Remember when Trump said he'd kill the families of ISIS?

It wasn't a proud moment for America.

“The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families,” Trump said during an appearance on Fox News' “Fox and Friends” in December 2015. “They care about their lives, don't kid yourself. When they say they don't care about their lives, you have to take out their families.”
The comment prompted criticism from other candidates, who argued that such a tactic would constitute a war crime.

War crime, shmoor crime. We're America.

A year and a half later, Trump is now president — and on Friday, a monitoring group said that airstrikes from a U.S.-backed coalition on a town in Syria had killed a large number of relatives of Islamic State fighters...
In total, at least 106 people died in the strikes, the Observatory said, including 42 children of Islamic State fighters. The article announcing the deaths dubbed it “the largest massacre against the [the Islamic State's] families in Syria.”

To be fair, there is no proof that we actively targeted the families of ISIS fighters.
It might be that we simply don't care who we kill these days.

Indeed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is noting that the soaring death toll from US airstrikes has now surpassed the civilian toll of the Assad government’s own airstrikes, which the US and other Western nations have condemned as indiscriminate and irresponsible.
Oftentimes, US officials have been so outraged at Syria’s “indiscriminate” air strikes that they’ve demanded regime change, and has railed at Russia and Iran for tolerating their tactics in bombing civilian targets. Obviously, the US never sees the same problem with its own massive killings.
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Have a great weekend gjohnsit.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

CB's picture

@dkmich
are run and controlled by narcissists and psychopaths. Corporations also have a high percentage of individuals with these characteristics in top level management positions.

What Is a Psychopath?
The neuroscience of psychopathy reports some intriguing findings

Uncaring The PCL describes psychopaths as being callous and showing a lack of empathy, traits which the PPI describes as “coldheartedness.” The criteria for dissocial personality disorder include a “callous unconcern for the feelings of others.”

Shallow emotions Psychopaths, and to a degree, sociopaths, show a lack of emotion, especially the social emotions, such as shame, guilt, and embarrassment. Cleckley said that the psychopaths he came into contact with showed a “general poverty in major affective reactions,” and a “lack of remorse or shame.”

Irresponsibility According to Cleckley psychopaths show unreliability, while the PCL mentions “irresponsibility” and the PPI describes psychopaths as showing “blame externalization,” i.e. they blame others for events that are actually their fault.

Insincere speech Ranging from what the PCL describes as “glibness” and “superficial charm” to Cleckley’s “untruthfulness” and “insincerity,” to outright “pathological lying,” there is a trend toward devaluing speech among psychopaths by inflating and distorting it toward selfish ends.

Overconfidence The PCL describes sociopaths as possessing a “grandiose sense of self worth.”

Narrowing of attention According to Newman and his colleagues the core deficit in psychopathy is a failure of what they call response modulation (Hiatt and Newman, 2006). When normal people engage in a task we are able to alter our activity, or modulate our responses, depending on relevant peripheral information that appears after the task has begun. Psychopaths are specifically deficient in this ability, and according to Newman, this explains the impulsivity of psychopaths, a trait which shows up in several of the lists of criteria, as well as their problems with passive avoidance and with processing emotions.

Selfishness Cleckley spoke of his psychopaths showing a “pathologic egocentricity [and incapacity for love],” which is affirmed in the PPI by its inclusion of egocentricity among its criteria. The PCL also mentions a “parasitic lifestyle.”

Inability to plan for the future Cleckley said that his psychopaths showed a “failure to follow any life plan.” According to the PCL, psychopaths have a “lack of realistic long-term goals,” while the PPI describes them as showing a “carefree nonplanness.”

Violence The criteria for dissocial personality include, a “very low tolerance to frustration and a low threshold for discharge of aggression, including violence.” The criteria for antisocial personality disorder include, "irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights or assaults.”

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Big Al's picture

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@Big Al
.... that's the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, correct?

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Big Al's picture

@thanatokephaloides It's not that some of the information might not be correct. But like with the White Helmets, the SOHR has a western propaganda slant to it's reporting. You can see that clearly in the Antiwar article, who I've had it out with about their use of the SOHR in it's articles without explaining what the SOHR. Which is why I stopped going to Antiwar.com years ago.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@Big Al

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

thanatokephaloides's picture

Remember when Trump said he'd kill the families of ISIS?
It wasn't a proud moment for America.

"Proud moment for America" -- water.
"Trump" -- rancid axle grease!

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides