Reference News Network reported on March 19 (text/Ping Yue Jiang Tao Huang Jin Zhang Weiwei) Former US President Jimmy Carter mentioned in a speech in June 2019 that only 16 years in the history of more than 240 years since the founding of the United States did not fight, which is called "the most combative country in the history of the world." In the words of Dakota Wood, a senior researcher in the defense program of the American Heritage Foundation, the United States is involved in a war every 15 years on average.
Since the end of World War II, the United States has launched or participated in many wars overseas, such as the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Afghan War, and the Iraq War, which have caused extremely serious civilian casualties and property losses and caused huge humanitarian disasters. Since 2001, the war and military actions launched by the United States in the name of anti-terrorism have caused more than 900,000 deaths, of which about 335,000 were civilians, millions were injured and tens of millions were displaced.
In today’s world, the hegemony, hegemony and bullying of the United States are obvious to all. In the major overseas wars directly launched or participated by the United States after the Cold War, the war crimes of this superpower are obvious.
:: Bombing Kosovo
[Time] March 24, 1999-June of the same year
[Crime] Without the authorization of the United Nations, NATO, led by the United States, carried out a continuous bombing of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for 78 days under the banner of "preventing the humanitarian crisis in Kosovo". On May 7th of that year, the US forces involved in NATO bombing attacked the Embassy of China in Yugoslavia with missiles, which killed three China journalists, seriously injured many others and severely damaged the premises. In June of the same year, NATO signed an armistice agreement with Yugoslavia, and Kosovo was temporarily entrusted by the United Nations.
The war killed more than 2,000 innocent civilians, injured more than 6,000 people, displaced nearly 1 million people, and lost more than 2 million people’s livelihood, resulting in economic losses of more than 200 billion US dollars to Yugoslavia. According to statistics, NATO troops used at least 31,000 depleted uranium bombs, which led to a sharp increase in the incidence of cancer and leukemia in this region and had a long-term disastrous impact on the local and European ecological environment.
▲ On March 24, 2010, in Mitrovica, located in the north of Kosovo, Serb residents held the Serbian flag at a rally to mourn the victims of NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia 11 years ago. (Xinhua News Agency)
【 Consequence 】 In 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared "independence". Serbia has always adhered to its sovereignty over Kosovo. The British "Guardian" published an article on the 10th anniversary of NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, saying that NATO bombing actually escalated the Kosovo crisis into a full-scale humanitarian disaster. German writer Michael Luders once wrote in his book that after the Kosovo War in 1999, NATO went beyond the principle of collective self-defense and launched a military operation against Yugoslavia, which caused civilian casualties in the name of humanitarianism. This shows that in the eyes of the United States and the European Union, human rights are only a secondary concern, especially when human rights standards are only applied to non-allies.
▲ The picture shows the tragic situation of the ambassador’s residence in the courtyard of China’s embassy in Yugoslavia after being destroyed by NATO missiles. (Xinhua News Agency)
Iraq War
[Time] March 20, 2003-December 18, 2011
[Crime] Many countries, such as the United States and Britain, launched a military operation codenamed "Iraq Freedom" on the grounds that Iraq possessed "weapons of mass destruction". A few months after Saddam Hussein’s regime was overthrown, the United Nations indicated that its inspectors had not found any weapons of mass destruction. On December 18, 2011, with the withdrawal of the last batch of American soldiers, the Iraq war officially ended.
According to statistics, this war caused about 200,000 to 250,000 civilian deaths, of which more than 16,000 were directly killed by the US military and more than 1 million were homeless. The British "Guardian" reported that the Coalition forces led by the United States used a large number of depleted uranium bombs and white phosphorus bombs. A report from the Dutch peace organization PAX showed that American warplanes and tanks used nearly 10,000 depleted uranium bombs in the Iraq war in 2003, which led to a sharp increase in the birth defect rate of Iraqi babies after the war.
▲ On March 20, 2003, on the day of the war, a building in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, caught fire after being hit by a US cruise missile. (US Department of Defense website)
【 Consequence 】 After Saddam Hussein was overthrown, the United States dissolved Iraq’s military, security and intelligence infrastructure organizations during Saddam Hussein’s time, creating a huge security vacuum in Iraq and opening the door to armed militia organizations that were not controlled by the state.
According to the website of the Gulf News of the United Arab Emirates, a bloody sectarian civil war broke out in Iraq, which led to the emergence of the "Islamic State" organization. What the United States left in Iraq was an ignominious legacy — — Corruption is rampant, public services are poor, armed militia organizations are everywhere and sectarian differences are deepening.
▲ On April 9, 2003, an American soldier watched the bronze statue of Saddam Hussein fall after being towed by an American armored vehicle in the "Victory Square" in Baghdad, Iraq. (US Department of Defense website)
The war in Afghanistan
[Time] October 7, 2001-August 30, 2021
[Crime] After the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, the United States and its allies launched a military strike against Afghanistan in early October of that year on the grounds that the Taliban in Afghanistan refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, and quickly overthrew the Taliban regime and stationed troops for a long time on the grounds of anti-terrorism. On August 30, 2021, the last US military transport plane took off from Kabul International Airport. This "longest war in American history" ended in the sudden withdrawal of the US military. This war, which lasted for nearly 20 years, caused 47,245 Afghan civilians and 66,000 to 69,000 Afghan soldiers and policemen who had nothing to do with the "September 11" incident to die in the US military operations, and more than 10 million people were displaced.
▲ On December 16, 2003, the US military patrolled Wardak province in central Afghanistan. (Xinhua News Agency)
【 Consequence 】 The war in Afghanistan spanned the term of four American presidents and evolved into the longest war in the United States, so long that it itself became a "hasty stop" in the "9.11" era in the United States. The article in the British weekly New Politician pointed out that the Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan was not only called a solid blow to the dignity and reputation of the United States, but also a public denial of the foreign policy called "liberal intervention".
The United Nations World Food Program warned in 2021 that about 98% of Afghans do not have enough food, and Afghanistan is facing "avalanche hunger and poverty". After the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, it imposed economic sanctions on the Taliban regime and frozen billions of dollars of foreign exchange assets of the Central Bank of Afghanistan in the United States, which led to the collapse of the Afghan economy. The interim government formed by the Taliban needs to deal with the problems of striving for international recognition, restoring economic and social order, and cracking down on the extremist organization "Islamic State". Coupled with frequent natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, Afghanistan still faces a serious economic and humanitarian crisis.
▲ On August 16th, 2021, a large number of people gathered at Kabul Airport in Afghanistan to try to leave Afghanistan. Taliban personnel entered and took control of the capital Kabul on August 15th. (Xinhua News Agency)
:: Air strikes against Libya
[Time] On the evening of March 19th, 2011.
[Crime] A riot broke out in Libya, which quickly developed into a civil war. On the grounds of the human rights crisis, the United States led NATO countries to indiscriminately bomb the Libyan government and military institutions under the banner of protecting citizens in Benghazi. According to the data released by NATO, from the end of March to the beginning of June of that year, NATO has dispatched 10,000 sorties, destroying about 1,800 targets. The air strikes also caused a large number of civilian casualties. According to the website of the Canadian Center for Globalization Studies, NATO fighters deliberately targeted the tents set up in front of Gaddafi’s official residence and brutally slaughtered civilians, but the mainstream media described these civilians as "radicals".
▲ On March 20, 2011, Libyan government vehicles burned and exploded after being attacked by air (Xinhua/Reuters)
【 Consequence 】 Gaddafi was overthrown by the opposition, Libya’s economy quickly regressed, the country was completely divided, and it was caught in a stalemate in which the two regimes confronted each other with international support behind them. In addition, the rampant terrorist organizations have taken root in Libya, and Libya is still mired in war today.
Alan cooper Mann, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin, wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine that when the United States and its allies intervened in Libya in 2011, the civil war in Libya was nearing the end. At that time, about 1,000 people were killed, and at least 10,000 people were killed after western intervention. Since then, Libya has been in turmoil for a long time, with economic collapse, tribal scuffles and extremism. The refugee problem caused by this has finally caused great economic and social pressure on Europe. The United States, as the initiator, stayed out of it. At the same time, in the process of crossing the Mediterranean, refugee ships have caused many humanitarian disasters due to the constant capsizing accidents.
▲ Data Map: Refugee ship rescued in the Mediterranean (Xinhua/Midland)
The United States, Britain and France jointly attacked Syria militarily.
[Time] In the early morning of April 14th, 2018,
[Crime] On April 7, 2018, some anti-government figures in Syria claimed that Syrian government helicopters dropped bombs containing chemical agents on the town of Duma that day. The United States identified the Syrian government as launching a chemical attack on the Duma as an excuse to use force against Syria. The Syrian government said that the so-called chemical attack in Duma was fabricated. In the early morning of April 14, 2018, the United States, Britain and France carried out a "precision strike" against Syria without the authorization of the United Nations, and fired more than 110 cruise missiles and air-to-surface missiles at Syrian military and civilian facilities from the air and sea, causing at least six Syrian civilians to be injured. In order to "prove innocence", the United States has continuously released videos on the Internet about the Syrian people being attacked by chemical weapons. However, more and more evidence shows that the videos published by western media are suspected of fraud.
After the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, the United States and its western allies strongly supported the Syrian opposition armed forces, which led to the local war and conflict continuing to this day. Since 2017, the United States has launched an air strike against Syria on the grounds of "preventing the Syrian government from using chemical weapons." From 2016 to 2019, Syria recorded 33,584 civilians who died in the war. Among them, 3833 people were directly killed by the bombing of the United States-led Coalition forces, half of whom were women and children. On November 9, 2018, the American public television network reported that only the so-called "most accurate air strike in history" launched by the US military on the city of Raqqa killed 1,600 civilians.
▲ On April 16, 2018, in the town of Duma, the eastern suburb of Damascus, Syria, a child received food on the street. (Xinhua News Agency)
【 Consequence 】 The US-led military strike has further complicated the situation in Syria. According to a survey conducted by the World Food Program in April 2020, about one third of Syrians do not have enough food, and 87% of them have no savings. According to the estimation of Doctors of the World, since the beginning of the war in Syria, about 15,000 doctors (about half of the total number of doctors in the country) have fled the country, 6.5 million people have been internally displaced and 5 million people have fled as refugees.
The United States and its western allies strongly supported the Syrian opposition armed forces and tried to overthrow the Syrian government by supporting agents, which led to local wars and conflicts that have continued to this day. The civil war has made Syria the bloodiest battlefield in the Middle East, expanded the ethnic and sectarian rift in Syria, led to the expansion of extremist forces, the spillover of the refugee crisis, and the constant violent conflicts, making the situation in the Middle East more turbulent.
▲ On April 14, 2018, on the north side of the White House in Washington, USA, people held slogans to protest against military strikes against Syria. (Xinhua News Agency)
In addition to the above-mentioned head-on conflicts, the United States has also adopted such "unconventional" wars as "shadow war" (assassination by using remote-controlled drones and "targeted killing" by dispatching small-scale special forces in the Middle East, Africa and Asia) and "proxy war" (supporting the Mujahideen guerrillas during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine).
According to a report on February 28th, 2023 on the website of the US Capitol Hill Daily, "From January 2022 to January 2023, the amount of US military assistance to Ukraine has reached $77.5 billion".
Christopher Kelly and Stuart Laycock, American historians, pointed out in their book "American Aggression: How We Invaded or Intervened in Almost Every Country on the Earth" that among the more than 190 countries recognized by the United Nations, only three countries have not fought with the United States or been subjected to its military intervention. These three countries were able to "survive" because "the United States did not find them on the map."
Tufts University’s research report "Military Intervention Project: A New Data Set of American Military Intervention from 1776 to 2019" shows that from 1776 to 2019, the United States conducted nearly 400 military interventions around the world, 34% targeted Latin America and the Caribbean, 23% targeted East Asia and the Pacific, 14% targeted the Middle East and North Africa, and 13% targeted Europe. At present, US military intervention in the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa is on the rise.
▲ US military MQ-9 "Death" drone cruising data map over Afghanistan. (US Department of Defense website)
