From the FB page of:
THE COMMANDER OF THE U.S. attack on Iran on Thursday said he had “no data” on deadly airstrikes which had destroyed civilians and their facilities, including 22 Iranian schools and 17 hospitals and clinics.
But on the same day, his own department revealed that Pentagon operations to gather data on the killings of civilians had been quietly defunded.
It was unfortunate timing.
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‘NO WAY TO INVESTIGATE’
Admiral Brad Cooper told Congress he was unable to confirm reports from the New York Times and others about US attacks on civilian operations such as schools and hospitals in Iran.
The lack of data meant that the US would not be investigating the alleged attacks, Cooper said. “There is no way we can corroborate that.”
But that same day, the Department of War’s internal watchdog said the Pentagon had gutted a body designed to prevent and respond to civilian deaths in US military attacks.
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CIVILIAN CASUALTIES
The program no longer functions, even though it is legally required to exist, said a report from the Department of War’s inspector general, an office that reviews Pentagon functions.
“As a result, the DoW may not comply with its civilian casualties and harm policy,” the report read. “A policy required by federal law.”
In other words, there is no data on killings of Iranian civilians, because operations to gather it have been deliberately allowed to grind to a halt, with no funding for data gathering, no meetings, and loss of staff numbers.
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‘THEY DID NOT KNOW THEIR NAMES’
In related news, it was revealed yesterday (Friday) that the US likely did not even know the identities of the 194 people it has killed (so far) in air strikes on boats in Caribbean and Pacific waters, a Latin American journalists’ group said.
US jetfighters simply fired rockets at the boats they believed were taking drugs to the United States, including one that was going in the opposite direction.
Even if some or all those killed had been transporting drugs, “there is no death penalty for cocaine trafficking,” said MarÃa Teresa Ronderos, director of the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism.
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‘JUST MURDER’
The UN has condemned the attacks as extrajudicial killings. Even some US politicians agreed that the killings were unlawful.
“Even if Congress authorized it, this would still be illegal under U.S. and international law because we are not in an armed conflict with these cartels,” Sara Jacobs of the House Armed Services Committee told The Intercept. “And so this is just murder.”
Because of its wealth and military power, the US is never held accountable for murders overseas, however large the number of victims.