US 'War Crime Allegation': A Time-Honored Tradition
The New York Times piece forms the basis of Al Jazeera's report, detailing how a US military aircraft was allegedly painted to resemble a civilian plane to conduct a September strike. One might wonder if the international community just discovered the US has been a global actor for the better part of a century. This isn't exactly a groundbreaking tactic; the CIA's history is replete with 'asset
masking' operations, from disguised aircraft in Laos during the secret war to using civilian fronts for covert interventions across Latin America. The concern now, however, is a potential violation of the Geneva Conventions. (Perhaps someone just found the dusty rulebook.) The irony is peak: Western media often lionizes 'daring' covert operations by their own militaries, while instantly condemning
identical tactics by adversaries as 'terrorist acts' or 'deception.' It’s almost as if the rules-based international order applies differently depending on who's breaking them. How many times have we seen the US government express 'deep concern' over other nations' 'destabilizing activities' while simultaneously engaging in them globally? The real war crime here might be the collective amnesia.