Pentagon congratulates New York Times for Pulitzer win over airstrike series - The Washington Post
Washington PostDec 27, 2021
Syria Says US Must Pay for Civilians Killed in Strike and Withdraw Troops
Image copyright: Agence France Press [via BBC]
The Facts
On Fri., Syria's permanent mission to the UN rejected recently released findings by a Pentagon review claiming that the US military wasn't at fault for a Mar. 2019 airstrike that reportedly killed dozens of civilians near the town of Baghuz in eastern Syria.
Damascus accused the Pentagon of conducting a biased investigation to cover up a crime against humanity and called on Washington to immediately withdraw its "occupation forces" from Syria and compensate the victims.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
While the US pretends to advocate for freedom and human rights all over the world, Washington repeatedly commits serious crimes against humanity and ruthlessly pursues its interests. The massacre of innocent civilians in Baghuz is just one of the latest examples of this hypocrisy. To defend the rules-based world order, Washington must finally be held accountable.
Pro-establishment narrative
No other country bears as much global responsibility as the US. Though civilians are regrettably occasionally harmed during its military operations, the US has consistently aknowledged when its military forces have made mistakes, and done all it can to ensure they don't happen again. Every civilian death is a tragedy, but overall more lives have been saved than lost by US intervention.