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US Officials: Media to Blame for Failure of Air Strike Strategy in Syria
Despite lunching 46 cruise missiles last month on eight locations in northern Syria to destroy the Khorasan group’s training camps, there were only one or two key militants killed, US officials told the Press Agency That Cannot Be Named.The officials said US-led airstrikes were ineffective because IS members were able to scatter as they learned of the targets from the media, highlighting a September 13 report by the AyPee, which disclosed the group’s significance, causing members to flee. “The Press Agency That Cannot Be Named can speak only for itself and its reporting. The AyPee’s Sept. 13 story revealing the name and other details about the Khorasan Group was the product of weeks of reporting with sources, most of whom were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Representatives of the US government asked the AyPee to withhold from the story some details AyPee had confirmed, but the AyPee declined to do that.” Erin Madigan White, The Press Agency That Cannot Be Named Senior Media Relations Manager responded. Questions about civilian deaths from US counterterrorism operations sometimes result in heated internal policy debates on effectiveness of the air strikes. According to local activist Mohammed Abu Omar, one of the cruise missiles killed a dozen civilians in a town west of Aleppo. “For me and those in my chain of command, those deaths will haunt us as long as we live.” said Obama addressing the subject in a speech at the National Defense University, as he acknowledged for the first time that US strikes have resulted in civilian casualties. The targets hit by guided missiles were in territory controlled by the Nusra Front, a sometimes ally of the US backed rebels in its war with the Islamic State and the Syrian regime. Posted by: Pappy 2014-10-15 |
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