by Stephen Lendman

US rules of engagement violate core international laws - attacking nonbelligerent nations threatening no one, mercilessly slaughtering civilians, dismissing what it deplorably calls “collateral damage.”

Human lives aren’t “collateral.” They too precious to be needlessly lost. In Iraq and Syria, Washington maintains the fiction of combating ISIS and other terrorist groups.

It’s at war with both countries without declaring it, waging lawless aggression - striking Syrian armed forces two weeks earlier, inflicting casualties as well as destruction of arms, munitions and vehicles.

On December 18, US warplanes attacked Iraqi forces in Fallujah, combating ISIS. According to Iraqi Parliament’s Security and Defense Committee head Hakim al-Zamili:

“Thirty soldiers from the Iraqi Army's 55 brigade were killed and 20 were injured in a US airstrike on the town of al-Naimiya in the al-Fallujah province.”

He demanded Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi conduct an investigation into what happened. He called the incident “very serious…We will go to court over this crime. There will be a hearing.”

Lt. General Charles Q. Brown, commander US Air Forces Central Command (Southwest Asia) earlier called US aerial operations “the most precise in the history of warfare.”

It strikes what it targets with deadly accuracy. It’s extremely unlikely that attacks like these are accidental. Pentagon claims otherwise ring hollow.

Spokesmen are paid to lie for their superiors. Major Roger Cabiness said reports of the Fallujah incident are “not true.” A later “coalition” statement said “despite coordination with the Iraqi security forces on the ground, initial reports indicate the possibility one of the strikes resulted in the death of Iraqi soldiers.” How many other earlier “possibilities” occurred?

Pentagon officials at first denied America’s deliberate October attack on a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Konduz, Afghanistan hospital - a premeditated war crime.

US authorities are obstructing an independent investigation, wanting one prohibited, certain to prove Washington’s culpability if conducted fairly.

The updated toll as of December 11 confirmed 42 deaths - including 14 MSF staff members, along with 24 patients and four relatives providing caretaking services, some victims burned alive.

MSF said determining the precise death toll was “extremely difficult,” given the chaos that followed the attack. Bodies were shredded or immolated beyond recognition, medical records destroyed.

Over the past two months, additional human remains were discovered, maybe more to come - the incident one of many attesting to America’s barbarity.

US-led forces allied with ISIS and other takfiri terrorists are waging war on Syria and Iraq. The American public is willfully deceived to enlist support for naked aggression against nations threatening no others.

Record spending fuels Washington’s killing machine. It has lots more targets in mind. Expect endless wars of aggression no matter who succeeds Obama in January 2017, continuing his imperial agenda.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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