Gareth Porter

Airstrikes by the United States and its allies against two Syrian army positions Sept. 17 killed at least 62 Syrian troops and wounded dozens more. The attack was quickly treated as a non-story by the U.S. news media; US Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed the strikes were carried out in the mistaken belief that Islamic State … Continue reading “Inquiry Points Toward a Pentagon Plot to Subvert Obama’s Syria Policy”

President Barack Obama has long been under fire from the US national security elite and the media for failing to intervene aggressively against the Assad regime.  But the real strategic blunder was not that Barack Obama didn’t launch yet another war in Syria, but that he decided to go along with the ambitions of America’s … Continue reading “Behind the Real US Strategic Blunder in Syria”

The summary report on an investigation into US and allied air strikes on Syrian government troops has revealed irregularities in decision-making consistent with a deliberate targeting of Syrian forces. The report, released by US Central Command on 29 November, shows that senior US Air Force officers at the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at al-Udeid … Continue reading “US Strikes on Syrian Troops: Report Data Contradicts ‘Mistake’ Claims”

The White Helmets, founded to rescue victims trapped under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Syrian and Russian bombing, have become a favorite source for Western news media covering a story on Russian-Syrian bombing. Portrayed as humanitarian heroes for over the past year and even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize last summer, the White … Continue reading “How a Syrian White Helmets Leader Played Western Media”

After retired Lt. Gen. Michael J. Flynn spoke at the Republican National Convention, The Washington Post captured the prevailing media view of Flynn in the headline: “He was one of the most respected intel officers of his generation. Now he’s leading ‘Lock her up’ chants.” Now that President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Flynn as his … Continue reading “Trump’s National Security Adviser Facilitated the Murder of Civilians in Afghanistan”

Post-election comments on Middle East policy last week by President-elect Donald Trump and one his campaign advisers have provoked speculation about whether Trump will upend two main foreign policy lines of the Obama administration in the Middle East. But the more decisive question about the future of US policy toward the region is whom Trump … Continue reading “The Bolton Threat to Trump’s Middle East Policy”

The Russian-Syrian bombing campaign in eastern Aleppo, which has ended at least for the time being, has been described in press reports and op-eds as though it were unique in modern military history in its indiscriminateness. In an usual move for a senior US official, Secretary of State John Kerry called for an investigation of … Continue reading “US Hypocrisy: Bombing of Aleppo Is No Worse Than What Happened in Gaza and Iraq”

The Obama administration has carried out a deliberately deceptive campaign accusing Iran of covertly sending arms to the Houthis by sea, a claim that Washington cites to help justify the Saudi massive air attack against the Houthis that began last year. By repeating the accusation over and over, the administration has been largely successful in … Continue reading “Justifying the Saudi Slaughter in Yemen”

With the collapse of the US-Russian ceasefire agreement and the resumption and escalation of the massive Russian bombing campaign in Aleppo, the frustration of hawks in Washington over the failure of the Obama administration to use American military power in Syria has risen to new heights.  But the administration’s inability to do anything about Russian … Continue reading “Obama’s Syria Policy and the Illusion of US Power in the Middle East”

Another US-Russian Syria ceasefire deal has been blown up. Whether it could have survived even with a US-Russian accord is open to doubt, given the incentives for al-Qaeda and its allies to destroy it. But the politics of the US-Russian relationship played a central role in the denouement of the second ceasefire agreement. The final … Continue reading “How the Pentagon Sank the US-Russia Deal in Syria – and the Ceasefire”