Even though they had no proof.
Even though they couldn't back it up.
Even though all they had was official statements from government officials.
As last week wound down, Antiwar.com and Griffith got slapped upside the face by a heavy dose of reality.
Alice Ross (Guardian) reported on the latest disclosure of civilian deaths:
The US-led coalition’s bombing of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which has been described as the “most precise ever”, faces allegations that civilians have been killed in 71 separate air raids.
A spokesman for US central command (Centcom) disclosed the claims to the Guardian. Many of the claims have been dismissed, but he said 10 incidents were the subject of fuller, formal investigations. Five investigations have been concluded, although only one has been published.
To date, the coalition acknowledges civilian deaths in a single strike: in November 2014 a US strike on Syria killed two children, a Centcom investigation published in May found. Centcom said it will only publish investigations where a “preponderance of evidence” suggests civilians have died.
Monitoring groups questioned how thorough the investigations were.
Steven Chase (Globe and Mail) added:
An English-speaking Peshmerga soldier told
the U.S. military that as many as 27 civilians died during aerial
bombardment by Canadian pilots, American military documents show.
However,
the Canadian military made it clear to the United States shortly after
the alleged incident that it felt no obligation under the Geneva
Conventions to probe what happened, the Pentagon records show. “It
should be noted that Canadian Joint Operations Command [legal advisers]
opinion is that, under the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) there are no
obligations for the Canadian Armed Forces to conduct an investigation,”
the documents say.
It shouldn't have taken these exposures to prove how wrong Antiwar.com was to promote the claims of officials as facts.
Like the US government, Antiwar.com refused to think about where the bombs land.
Note US State Department spokesperson Brett McGurk's ridiculous Tweet:
Brett McGurk
As for what those war planes actually did?
That was left for others to Tweet.
#IRAQ شمرية العراق
Antiwar.com needs to figure out whether it stands against war or not?
If they stand against war, they need to stop presenting the lie that bombs dropped on Iraq only kill "militants."
