SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
It seems when we are the victims, its news; when they are it isn't. (Photo: Flickr/Asian Development Bank/CC)
Not for Prime Time:"US Kills 951 Civilians!"
These were regular, men, women, children, grandparents, aunt's, uncles, and cousins who succumbed to American bullets and bombs.
Feb 25, 2019
A dry statistic emerged from the UN yesterday reporting that close to 4,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year. It estimated how many were victims of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and then attributed 951 casualties to the U.S. [1]
These are civilians we killed, and it isn't even news.
What is news and what isn't continues to mystify. It seems when we are the victims, its news; when they are it isn't.
Seventeen children were killed in the Parkland shooting. The US media had a blockbuster run on that story featuring it 7,900 times [2]
Nine people were killed in the Charleston church shooting and the story was wall-to-wall 24-7. [3][4]
But America's Afghan killing spree?
No way.
These were not "terrorists" or "militants," by the way, or any of the familiar categories we use to distance ourselves from our actions. These were regular, men, women, children, grandparents, aunt's, uncles, and cousins who succumbed to American bullets and bombs.
And there are surely many more than these, uncounted and generally unmentioned, in Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Chad, Niger, Somalia, Libya; [5] the current list of America's killing fields.
Instead CNN seems utterly obsessed these days with getting U.S. humanitarian aid to hungry Venezuelans--starving mainly because U.S. sanctions are kind of starving them.
Strangely enough, liberal leftie, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, fully supports America's war of liberation in Venezuela singing the same tune as right-winger John Bolton. How amazing that Democrats and Republicans hold hands on overthrowing a sovereign country, which legally holds a seat at the UN, and both enthusiastically support wannabe leader, Juan Guaido for President while the majority of Venezuelans never heard of the guy. [6]
I wonder what mysterious hunger brings Debbie and John to the same feeding trough?
Could it be that Venezuela possesses the largest oil reserves in the world? [7]
Even more amazing, though, is how other pieces of news have trouble penetrating the fusillade of mainstream media propaganda.
Those 951 innocents may not ever get their due, but the corporate media will do everything in its power to urge you to try a large Papa Johns pizza and give Geico 15 minutes of your time.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jerry Kroth
Jerry Kroth, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor Emeritus from Santa Clara University and may be contacted through his website collectivepsych.com
A dry statistic emerged from the UN yesterday reporting that close to 4,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year. It estimated how many were victims of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and then attributed 951 casualties to the U.S. [1]
These are civilians we killed, and it isn't even news.
What is news and what isn't continues to mystify. It seems when we are the victims, its news; when they are it isn't.
Seventeen children were killed in the Parkland shooting. The US media had a blockbuster run on that story featuring it 7,900 times [2]
Nine people were killed in the Charleston church shooting and the story was wall-to-wall 24-7. [3][4]
But America's Afghan killing spree?
No way.
These were not "terrorists" or "militants," by the way, or any of the familiar categories we use to distance ourselves from our actions. These were regular, men, women, children, grandparents, aunt's, uncles, and cousins who succumbed to American bullets and bombs.
And there are surely many more than these, uncounted and generally unmentioned, in Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Chad, Niger, Somalia, Libya; [5] the current list of America's killing fields.
Instead CNN seems utterly obsessed these days with getting U.S. humanitarian aid to hungry Venezuelans--starving mainly because U.S. sanctions are kind of starving them.
Strangely enough, liberal leftie, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, fully supports America's war of liberation in Venezuela singing the same tune as right-winger John Bolton. How amazing that Democrats and Republicans hold hands on overthrowing a sovereign country, which legally holds a seat at the UN, and both enthusiastically support wannabe leader, Juan Guaido for President while the majority of Venezuelans never heard of the guy. [6]
I wonder what mysterious hunger brings Debbie and John to the same feeding trough?
Could it be that Venezuela possesses the largest oil reserves in the world? [7]
Even more amazing, though, is how other pieces of news have trouble penetrating the fusillade of mainstream media propaganda.
Those 951 innocents may not ever get their due, but the corporate media will do everything in its power to urge you to try a large Papa Johns pizza and give Geico 15 minutes of your time.
Jerry Kroth
Jerry Kroth, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor Emeritus from Santa Clara University and may be contacted through his website collectivepsych.com
A dry statistic emerged from the UN yesterday reporting that close to 4,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year. It estimated how many were victims of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and then attributed 951 casualties to the U.S. [1]
These are civilians we killed, and it isn't even news.
What is news and what isn't continues to mystify. It seems when we are the victims, its news; when they are it isn't.
Seventeen children were killed in the Parkland shooting. The US media had a blockbuster run on that story featuring it 7,900 times [2]
Nine people were killed in the Charleston church shooting and the story was wall-to-wall 24-7. [3][4]
But America's Afghan killing spree?
No way.
These were not "terrorists" or "militants," by the way, or any of the familiar categories we use to distance ourselves from our actions. These were regular, men, women, children, grandparents, aunt's, uncles, and cousins who succumbed to American bullets and bombs.
And there are surely many more than these, uncounted and generally unmentioned, in Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Chad, Niger, Somalia, Libya; [5] the current list of America's killing fields.
Instead CNN seems utterly obsessed these days with getting U.S. humanitarian aid to hungry Venezuelans--starving mainly because U.S. sanctions are kind of starving them.
Strangely enough, liberal leftie, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, fully supports America's war of liberation in Venezuela singing the same tune as right-winger John Bolton. How amazing that Democrats and Republicans hold hands on overthrowing a sovereign country, which legally holds a seat at the UN, and both enthusiastically support wannabe leader, Juan Guaido for President while the majority of Venezuelans never heard of the guy. [6]
I wonder what mysterious hunger brings Debbie and John to the same feeding trough?
Could it be that Venezuela possesses the largest oil reserves in the world? [7]
Even more amazing, though, is how other pieces of news have trouble penetrating the fusillade of mainstream media propaganda.
Those 951 innocents may not ever get their due, but the corporate media will do everything in its power to urge you to try a large Papa Johns pizza and give Geico 15 minutes of your time.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.