OF THE
TIMES
"The Syrian National Coalition for Revolutionary and Opposition Forces is reflective and representative enough of the Syrian population that we consider them the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in opposition to the Assad regime."The bizarre, uncertain wording sends a message of both uncertainty and resounding illegitimacy, indicating that the US itself recognizes the true nature of the so-called "Syrian" opposition is apparent to an increasing number of people both in public office and across the public, and that a certain degree of rhetorical distance must be kept.
"The cross-border operation is part of a secret war to trail Syria's non-conventional armaments and sabotage their development. 'For years we've known the exact location of Syria's chemical and biological munitions,' an Israeli source said, referring to the country's spy satellites and drones. 'But in the past week we've got signs that munitions have been moved to new locations.'" (Uzi Mahnaimi and Lucy Fisher Israel tracks Syria's chemical arsenal, The Sunday Times 9 December 2012.)Everyone recalls the WMD hype prior to launching the war on Iraq. It turned out that the Iraqi WMD threat was an outright fabrication.
In a despicable article in Military Times, the US military says that children are legitimate targets in the war in Afghanistan because sometimes the Taliban and other insurgents use kids.
In the original incident, which I cited in October, The New York Times reported it this way:The...case of three children allegedly killed in a coalition strike was reported by local officials in Helmand Province's Nawa district. The officials said that the children were killed in a NATO strike on Sunday afternoon as they were gathering dung to burn as fuel, a common practice in the desert reaches of southern Afghanistan where there are few trees.
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The Marja governor said that NATO forces watched as improvised explosive devices were being planted, and targeted the insurgents planting them. "As a result two I.E.D. planters were killed and the shrapnel killed the three children who were wandering nearby," he said. Other reports said that three insurgents had been killed.
A spokesman for the international forces, Maj. Adam Wojack, said that the coalition forces were aware of the allegations and that the episode was being investigated. "I.S.A.F. did conduct a precision airstrike on three insurgents in Nawa district, and the strike killed all three insurgents," he said.
"None of our reporting shows any civilian casualties or any children."
Comment: With protests growing to similar levels seen in Egypt in February 2011, it looks like people are beginning to realise that a coup has taken place: