in an interview how soldiers would thank him for his photo.

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“It changed the war. I met so many American soldiers who said ‘Nicky because of your picture I’ll get to go home early,’” he said.

Sadly, this very real and very necessary coverage is entirely absent from the mainstream today — and not by accident.

Showing photos of the destruction and death from US bombs will get your advertising pulled by Google. If you post these photos to Facebook, your account will be suspended. The truth, in modern day America, is becoming extinct and people are accepting it.

The reality of war is death. The reality of war is destruction. To deny these facts is to deny reality itself. It is because of these facts that war should be the absolute last resort of any government. In America, however — thanks to the military industrial complex — it is the first.

As Americans bicker over Trump’s covfefe typos on Twitter, he’s signing a deal worth hundreds of billions of dollars with the largest state sponsor of terror in the world — ensuring decades of future wars and the continuation of the cycle of terrorism.

As Americans argue over irrelevant partisan nonsense, beat into their minds by corporate media, they are losing jobs, their money is becoming worthless, their tax dollars are being used to fund and support ISIS, and their freedoms are being sold to fund the police state.

We are quite literally building our own prison as Americans wave flags in the street supporting this madness. 

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

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Everyone reading this right now has the power to stop this insanity and it’s in the palm of your hand or on the screen in front of you. Information is the key to freedom and standing up for the dissemination of that information is how we maintain that freedom. 

As Edward Snowden said yesterday, in his most powerful speech to date:

“Rights are lost by cowardly laws that are passed in moments of panic. Rights are lost to the cringing complicity of leaders who fear the loss of their office more than the loss of our liberties.”

“It’s not enough to believe that something’s wrong,” Snowden attested. “It’s not enough to disagree with it. It’s not enough to think that things could be better.

“You have to stand for something. You have to go out there and risk something. You have to dare yourself to actually get out there and change the world — even if in a small way, even if only for one person, even if for only one instant, you lay down a brick upon which everyone else can build.”

“That, ladies and gentlemen,” Snowden concluded, “is the only way the world has ever gotten better.”

US Hypocrisy on Full Display as Airstrikes Kill 4 Children in Syria

What better way to send a message that terrorist acts against innocent children won’t be tolerated than to launch 59 $1.59 million Tomahawk missiles at the supposed culprit — a show of force would, after all, surely emphasize a nation’s resolve and moral imperative.

Because killing people who allegedly killed kids would absolutely prove killing kids is wrong — until you destroy the airbase from which albeit opposition forces launch attacks against terrorists of the Islamic State — and, in disgusting irony, kill kids in the process of making that already dubious point.

Four children perished in Syria from the barrage of missiles delivered by two U.S. destroyers, hastily ordered by President Donald Trump in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack by President Bashar al-Assad — alleged, because, as yet, precisely who was responsible, or if the killing of nearly 60 people was in actuality an attack at all, remains unclear.

Folly in war, however, has likely never been clearer than in the reckless, ill-advised, not Congressionally-approved, and falsely sanctimonious military strike undertaken by the Trump-led United States this week.

Killing in the name of killing people is wrong innately proves the hypocrisy of war — that the politicians send our youth to be molded into callous mass killers by hardened hawks of military brass, but will never themselves touch the weapons of death, is only one facet of this madness.

That those weapons of death found their target in four children and five adults who had no designs for anything but survival — and who would not, under Trump’s maliciously hollow travel ‘ban,’ be permitted the ostensively safe landing spot inside the U.S.’ borders — screams mockery of intent.

Conflict-ravaged and decimated in their homeland, Syrians — in vain, attempting only to survive the proxy wars of arrogant statesmen — could not possibly benefit in yet more death from above.

No matter the smug, self-satisfaction with which Trump and his ilk moralize the need for further killing, there will be civilian casualties — as there already have — and guiltless, blameless, innocent children, women, and men will be robbed of life for the unfortunate happenstance of their location in the path of American revenge.

What gall it takes to dismiss the Constitution, bypass Congress, shirk diplomacy, and carry out a hapless offensive ultimately counterproductive to the wellbeing of the very people for which that shamelessly pompous act was undertaken — there is a damned good reason scorn, derision, and bullying best describe the U.S. to the people of the Middle East.

But the hypocrisy of mass killing to undermine terrorism isn’t only hypocritical in itself — the United States has an unseemly history of vocally pious but morally bereft military campaigns, as well as an uncanny knack for thwarting peace when it finally looms on the horizon.

In fact, the $93,810,000 in Tomahawks were fired into Syria on the literal eve of peace negotiations — including, incidentally, resignation by the United States that Assad would indeed remain in power.

And, as Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco and Middle East expert, writes for Yes! Magazine,

“The United States also has a long history of trying to undermine the peaceful, law-based efforts to eliminate chemical weapons, including opposition to the UN-mandated goal of ridding the Middle East of such weapons. Indeed, both Israel and Egypt — the largest recipients of U.S. military aid — have stockpiles larger than that of Syria.”

Yet chemical weapons, and the potential future use of them, provided the putative impetus for the first American direct bombing campaign in Syria — a campaign attempted previously by President Obama in 2013, but thwarted by a massive uproar.

Trump avoided public outrage by taking the coward demagogue’s route — bomb first, don’t bother asking questions later. If kids die because we need to teach Assad — who probably isn’t responsible for the gassing deaths of 86 civilians — a lesson about killing kids, then so be it.

Damn the geopolitical consequences. Damn any independent investigation to determine the culprit for the Idlib dead. Damn potential humanitarian ramifications. Damn the flirtation with World War III. Damn logic, reason, diplomacy, and the rules of engagement.

Damn the stupefying hypocrisy.

But most of all, going rogue with the largest military on the planet against a long-suffering nation whose children Trump won’t even allow solace inside the borders of this supposedly great nation makes resoundingly clear one message: Damn Syrians.

This feckless mission won’t save children. It will damn them to a childhood of war.

It’s Official, Pentagon Will Now Keep Troop Count in Iraq & Syria Secret

The U.S. Central Command recently announced that troop numbers in Iraq and Syria will no longer be reported to the public. In its announcement, CENTCOM spokesman Army Col. John Thomas declared that “capabilities, not numbers,” should be the area of focus, and the public will be given general estimates of troop sizes in the future.

Jason Ditz of antiwar.com points out that the Obama administration was already less than forthcoming about the number of soldiers sent to these areas by utilizing a variety of tactics, including “deliberately omitting large numbers of troops from the official count by labeling them ‘temporary."”

The Pentagon’s announcement comes during a time in which the U.S. military’s recent use of airstrikes is under fresh scrutiny and stands accused of causing deaths of hundreds of civilians in recent weeks, including strikes in Mosul last week that killed an unconfirmed, but reportedly numerous, number of noncombatants.

According to Reuters regarding the strike in Mosul, “Eyewitnesses from Mosul and Iraqi officials have said last week’s strike on Islamic State targets may have collapsed homes where rescue officials say as many as 200 people were buried in the rubble.” Reuters described this event as “one of the deadliest single incidents for civilians in recent memory in any major conflict involving the U.S. military.”

In the Pentagon’s acknowledgment of the Mosul strike and announcement of its investigation into the incident, Army Col. Joseph Scrocca admitted that “we believe a coalition strike contributed in at least some way to the civilian casualties.”

In addition, reports have surfaced alleging that recent U.S. airstrikes in Syria have led to significant civilian deaths. One strike that was launched in northern Syria in mid-March, reportedly targeted at a building “that local officials said was a mosque filled with worshippers at evening prayer” and also resulted in civilian casualties. Another strike by a U.S.-led coalition at a school in Raqqa that was being “used as refugee centre,” according to The Guardian. The Guardian’s report notes that “Over the past eight months, there have been four cases in which US planes or drones have been blamed for mass civilian casualties in Syria.”

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The new U.S. presidential administration has unsurprisingly provided little change in its approach to foreign policy and the war on terror; in fact, President Trump is currently considering sending at least 1,000 more troops to Syria. As Ditz noted, the government has long lacked transparency regarding troop numbers in Iraq and Syria, and it appears that while CENTCOM may be seeking to avoid further criticism over specific deployment numbers by simply eliminating these reports. However, this increase in secrecy that further places civilians in the dark will undoubtedly exacerbate tensions across the globe in regards to American accountability.

Another troubling revelation from Thomas is the military’s dismissal of making changes to airstrike policy. Thomas stated that General Joseph Votel, the head of CENTCOM, “is not looking into changing the way we operate other than to say our processes are good and we want to make sure we live by those processes.”

An Unprecedented Number of U.S. Drone and Air Strikes Are Hitting Yemen

(BIJ) In an unprecedented intensification of America’s counter-terrorism operations in Yemen, the US has confirmed it carried out 20 strikes across three central provinces.

The strikes, which were carried out in the early morning, targeted fighters from the regional arm of al Qaeda, known as AQAP, their equipment and infrastructure, in the Yemeni provinces of Abyan, al Bayda and Shabwah, according to a press release from the US Department of Defense.

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Pentagon Spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said in the statement that the strikes were conducted in partnership with the Government of Yemen, and were coordinated with President Hadi.

The statement made no mention of how many people were killed and injured – neither AQAP fighters or civilians. However Yemeni officials told AFP seven people died in two of the strikes.

The attacks come a month after a botched US special forces raid ended in the deaths of 25 civilians, including nine children under the age of 13 as revealed by the Bureau, and a US Navy SEAL. Earlier this week, a Pentagon official told NBC News that the Pentagon did not dispute these numbers.

US Special Forces descended on Yakla village in Bayda province on January 29 with the hope of capturing key intelligence on AQAP.

While President Donald Trump has said it was successful in this regard, a US defense official told CNN that the latest strikes, which it reported were both air and drones strikes, had been planned for some time and were not the result of any intelligence gathered in the raid.

The latest strikes are a considerable increase in military activity in Yemen. The bombardment is a break from the steady pace of strikes in recent years, with the US carrying out an average of three strikes per month last year and never going above two strikes in a single day.

The US was routinely conducting multiple strikes a day in 2012 during its efforts to expel AQAP from its stronghold in Abyan province. The province was the scene of heavy clashes between the Yemeni military and AQAP fighters – AQAP had taken advantage of the political unrest with the Arab Spring in 2011 to gain control of several towns.

But even then, the highest number of confirmed strikes on a single day at any point of the Abyan offensive was four.

In total, the Bureau has recorded at least 186 US air and drone strikes, and special forces raids, since the first in 2002. At least 853 people have been killed, 158 of them reported to be civilians, according to Bureau data.

by Jessica Purkiss, Jack Serle / Creative Commons / Bureau of Investigative Journalism / Report a typo 

Pentagon Caught Deceiving America, Thousands of Airstrikes Hidden from Public

Washington, D.C. — (RT) US Central Command has been misleading the public in its assessment of the overall progress in the war on terror by failing to account for thousands of airstrikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, a Military Times investigation reveals.

The investigation revealed that open source data of US Air Force strikes does not contain all the missiles fired. That incomplete data, however, continues to be used by the Pentagon on multiple occasions in official reports and media publications.

The publication says that in 2016 alone, American aircraft conducted at least 456 airstrikes in Afghanistan that were not recorded in the database maintained by the US Air Force.

The investigation also revealed discrepancies in Iraq and Syria where the Pentagon failed to account for nearly 6,000 strikes dating back to 2014, when the US-led coalition has launched its first airstrikes against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS,ISIL) terrorist targets.

According to the Air Force, coalition jets conducted 23,740 airstrikes through the end of 2016. The US Defense Department, however, puts the number at 17,861 until the end of January 2017.

“The Pentagon routinely cites these figures when updating the media on its operations against the Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliates in Iraq and Syria,” the publication says.

Military Times remains especially puzzled by a statement made by an Air Force official in December who assured the publication that its monthly summary of activity in Iraq and Syria “specifically” represents the entire American-led coalition “as a whole, which is all 20-nations and the US branches.”

“It’s unclear whether this statement was intentionally misleading, or simply indicative of widespread internal ignorance, confusion or indifference about what’s contained in this data,” Andrew deGrandpre, Military Times’ senior editor and Pentagon bureau chief, said in the article.

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Military Times says that the “most alarming” aspects of the investigation are that the discrepancies in numbers go back as far as 2001, when the US, under George W. Bush’s administration, struck Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attacks on American soil.

The publication reveals that the unaccounted-for airstrikes in all three war zones were allegedly conducted by US helicopters and armed drones which are overseen by US Central Command.

“The enormous data gap raises serious doubts about transparency in reported progress against the Islamic State, al-Qaida, and the Taliban, and calls into question the accuracy of other Defense Department disclosures documenting everything from costs to casualty counts,” deGrandpre wrote.

The Pentagon and Army did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“Those other key metrics include American combat casualties, taxpayer expense and the military’s overall progress in degrading enemy capabilities,” the publication added, wondering whether the military wanted to mislead the American public.

US-Led Airstrikes Kill Dozens of Civilians in Iraq

January 16, 2017   |   admintam

(ANTIWAR) Adding to the ever-growing civilian toll of the invasion of the major ISIS city of Mosul, warplanes from the US-led coalition attacked a house in the Jadida District, believed to belong to a senior ISIS commander, causing widespread damage in the area and killing between 25 and 30 civilian bystanders.

The US says they are still looking into the reports and could not yet confirm if their planes were responsible, but adding insult to injury, the reports out of Mosul suggest the intended target wasn’t even at home at the time, so he did not end up among the substantial casualties.

Centcom confirmed that they “routinely” launch airstrikes in the area, and that the location in question appears to be in close proximity to coalition strikes that day, meaning it is presumed to be among them. This comes amid growing UN concerns about civilian casualties in Mosul.

The UN’s most recent comments warned that the civilian casualties in Mosul are far higher than yet acknowledged, saying that the expected civilian casualties in fighting in a large city would be 15% up to 20% of the casualties in the fight, and that rather their indications are that about half of all casualties in Mosul are civilian bystanders.

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This article (US-Led Airstrikes Kill Dozens of Civilians in Iraq) by Jason Ditz, originally appeared on AntiWar.com and was used with permission. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

US Airstrikes Rose 40% in Afghanistan in 2016

January 10, 2017   |   admintam

(ANTIWAR) While a lot of the focus of America’s endless parade of air wars centers on Iraq and Syria, the 15+ year long war in Afghanistan is continuing apace, with the latest Centcom data showing US airstrikes in the country up 40% over the previous year.

That’s 1,337 weapons dropped by US forces in Afghanistan in 2016, with no sign the escalation is slowing down. Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland confirmed Sunday that the US intends to contiinue with “Aggressive” use of airstrikes “to achieve strategic effects.”

This revelation adds to the signs of just how badly the Afghan war went in 2016, a fact which has led NATO to announce multiple deployments of ground forces in recent days, deployments which come years after “ground combat operations” were supposed to be finished.

Throughout that period, Afghan forces continued to lose territory at an alarming pace, despite a massive increase in US airstrikes, with figures showing the Taliban controls more territory now than at any time since the 2001 US invasion that began the occupation.

READ MORE: Obama Just Quietly Sent US Marines to Fight in Afghanistan

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This article (US Airstrikes Rose 40% in Afghanistan in 2016) by Jason Ditz, originally appeared on AntiWar.com and was used with permission. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

US Calls on Saudis to End Airstrikes Against Yemen But There’s Just One Problem

November 1, 2016   |   admintam

(ANTIWAR) After a solid 19 months of endorsing the Saudi war in Yemen, selling the Saudis massive amounts of arms, and refueling Saudi bombers over Yemen’s airspace, the Obama Administration yesterday called on the Saudis to halt airstrikes against Yemen, and accept that there is no military solution.

A top Human Rights Watch director noted that the call would’ve carried a lot more weight if the US wasn’t providing the bombs the Saudis are dropping on Yemen in the first place, though former US officials say its almost certain this won’t include any dial back in US arms sales.

The call likely reflects the UN’s peace plan being presented to both sides and immediately rejected by the pro-Saudi officials. Huge civilian death tolls in recent Saudi attacks have added up to make the US a bit more gunshy than usual about supporting the Saudi war publicly.

At the same time, the US “opposition” to the air war is slim indeed, with the US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, insisting even in the announcement of their opposition to further strikes that the US supports Saudi Arabia’s right to “self-defense,” which in this case included an outright invasion of a neighboring country.

The US has insisted Saudi aid is “under review” since a recent attack on a funeral. That said, there is no sign that any real changes in US policy were made, and the expectation is that, as always, US interest in growing arms exports will win out.

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This article (US Calls on Saudis to End Airstrikes Against Yemen But There’s Just One Problem) by Jason Ditz, originally appeared on AntiWar.com and was used with permission. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.