"Airstrikes conducted by the United States have killed between 22,000 and 48,000 civilians since September 11, 2001, according to a report published Monday by Airwars, a military watchdog that monitors and seeks to reduce civilian harm in violent conflict zones.
The new analysis, released ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the retaliatory launch of the so-called "War on Terror," came just days after a U.S. drone strike killed at least 10 members of a single family in Kabul amid the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Most media accounts point out that more than 7,000 U.S. service members have died in post-9/11 wars, but only some go on to state the massive civilian death toll, and 'almost exclusively in generalities, researchers lamented.' While Brown University's Costs of War project estimates that over 387,000 civilians have been killed as a result of the War on Terror, Airwars sought to answer a specific question: How many civilians have likely been killed by U.S. airstrikes in the last 20 years?"
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/09/07/us-airstrikes-have-killed-48000-civilians-911-analysis
-->Scott Simon bloviated about 9/11 on NPR, and the rest of the mainstream media retold patriotic stories of first responders; there wasn't much time spent on the mass killings of our war machine in Afghanistan over the last 20 years. Yes, go ahead and weep some tears for our fallen. But let us not forget the terrible war crimes visited on Afghanistan in the name of American patriotism.
=====
Common Dreams:
"A new report just ahead of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks offers a scathing analysis of how Big Tech corporations are 'complicit in' and have 'profited from' the so-called war on terror by at least $44 billion since 2001. 'When the U.S. chooses war over aid, Big Tech profits,' the publication, Big Tech Sells War, states.
The report—released Thursday by the Action Center on Race & the Economy (ACRE), MPower Change, and LittleSis—accuses companies including Amazon, Google, and Microsoft of providing tools ranging 'from databases to drones' to U.S. government agencies that have propped up the war on terror for nearly two decades.
The report has a number of features, including a timeline of significant events such as October 24, 2001, when Congress passed the Patriot Act. 'Its passage,' the report says, 'opened the doors for Big Tech to become, first and foremost, the brokers of our personal data, selling to government agencies and private companies at home and abroad and unleashing the era of the data economy.' "
-->This story was covered by Vice, but not the NYT. In fact most of the major media avoided this story of war profiteering. Better to concentrate on American suffering than to expose the war machine behind US war crimes in the Middle East.
=====
The Intercept:
"Pretty much every day since 9/11, the U.S. military has disciplined soldiers who failed to do their jobs properly. They have been punished for minor offenses, like being late for duty, and for serious crimes, such as murder or assault. Since 2001, there have been more than 1.3 million cases of discipline in the armed forces, according to the Pentagon’s annual reports on military justice.
But the generals who misled Congress and the American public about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have not needed to worry about negative consequences for their careers. After 20 years of conducting a disinformation campaign about what was really happening on the ground, not a single U.S. general has faced any punishment. The reverse happened — they were praised for their deceptively upbeat assessments and given more stars, and when they retired with generous military pensions, they landed high-paying jobs on corporate boards, further profiting from their disingenuousness. ...
In Afghanistan and Iraq, several hundred thousand civilians and combatants have perished (including more than 7,000 American soldiers), millions of people have become refugees, and trillions of dollars have been wasted. Politicians were responsible for this, pundits were responsible, and so-called experts from think tanks were responsible too. But the generals were closest to these wars and most aware, or should have been, of what was happening. Few were closer or profited more than two in particular: Gen. Lloyd Austin, who is now secretary of defense, and Gen. David Petraeus, one of the most lauded military figures of the past 20 years."
-->Where is Scott Simon to weep for all those American victims of the "War on Terror?" The US empire is perpetually claiming to be the victim, when in fact it is the perpetrator.
