Several days ago, I spent some time researching a post about the US siege on ISIS in Mosul, Iraq which will involve ISIS in Raqqa, Syria. Media misrepresents what is going on. However, for those who read many media sources & don’t eschew it all as fake news sources, it is possible to understand what is going on. We have, after all, over 25 years experience with the treacheries & barbarism of the US & its allies in Iraq.

The ghost haunting my machine ate up that post & I need to go back to research & rewrite. Glib doesn’t work for me. Nor does ranting about US treachery without explaining what is going on. Some can just hate on US militarism & call it antiwar but understanding US military strategy in Iraq & its relationship to the war in Syria is the only way most people can decide where they stand.

It appears that among Assad supporters a method of deflection from Syrian slaughter in east Aleppo is to bring up US slaughter in Mosul, Iraq. The comparison is of course entirely reasonable. But not when it is used to rationalize Syrian & Russian carpet bombing of civilians in Syria. The adroit maneuver is clever, even convincing to many. But how is it persuasive that what Syria is doing isn’t all that bad just because the US is doing it too? When did US militarism become a standard to measure anything but barbarism?

My piece on Mosul, Iraq which I am reconstructing does not fault in condemning US intervention in Iraq & Syria. But be assured I will not use Syrian & Russian bombing to rationalize US bombing of civilians in Mosul & Raqqa.