The latest UN report on Afghan civilian deaths in the US occupation
showed that so far in 2019, US and allied forces have killed more
civilians within Afghanistan than the Taliban has. This was fueled by a growing number of US and Afghan airstrikes.
Interestingly, the report showed that the overall civilian casualties fell in the same period, reflecting a massive decrease in the number of suicide attacks across the country.
This reflects a major shift in the war situation in Afghanistan. With
the Taliban consistently winning battles over territory on the ground,
they’re less and less reliant on suicide attacks, and are just
overrunning Afghan forces at will.
At the same time, with the Taliban winning, the US and Afghan forces are
increasingly desperate, and with ground operations not working, they
are relying increasingly on airstrikes to try to slow their losses, and
that’s putting more civilians at risk.
Besides the US being the most war-like Nation in world history…..the problem is and has always been, the US military lack of respect for human life and that the US refuses to sign the international criminal court treaty…..thereby the US government can`t be tried for warcrimes.
” the US refuses to sign the international criminal court treaty…..thereby the US can`t be tried for warcrimes.”
That’s not correct. The International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction extends to persons from countries where the governments are signatory to the Rome Statute and acts committed in those territories regardless of the nationalities of the perpetrators.
Afghanistan is signatory to the Rome Statute. So is Palestine. So while an action by an American in the US, or an Israeli in Israel is not subject to International Criminal Court jurisdiction, an action by an American in Afghanistan or an Israeli in Palestine is. That’s what the Trump regime’s visa temper tantrum versus ICC judges was all about.
War is a racket. Smedley Butler told us this long ago.
Should be required reading in school.
https://ia802605.us.archive.org/29/items/WarIsARacket/WarIsARacket.pdf
-Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC
I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.
War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we’ll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag. I wouldn’t go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.
There isn’t a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its “finger men” to point out enemies, its “muscle men” to destroy enemies, its “brain men” to plan war preparations, and a “Big Boss” Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism. I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it.
I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.
IDK why this should be a surprise to anyone.