Record civilian casualties reported from airstrikes as President Trump "loosens rules of engagement"

[Markhor]

Record civilian casualties reported from airstrikes as President Trump "loosens rules of engagement"

Before the election, we had several posters here claiming Trump would be "better for the Muslim world" than the hawkish Hillary Clinton and that he'd pursue a policy of non-intervention in the Middle East despite his own hawkish rhetoric during the primaries about intensifying military action.

He even mentioned "killing the family members" of terrorists and showing less regard for civilian casualties, saying the US was being "too PC" in its war against ISIS. Yet Trump's apologists claimed it was "all for show" and he wouldn't really act on his promises !

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-casualties/?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.02d99895cea3

A non-profit organization that tracks civilian casualties caused by airstrikes in the Middle East said it has shifted nearly all of its resources to track a surge of claims regarding U.S.-led strikes in Syria and Iraq.

“Almost 1,000 civilian non-combatant deaths have already been alleged from coalition actions across Iraq and Syria in March — a record claim,” Airwars said in a statement. “These reported casualty levels are comparable with some of the worst periods of Russian activity in Syria.”

In the last week, three mass casualty incidents have been attributed to U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Syria, making March one of the most lethal months for civilians in the the two-year-old war against the Islamic State.

Last week, U.S. drones targeted what locals deemed a mosque in Aleppo province in a bid to target al-Qaeda leaders. U.S. officials said dozens of terrorists were killed, but those on the ground said at least 47 civilians also died in the strikes. The Pentagon denied that there were any civilian casualties but has launched a formal investigation into the incident.

On Monday, a conflict monitoring group, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said a strike near Raqqa targeted a school that was serving as a home for multiple families displaced by fighting in the area, killing at least 33. The Pentagon admitted U.S. aircraft were operating in the vicinity but, according to Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon, the military is having a hard time rectifying the location of the building that was targeted with what was shown as destroyed on social media.

On Thursday, Iraqi media reported that an airstrike in Mosul killed more than 200 people. The Pentagon is investigating the claims.

[MENTION=39633]Cracket[/MENTION] [MENTION=138463]Slog[/MENTION] [MENTION=48598]saeedhk[/MENTION] [MENTION=137920]ShahKhan007[/MENTION] [MENTION=7898]Gabbar Singh[/MENTION] - would you like to offer an explanation given how you guys kept saying "at least Trump didn't have any Muslim blood on his hands" on loop for the whole of last year ? Don't say you weren't warned.

 

[Markhor]

Amazing how people could believe with such certainty that a man who sparked massive levels of Islamophobia with his inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric during the election, who promised an immigration ban on several Muslim countries, who surrounds himself with white nationalists and rabid Islamophobes, and who publicly promised to intensify airstrikes in the Middle East could possibly believe Trump would be "better for the Muslim World".

Its not as if you weren't warned. Here's an article going into more detail on the Mosul strike that's killed up to 200 civilians.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/...ths.html?_r=0&referer=https://t.co/fNhYV8XXG6

BAGHDAD — The American-led military coalition in Iraq said Friday that it was investigating reports that scores of civilians — perhaps as many as 200, residents said — had been killed in recent American airstrikes in Mosul, the northern Iraqi city at the center of an offensive to drive out the Islamic State.

If confirmed, the series of airstrikes would rank among the highest civilian death tolls in an American air mission since the United States went to war in Iraq in 2003. And the reports of civilian deaths in Mosul came immediately after two recent incidents in Syria, where the coalition is also battling the Islamic State from the air, in which activists and local residents said dozens of civilians had been killed.

Taken together, the surge of reported civilian deaths raised questions about whether once-strict rules of engagement meant to minimize civilian casualties were being relaxed under the Trump administration, which has vowed to fight the Islamic State more aggressively.

General Saadi said he had demanded that the coalition pause its air campaign to assess what happened and to take stricter measures to prevent more civilian victims. Another Iraqi special forces officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said that there had been a noticeable relaxing of the coalition’s rules of engagement since President Trump took office.

Before, Iraqi officers were highly critical of the Obama administration’s rules, saying that many requests for airstrikes were denied because of the risk that civilians would be hurt. Now, the officer said, it has become much easier to call in airstrikes.

Some American military officials had also chafed at what they viewed as long and onerous White House procedures for approving strikes under the Obama administration. Mr. Trump has indicated that he is more inclined to delegate authority for launching strikes to the Pentagon and commanders in the field.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

I read an article about this by long term Times columnist Anthony Lloyd and he seemed to think that this action had been earmarked before Trump's policy of unrestricted bombardment could kick in. Basically the gloves have come off because the Iraqi army was taking too many casualties in their efforts to dislodge ISIS in the hope that they can bring the war to an end more quickly. The negative headlines have mostly been buried by the lone madman attack in Westminster so quite well timed from a PR perspective.

 

[boomboomcheema]

I still believe that Trump will not be able to fulfil all his claims made before being elected. Too much accountablitiy in the United States.

 

[godzilla]

but but but secular democratic societies are so much more just..

 

[Slog]

Seems like normal service

Obama is who increased these airstrikes by unimaginable levels and Trump seems to be continuing that

 

[KingKhanWC]

said that there had been a noticeable relaxing of the coalition’s rules of engagement since President Trump took office.

The USA has been killing civillians for decades now. Nobody knows if the rate increase rapidly or not under Trump or Clinton. But if the quote in the article is accurate it seems the military has recieved executive permission or orders to kill first and ask questions later. This is the highest form of terrorism, ISIS is a poodle to a pitbull-mastiff cross here. The whole thing is a joke.

 

[chacha kashmiri]

Was this going on all while trump was playing golf
Bannon is a danger to society and needs to be taken out somehow from politics

Americas hopes for an Assyrian empire will only be realised if they crush the Russians and Iranians first before somehow pleasing both the Kurds and the Turks to push ISIL out of the ME

 

[Cracket]

I'd wait a bit more before judging Trump on foreign policy. These are all Obama era policies, and he is facing a lot of fight already from the CIA should he try to make the slightest of changes.

 

[PakLFC]

Trump is a Christian fanatic. If anything he is even more thirsty for Muslim blood then Obama was. Those who thought he would mend relations with the Muslim world and Arabs in particular were and are living in cuckoo land. Behind him are the Christian Zionists telling him what to do.

 

[Saeed]

Trump Eases Combat Rules in Somalia Intended to Protect Civilians

WASHINGTON — President Trump has relaxed some of the rules for preventing civilian casualties when the American military carries out counterterrorism strikes in Somalia, laying the groundwork for an escalating campaign against Islamist militants in the Horn of Africa.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/30/world/africa/trump-is-said-to-ease-combat-rules-in-somalia-designed-to-protect-civilians.html?_r=0

U.S. weighs bigger role in Yemen's war, boosting aid to allies

The United States is considering deepening its role in Yemen's conflict by more directly aiding its Gulf allies battling Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, officials say, potentially relaxing a U.S. policy that limited American support.

The review of potential new U.S. assistance, which includes intelligence support, would come amid increasing evidence that Iran is sending advanced weapons and military advisers to the Houthi movement, a Shi'ite ally.

Any elevation in U.S. support could be seen as a sign that President Donald Trump's administration has made confronting Iran and its allies an early priority.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-yemen-military-idUSKBN16Y2NW

There goes the myth that Trump is supposedly anti-war. He supported recent wars too but repeatedly lied about it.

 

[Markhor]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ons-barack-obama-administration-a7844526.html

Donald Trump's campaign against Isis results in nearly as many civilian deaths as during Obama's entire administration

Nearly as many Iraqi and Syrian civilians have died in US-led air strikes under Donald Trump as were killed during the whole administration of Barack Obama, independent analysts say.

As of 13 July, more than 2,200 civilians had been killed by the US-led international coalition against Isis since Donald Trump entered the White house in January - compared with the estimated 2,300 civilians who died during similar strikes between 2014 and 2016.

Roughly 80 civilians per month died in strikes under Mr Obama but this has now risen to approximately 360 per month under Mr Trump, according to research by the military tracking organisation Airwars.

But but Trump would be less hawkish and non-interventionist...