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U.S.-led Coalition Admission of 1,300 Civilian Deaths in Iraq and Syria
Responding to today's announcement by the U.S.-led Coalition that at least 1,302 civilians have been unintentionally killed by Coalition strikes in Syria and Iraq between August 2014 and the end of April 2019, Amnesty International's Senior Crisis Response Adviser Donatella Rovera said:
"While all admissions of responsibility by the U.S.-led Coalition for civilian casualties are welcome, the Coalition remains deeply in denial about the devastating scale of the civilian casualties caused by their operations in both Iraq and Syria.
WASHINGTON
Responding to today's announcement by the U.S.-led Coalition that at least 1,302 civilians have been unintentionally killed by Coalition strikes in Syria and Iraq between August 2014 and the end of April 2019, Amnesty International's Senior Crisis Response Adviser Donatella Rovera said:
"While all admissions of responsibility by the U.S.-led Coalition for civilian casualties are welcome, the Coalition remains deeply in denial about the devastating scale of the civilian casualties caused by their operations in both Iraq and Syria.
"A comprehensive investigation by Amnesty International in partnership with Airwars, launched last month, revealed that more than 1,600 civilians were killed in the Raqqa offensive alone in 2017 - meaning the acknowledged deaths are just a fraction of the total numbers killed.
"Today's acknowledgement of further civilian deaths underscores the urgent need for thorough, independent investigations that can uncover the true scale of civilian casualties caused by Coalition strikes, examine whether each attack complied with international humanitarian law and provide full reparation to victims.
"Even in cases where the Coalition has admitted responsibility this has only happened after civilian deaths were investigated and brought to its attention by organizations such as Amnesty International and Airwars. The Coalition has so far failed to carry out investigations on the ground or provide reasons for the civilian casualties. Without a clear examination of what went wrong in each case lessons can never be learned."
Amnesty International has carried out in-depth field investigations, interviews with survivors and witnesses in both Raqqa and Mosul, documenting hundreds of cases of civilians killed in Coalition strikes. For more information on this work see:
'War of annihilation': Devastating Toll on Civilians, Raqqa - Syria,
At Any Cost: The Civilian Catastrophe in West Mosul, Iraq
Iraq: Civilians killed by airstrikes in their homes after they were told not to flee Mosul
This statement is available at: https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/u-s-led-coalition-admission-of-1300-civilian-deaths-in-iraq-and-syria/
Follow Amnesty International USA on Twitter.
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
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'Uphold the Law': 9 Arrested at White House Demanding Arms Embargo on Israel
"Keep your word," one protest organizer urged the Biden administration. "Enact an arms embargo to impose a cease-fire and end our complicity in Israel's horrific war crimes in Gaza."
Nov 13, 2024
Nine people were arrested Tuesday while blocking an entrance to the White House in Washington, D.C. to demand the Biden administration "uphold U.S. laws, which require an arms embargo on Israel" given the key Mideast ally's well-documented human rights violations during its 13-month assault on Gaza.
Demonstrators led by the Democrats for Human Rights coalition sat in a roadway in front of a White House gate with banners reading "Israel Uses Starvation as a Weapon" and "Uphold the Law: Arms Embargo Now."
Three women who resigned from the Biden administration over its support for Israel's obliteration of Gaza— Lily Greenberg Call, Stacy Gilbert, and Anna Del Castillo—joined the demonstration, as did 88-year-old Holocaust survivor Marione Ingram.
"Police are arresting us now," organizer Kai Newkirk, who co-chairs the Arizona Democratic Party Progressive Council, said on social media Tuesday evening.
Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin gave the far-right Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 30 days to show that it had taken "urgent and sustained actions" to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza or face a possible suspension of armed aid.
"As [President Joe] Biden's 30-day deadline for Israel to stop violating our laws in Gaza expires, we are sitting in and peacefully blocking the gate at the White House," Newkirk said before his arrest. "U.S. law requires an arms embargo. As Democrats for Human Rights, we call upon Biden to uphold the law: arms embargo now!"
The U.S. State Department sparked worldwide anger Tuesday with its determination that Israel is not violating humanitarian law, even as its forces have killed at least 43,000 Palestinians, wounded more than 103,000 others, and displaced, starved, or sickened millions more while blocking desperately needed humanitarian aid from entering Gaza.
"We will not be moved," vowed Newkirk, who added that the Biden administration's deadline "cannot come and go with no action to mark it and hold him accountable.
"Uphold the law," he said. "Keep your word. Enact an arms embargo to impose a cease-fire and end our complicity in Israel's horrific war crimes in Gaza."
Domestic legislation including the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and Leahy Laws prohibit U.S. aid to human rights violators. However, the U.S. government has given aid to many human rights violators since those laws were enacted, including most of the world's dictatorships and the perpetrators of genocidal violence in Indonesia, Paraguay, Guatemala, Bangladesh, East Timor, Kurdistan, and—according to many experts—Gaza.
Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack, the U.S. has approved tens of billions of dollars in military assistance for Israel, even as the International Court of Justice in The Hague reviews South Africa-led allegations of Israeli genocide in Gaza.
"Humanitarian leaders have stated that conditions in Gaza have only grown worse over the 30 days, with World Food Program Director Cindy McCain saying famine has now set in," Newkirk said.
Human rights and humanitarian relief groups accuse Israel of causing " apocalyptic" conditions in northern Gaza, where thousands of civilians including many women and children have been killed or wounded in recent weeks and many others face imminent famine under a plan to starve and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from the area in order to facilitate Israeli occupation and possible recolonization.
On Tuesday, a coalition of eight international humanitarian organizations published an
analysis detailing how Israel has not fully complied with any of the Biden administration's 19 specific demands in its 30-day warning.
The report's authors asserted that the publication underscores "Israel's failure to comply with U.S. demands and international obligations."
"Israel should be held accountable for the end result of failing to ensure the adequate provision of food, medical, and other supplies to reach people in need," the report argues.
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Watchdog Launches 'War Room' to Monitor Trump's Corruption and Destruction
"Americans will know how the Trump administration and its allies are working for themselves, big corporations, and the wealthy, not the American people," said Accountable.US.
Nov 13, 2024
With the incoming Trump administration taking shape in recent days as President-elect Donald Trump has selected several of his political allies as members of his Cabinet, government watchdog Accountable.US on Wednesday announced its plan to monitor and demand accountability for corruption and abuses of power in the White House during the Republican's second term in office.
Accountable.US is a known entity to Trump allies, as ProPublicareported recently. Training videos for Project 2025, the far-right agenda co-authored by more than 100 former Trump staffers, showed conservative leaders warning potential future administration members to avoid leading a paper trail for the watchdog to follow.
"You're probably better off going down to the canteen, getting a cup of coffee, talking it through, and making the decision, as opposed to sending him an email and creating a thread that Accountable.US [...] is going to come back and seek," said one Project 2025 leader.
The group spent the first Trump administration exposing "swampy revolving-door Potomac politics" at the Interior Department, where lobbyist-turned-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt had "glaring conflicts of interest," and the Small Business Administration's decision to give $15.8 million in pandemic relief for struggling mom-and-pop businesses to police organizations, among other indiscretions.
Now, said Accountable.US president Caroline Ciccone, "Americans will know how the Trump administration and its allies are working for themselves, big corporations, and the wealthy, not the American people."
"With Trump and his MAGA allies set to implement their Project 2025 blueprint for the federal government, it is more critical than ever that the public is informed about who will lead these agencies and implement an extreme agenda that will hurt millions of Americans, devastate the economy, and undermine our democracy," said Ciccone.
The group's initiative, the Trump Accountability War Room, will provide analyses and oversight of Trump's staffing decisions and nominations, executive actions, and legislative agenda.
On Tuesday, Accountable.US drew attention to Trump's refusal to sign several ethics agreements with the Biden administration, as is required for the presidential transition.
"Everyone is surprised: Donald Trump is already in violation of federal law," said the group. "This time, it's an ethics code required for presidential transition that he signed into law. Donald Trump has made it clear—he does not think any law applies to him."
The organization has also called South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Trump's homeland security secretary pick, "uniquely unprepared and unqualified for the post," pointing to her alleged abuse of state resources for personal benefit and her fabrication of meetings with world leaders.
Along with Noem's nomination, Trump announced on Tuesday his appointment of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and enterpreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new "Department of Government Efficiency," an office tasked with eliminating "excess regulations" and restructuring federal agencies.
Scott Amey, general counsel for the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), another watchdog that has spent years exposing Trump's conflicts of interest, toldThe New York Times last week that "having a good friend in the White House could be a very good thing for Tesla and SpaceX."
"You have to worry about decisions that are not best for taxpayers when you have those kinds of cozy relationships," Amey said.
Musk's businesses are facing several criminal and civil investigations over alleged fraud, labor violations, and other accusations—and the election of Trump, whose campaign received nearly $120 million from the billionaire businessman, could result in little-to-no enforcement.
POGO executive director Danielle Brian said last week that the group "was created for exactly this moment."
"We're standing ready to hold this administration accountable for any such abuse of power," said Brian. "Because that's what POGO does. We work with policymakers to protect our democracy and we're not stopping now."
The Trump Accountability War Room, said Accountable.US, will "expose how Trump's new team—backed by Project 2025—plans to reshape America for their own gain, putting corporate interests over the rest of us."
"We won't let them dismantle our rights in the shadows," said the group.
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Trump Picks 'Lobbyist for War Criminals' to Lead Pentagon
Pete Hegseth helped secure pardons for three former U.S. soldiers accused or convicted of horrific war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nov 13, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump's choice to head the Pentagon privately lobbied Trump during his first White House term to pardon former members of the U.S. armed forces accused or convicted of war crimes, including a Navy SEAL chief who allegedly gunned down a young girl and elderly man in Iraq.
Pete Hegseth is an Army veteran who has used his role as a "Fox & Friends" co-host to praise Trump, make the case for a preemptive strike against North Korea, peddle anti-Muslim bigotry, express support for Israel's U.S.-backed assault on Gaza, and divulge bizarre details about his lack of personal hygiene.
Hegseth also had the ear of the former president during his first four years in the White House, acting as an informal adviser. In that capacity, Hegseth reportedly played a key role in securing pardons for three court-martialed U.S. military officers who were accused or convicted of horrific crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As Politiconoted Tuesday, "Hegseth helped capture Trump's attention on a military case that led, in 2019, to full pardons for former Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance and Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, both convicted of war crimes."
Lorance was serving a 19-year prison sentence for second-degree murder when Trump pardoned him. Golsteyn was charged with murder in 2018 for killing an Afghan man.
Trump also pardoned Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, "who had been stripped of military honors during his prosecution for murder charges," Politico added.
The New York Timesreported in 2019 that a member of Gallagher's platoon called him "freaking evil" and said that "you could tell he was perfectly O.K. with killing anybody that was moving." According to the Times, Gallagher was accused by fellow soldiers of "stabbing a defenseless teenage captive to death," "picking off a school-age girl and an old man from a sniper's roost," and "indiscriminately spraying neighborhoods with rockets and machine-gun fire."
Media Matters for America has documented some of what it described as Hegseth's "eyebrow-raising comments about war crimes."
"In August [2019], he referred to the 2007 massacre of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square by private security contractors working for Blackwater (now rebranded as Academi) as 'another day on the job in Iraq,' later hosting Blackwater founder Erik Prince to complain about the unfair prosecutions of his former employees who murdered 17 people," the watchdog organization noted. "Hegseth has also said the possibility of pardons is 'very heartening for guys like me,' that it 'could've been me' on trial for war crimes, and that if Golsteyn's actions counted as a war crime, then 'put us all in jail.'"
The incoming Defense Secretary is literally a lobbyist for war criminals https://t.co/S27FoJOkV7 pic.twitter.com/jLe9wAJa9J
— Eric Levitz (@EricLevitz) November 13, 2024
If confirmed by the Senate or rammed through in a recess appointment, Hegseth—who served in served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and at Guantánamo Bay prison—will be tasked with leading a waste-and-fraud-ridden department whose budget accounts for roughly half of all federal discretionary spending.
Paul Eaton, a retired U.S. Army officer who chairs the advocacy group VoteVets, said in a statement Tuesday that Hegseth is "wholly unqualified to head the Department of Defense and hold the lives of our troops in his hands."
"Nothing more need be said," Eaton added.
As likely chief of the Pentagon, Hegseth will also have to contend with a reported Trump plan to purge the military's top ranks of insufficiently loyal generals.
The Wall Street Journalreported Tuesday that Trump—who threatened on the campaign trail to deploy the U.S. military against his political opponents—is "considering a draft executive order that establishes a 'warrior board' of retired senior military personnel with the power to review three- and four-star officers and to recommend removals of any deemed unfit for leadership."
"If Donald Trump approves the order, it could fast-track the removal of generals and admirals found to be 'lacking in requisite leadership qualities,'" the Journal reported, citing a draft of the order. "But it could also create a chilling effect on top military officers, given the president-elect's past vow to fire 'woke generals,' referring to officers seen as promoting diversity in the ranks at the expense of military readiness."
Hegseth, who has said that "we should not have women in combat roles," has signaled support for such a purge, telling an interviewer last week that any general involved in "woke shit" should be fired.
Eaton of VoteVets said Tuesday that the removal of generals seen as disloyal to Trump would "give him what he said he wanted—generals like Hitler had, who do not challenge him, do not tell him what he doesn't want to hear, and do not stand in the way of using the military to crush his political opposition."
If not stopped, Eaton warned, the president-elect's plan would spawn "a MAGA military, pledging fealty to Donald Trump."
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