Brett Wilkins

Former Blackwater USA guard Nicholas Slatten was found guilty of first-degree murder by a federal jury in Washington, DC on Wednesday, more than 11 years after he and other men employed by the private military contractor killed 17 innocent Iraqi civilians in a crowded square in central Baghdad, Iraq. The Associated Press reports prosecutors had … Continue reading “Former Blackwater Guard Found Guilty of Murder for Role in Nisour Square Massacre”

Officials in Afghanistan’s Helmand province and international media are reporting at least 30 civilians, including 16 children, were killed in the latest US air strike targeting Taliban militants. Reuters reports the latest US mass casualty bombing in Afghanistan came amid a surge in aerial operations aimed at forcing the Taliban to the negotiating table after … Continue reading “Afghan Officials: US Air Strike Kills at Least 30 Civilians, Including 16 Children”

The US-led coalition against Islamic State has carried out more than 100 new air strikes targeting the militant group’s remaining strongholds in Syria’s Deir Ezzor province, killing at least 80 civilians – including dozens of women and children – in recent weeks. US-led bombing resumed on October 24 following a particularly deadly period in which … Continue reading “Latest US-Led Air Strikes Kill At Least 80 Syrian Civilians”

US-led air strikes targeting one of the last Islamic State strongholds in Syria have killed more than 60 civilians, local and international media and monitors report. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) initially reported that 41 civilians, including 10 children, were killed in strikes on a mosque and houses in al-Sousa village in … Continue reading “Monitor: Death Toll Rises to 63 in US-Led Strike on Syria Mosque, Homes”

On February 12, 2010, US Army Rangers conducted a nighttime raid on a home in the village of Khataba, outside Gardez, Afghanistan. Dozens of men, women and children, including the district prosecutor and local police chief, had gathered at the house to celebrate the naming of a newborn baby just before the raid occurred. The … Continue reading “Why John Bolton Really Hates the International Criminal Court”

US-led coalition air strikes targeting Islamic State militants have killed at least 73 Syrian civilians during the month of July, with most of these deaths occurring in two strikes in Deir Ezzor province, according to monitor and media organizations. The UK-based journalistic monitor group Airwars reports the deadliest of the recent US bombings blasted an … Continue reading “Monitor: Recent US-Led Airstrikes Kill at Least 73 Syrian Civilians”

US and coalition warplanes over the past several weeks have been pounding areas of Syria’s Deir Ezzor and al-Hasaka provinces still controlled by Islamic State militants, reportedly killing around 100 civilians, including more than 30 children, in the process. This, as the human rights group Amnesty International released a scathing report on Tuesday accusing the … Continue reading “US-Led Strikes Kill 100 Syrian Civilians”

The United States has been quietly funding and equipping elite paramilitary police units in El Salvador accused of extrajudicially murdering suspected gang members, according to a forthcoming United Nations report reviewed in advance by CNN. Beginning with George W. Bush in 2003, successive US administrations have provided tens of millions of dollars in aid for … Continue reading “The Salvador Option: The US Is Once Again Supporting Death Squads in Central America”

On May 14, 1948, Israel declared its independence. Each May 15, Palestinians solemnly commemorate Nakba Day. Nakba means catastrophe, and that’s precisely what Israel’s independence has been for the more than 700,000 Arabs and their five million refugee descendants forced from their homes and into exile, often by horrific violence, to make way for the … Continue reading “The Dark Side of Israeli Independence”

Most Americans trace the origins of the US-Iran conflict back to the 1979 seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran by Islamist revolutionaries overthrowing an erstwhile valuable regional ally. What most people in the United States don’t know is that the actions of those young Iranians nearly 40 years ago were in fact an explosive … Continue reading “To Understand Iran, Try History, Not Hysteria”