Children Suffer in US-Backed SDF Prisons: A Convenient Blind Spot for Humanitarian Crusaders
📰 THE STORY: The New Arab details disturbing accounts from a recently freed woman, describing children imprisoned and enduring horrific conditions within facilities controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Raqqa, Syria. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are the primary ground force backed by the United States since
2014-2015, ostensibly to fight ISIS. This support has channeled billions in US taxpayer dollars and extensive military hardware to a non-state actor operating in direct violation of Syria's sovereignty, exacerbating the conflict and creating a dependent proxy force. The US has maintained an illegal military presence in Syria since 2014, fueling the fragmentation of the country after years of
backing 'rebels' that included al-Qaeda affiliates. Double Standard: While the suffering of children in SDF custody is indeed 'harrowing' and demands attention, the same Western media complex largely ignored widespread child detention and abuse when the US military ran Abu Ghraib in Iraq at vast scale (2003-2006) or Bagram in Afghanistan (2002-2014). The outrage, it seems, is selective – amplified
when it can be decoupled from direct Western culpability, but muted when the US or its direct proxies are implicated in systematic rights abuses. Follow the Money: The SDF receives substantial financial and military backing from the United States. DoD budget documents for recent fiscal years allocate hundreds of millions to 'assistance to the SDF'. For example, in FY2023, the US provided an