By Rev. Edward Pinkney, 5/16/17
A correct anti-war perspective is not just a moral condemnation of war, but a strategic orientation about how to best resist the drive to imperialism by the United States government.
Civilian casualties erode America’s morals. The White House ordered U.S. forces to drop one of its largest conventional weapons, known as the “mother of all bombs,” in Afghanistan. The attack came with a major risk of civilian lives which means very little to the United States government that spawns new enemies, fuels insurgencies and diminishes American morals.
Already, there are indications of a growing number of civilian deaths resulting from the White House bombing campaign. According to some estimates, over 200 people died during the March 17, 2017 air strike in Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city. It was potentially the largest single loss of innocent lives in the USA led coalition strike since the fight against the Islamic State began in 2014. The United States government is the biggest bully in the whole wide world.
Airwar.org, a non-profit group, says civilian deaths from coalition air strikes in Iraq and Syria rose from 585 in the last quarter of 2016 to 2,580 in the first quarter of 2017.
The Pentagon is careless about taking such risks seriously when it comes to civilians in Syria—the women and children. There is no military in the entire world that has proven less sensitive to civilian casualties.
War is an ugly business. The world is full of war criminals, like the United States, that destroy innocent lives to advance their ideologies. The United States government’s premise is to target anyone who gets in its way, even if that means the targeting of innocent civilians; this means nothing to our government.
Another misdirected air strike by the USA led coalition earlier this week killed 18 civilians in Northern Syria. The central command said that the coalition aircraft were given the wrong coordinates. The United States has no regard for the Syrian people.
This is nothing short of criminal betrayal of international solidarity and provides political cover for the American ruling class. The New York Times and other major corporate U.S. news outlets rushed to accuse the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad of being responsible for the scores of people who died from poison gas in Idlib Province, Syria on April 4, 2017.
We have heard this before—remember the weapons of mass destruction! Former President Bush led in these lies about Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. These lies were used to justify the imperialist invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Republicans and Democrats joined in cheerleading President Trump’s decision to unleash bombing raids on Syria as a reprisal against Assad. The mother of all bombs, the bomb known officially as a GBU 43B or Massive Ordinance Air Blast (MOAB) weapon unleashes 11 tons of explosives!
We the people must stop this bully who will continue to berate, bully, and bomb countries, including those countries that are incapable of defending themselves. We must confront this bully in our White House at all costs!
