surprise! The United States condones the indiscriminate killing of civilians overseas by the military, and Hollywood also makes "Americans feel good" movies

Source: Global Times

On 13 July local time, the US Department of Defense announced that US military personnel involved in the drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, would not be punished in any form. The attack, which took place during the hasty evacuation of U.S. forces, killed 10 Afghan civilians, including seven children. From admitting to the bombing by mistake, to not punishing those responsible, and the promised compensation has not yet been fulfilled, the United States has shown undisguised cold-bloodedness and arrogance. According to US media, in the attack against the Islamic State, which was promoted by the US military as the "most accurate and humane" in military history, many innocent civilians died under abusive air strikes. "This is the harsh reality that the 'democracy' and 'human rights' advocated by the United States have brought to the world." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on the 14th that justice may be late, but it will not be absent. The day will come when the crimes of the U.S. military in killing innocent civilians in various countries will be liquidated.

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The U.S. defense secretary who admitted to being "wrong" favored impunity

Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Military Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the airstrikes in Kabul "a just blow" until some U.S. media exposed video footage questioning the Pentagon's claims, and the Defense Department launched an investigation into the matter. The Washington Post reported on the 14th that the investigation led by U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Sammy Said found that the process of drone communication and identification of bombing targets had failed, but he concluded that the air raid was a tragic mistake and was not caused by misconduct or negligence.

U.S. Defense Secretary Austin left the decision on whether to punish the perpetrators of air strikes to two operational commanders: Central Command Commander MacKenzie and Special Operations Command Commander Clarke. Pentagon spokesman Kirby said on the 13th that MacKenzie and Clark agreed with Saeed's discovery and believed there was no reason to punish any U.S. military personnel. CNBC said Austin, who had previously described civilian deaths as a "terrible mistake," agreed with the recommendations of the two combat commanders. Kirby said: "The problems in the attack were not the result of negligence, not the result of misconduct, nor the result of poor leadership. ”

Amir Ahmadi, 32, lost his 3-year-old daughter in that airstrike, and he was outraged by the Pentagon's decision. "God will punish." Ahmadi asked in an interview with Agence France-Presse on the 14th that what would happen if Americans lost a child? How will they react? Taliban spokesman Karimi urged the United States to change its decision that day. "If there is any justice, respect for human rights and human dignity, then it is their responsibility to punish the perpetrators and compensate the victims," he said. ”

The decision was also harshly condemned by an international aid organization where one of the victims worked before his death. "Austin's decision is shocking." Steven Kwon, founder of the California-based group, said: "How can our military mistakenly take the precious lives of 10 Afghans without holding anyone accountable?" The group accused the Pentagon of failing so far to deliver on promises to evacuate the victims' relatives and pay compensation.

The Associated Press reported that when asked why it took so long to keep promises, Kirby declared that the U.S. side wanted to ensure that the money was paid to the right people in the "safest and most responsible way." Ahmadi told AFP on the 14th that they had never heard any news directly from the US government or the military.

It seems that it has a premonition that it will be criticized by the outside world, and Kirby argued on the 13th that this decision should not be interpreted as a sign that the Ministry of Defense has "turned a blind eye" to the killing of civilians. The Washington Post reported that Kirby insisted the Pentagon "takes civilian casualties seriously," but the main advice made by the two combat commanders was about how to gather, share and analyze intelligence when targeting. Retired Marine Corps Colonel Gary Anderson, who served as special adviser to the deputy secretary of defense, wrote in the Defense Post that no one has been fired or resigned because of the nation's greatest military disgrace since Pearl Harbor. The only miracle of the entire Afghan war is that General Mackenzie still has a job.

Glorify the Afghan evacuation with Hollywood movies

Just a day before the Pentagon made the decision, The New York Times exclusively disclosed the indiscriminate killing of civilians by a top-secret U.S. military combat unit in Syria. During the U.S. military's fight against the Islamic State in Syria from 2014 to 2019, it relied on a highly classified group code-named "Anvil Claw" to target targets. The team is often in a hurry to bypass the protection of non-combatants and kill innocent civilians, including women and children.

According to a former U.S. Air Force intelligence official, he saw "anvil claws" tracking three men at work in an olive grove near the city of Manbid in the fall of 2016. They were carrying canvas bags and were not armed, but the strike team insisted they were enemy soldiers and killed them. In June 2017, dozens of civilians boarded a makeshift ferry in an attempt to flee the battlefield in the city of Raqqa. Believing that the ferry was carrying enemy combatants, the strike team launched an airstrike that resulted in the death of at least 30 civilians and the floating bodies of the river.

According to The New York Times, the Anvil Claw describes almost every attack as defensive. They worked in rooms full of display screens, without uniforms, without military ranks, and many with thick beards, shorts and hole shoes. At first, all attack orders could only be issued by senior generals, but the decision was later given to the low-ranking officers on duty in the "attack room".

"The United Nations should define drone strikes as murder." Some Twitter netizens commented on the 14th. Others say, "Assange is imprisoned for exposing such atrocities as the United States, while the West is accusing other countries of media freedom." The NGO Afghans Promote a Better Tomorrow tweeted that if the attackers who kill innocent afghan children are not held accountable, then the killing of children is the default policy goal of the United States.

And the United States is still trying to glorify these acts of war. The United States Vice News Network said on the 14th that Hollywood is trying to make the retreat from Afghanistan into a movie that Americans feel good about. Afghan-American producer and director Baruch says that's the motivation for big director Ritchie to start a new film next January, which will tell the story of an American soldier who returns to Afghanistan to rescue an Afghan translator who saved his life after completing a mission. American film scholar Al Hasson said portraying white people as heroes made it easier for Western militaries to escape war crimes and other atrocities charges.

China: The international community should investigate and hold accountable

Larry Lewis, a former defense department adviser and one of the authors of the 2018 U.S. Department of Defense Civilian Injury Report, told The New York Times that the civilian casualty rate in Syria increased significantly in the years during which the Anvil Claw conducted. Classified Pentagon data he had seen showed that the "collateral damage" of Civilians in Syria was 10 times greater than the operation in Afghanistan. The Russian weekly newspaper Arguments and Facts commented that these people have lost their humanity. To avoid a scandal, the Pentagon keeps all relevant information private.

Air War Tracker released a report in September showing that in the past 20 years, U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya have killed at least 22,000 civilians, with the maximum number of civilians killed is likely to be as high as 48,000.

Austin last month ordered an investigation into an airstrike involving the Anvil Claw in 2019. At the time, U.S. airstrikes in Syria killed 64 women and children. The Washington Post reported that the military rarely recommends harsh punishment as part of such an investigation. Even in 2016, the Pentagon disciplined 16 military personnel who participated in an airstrike on a Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Afghanistan, killing 42 people, but none were tried by a military tribunal. Some U.S. officials have questioned whether this constitutes a war crime. U.S. Central Command said some women and children decided to take up arms in combat, either through indoctrination or selection, and therefore "cannot be strictly classified as civilians."

Wang Wenbin said on the 14th that the atrocities of the US military in killing civilians in Afghanistan are unacceptable, and the BEHAVIOR of the United States to exonerate the murderers for various reasons and make them unpunished is even more intolerable. The Chinese side condemns the barbaric acts of the US side in launching military intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other countries under the banner of "democracy" and "human rights", and calls on the international community to investigate and hold accountable the US military for its war crimes of indiscriminately killing innocent civilians around the world.