On March 17, US airstrikes against the city of Mosul leveled multiple buildings, killing in excess of 200 people, by most estimates. The Pentagon had long been very evasive about the incident so far, confirming they’d bombed the buildings but insisting they are still investigating the question of whether they’d killed any civilians.
US commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend was a bit more realistic about the question in comments today, conceding that the US “probably had a role in these casualties,” saying that the investigation was ongoing and that they were still looking for possible reasons the buildings collapsed.
This is likely to be the excuse the Pentagon is leaning heavily toward right now, as Townsend insisted that the bombs the US dropped on the buildings shouldn’t have collapsed the buildings, so the fact that they collapsed, burying hundreds within, “contradicts our involvement.”
Townsend then suggested that ISIS might’ve “rigged” explosives inside the buildings, which might offer the US an opportunity to pawn off the death toll, the single largest in an incident throughout the war, as ISIS’ fault, despite the US bombing the buildings in the first place.
The official narrative isn’t finalized, with the Pentagon still conducting its investigation, but throughout the war most of the heavy casualty incidents have been either dramatically revised downward for official reporting purposes, or dismissed outright.
Townsend’s admission that the US was “probably” involved appears aimed at lowering public pressure on the US over the killings, while at the same time offering some hints that the Pentagon’s report will ultimately still weasel its way out of culpability.
Finally some limited coverage of the recent bombings and massive civilian casualties in Iraq and Syria from U.S. bombing raids.. NBC, CBS, NY Times, and Washington Post ran the first main stream media reports of these bombings yesterday and today.
The deliberate bombing of densely populated civilian neighborhoods around Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria began about one week ago and there had been a virtual main stream media blackout of these bombing raids..
So if AQ claimed that the WTC buildings were the target and they didn’t intend to kill the people that would have been OK? It wasn’t their fault because the buildings shouldn’t have collapsed and were therefore rigged with explosives? The office workers were human shields.
The constant lying and misinformation from the Pentagon, the USG and the MSM has a cost. Nobody will believe anything they are told even if it is true. Governments can’t function without some level of trust from the governed.
bombs the US dropped on the buildings shouldn’t have collapsed the
buildings, so…
The Pentagon uses ‘smart’ bombs when it slaughters women and kids.
Oops, I mean those pesky ‘terrorists’ it supports with our tax dollars.
I don’t want to sound like I am [‘bad mouthing’] the USG empire in its
Crusade to keep ‘us’ masses free, and the world ‘safe’ for democracy.
You mean bombs OBAMA dropped.
I guess by that comment you’re insinuating Oboomer is a
more precise and surgical ‘killer’ than the Slum Lord
and other murderers who occupied the WH.
A few years ago I attended a conference which featured
Kathy Kelly, peace activist, anti-drone supporter, and a founder of ‘Voices in the Wilderness’.
Kathy had just returned from Afghanistan where she
had spoken with several families who lost loved ones Oboomer and the MSM claimed were ‘terrorists’.
Among those Kathy had spoken to was a 14 year-old youth
who went by the name Tariq. The youth spoke about how
his father and brother were slain in a so-called Obama surgical drone strike, and his fear of being murdered by drones.
About two months later, I received a call from a friend who told me TARIQ himself was (extra-judicially) murdered by
an Oboomer ordered drone strike.
Apparently, TARIQ was just an innocent bystander who happened to be at an outdoor market Oboomer claimed was a rat’s nest for ‘terrorists’.
There is no clean and surgical method to murder – whether
carpet bombing or by the use of drones.
The ‘smartest’ bomb is the one that’s NEVER dropped.
Don’t anybody forget to mention Trump’s change of the ‘rules of engagement’ he promise so that HE could win the wars quickly.
Trump’s vindication for using those new tactics is that Obama told him to do it in a secret meeting. Oh, and Obama was told how by Hillary!
What were the bombs suppose to do if not collapse the buildings? What were they specifically aiming for to avoid the potential collapse of the buildings? The questions are endless from such an utterly stupid excuse.