The
Barrel Bomb Conundrum
By
Craig Murray
April
30, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- Virtually every mainstream media article or
broadcast on the United States aerial massacre
of Syrian government troops, manages to work in
a reference to barrel bombs as though this in
some way justifies or mitigates the US action.
It is a
fascinating example of a propaganda meme. Barrel
bombs are being used by Syrian government
forces, though on a pretty small scale. They are
an improvised weapon made by packing
conventional explosive into a beer barrel. They
are simply an amateur version of a conventional
weapon, and they are far less “effective” –
meaning devastating – than the professionally
made munitions the UK and US are dropping on
Syria, or supplying to the Saudis to kill tens
of thousands of civilians in Yemen, or to Israel
to drop on children in Gaza.
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If a
bomb were to drop near me, I would much prefer
it to be a barrel bomb as it would be less
likely to kill me than the UK and US
manufactured professional variety. If however my
guts were to be eviscerated by flying hunks of
white hot metal, I would not particularly care
what kind of bomb it was. The blanket media use
of “barrel bomb” as though it represents
something uniquely inhumane is a fascinating
example of propaganda, especially set beside the
repeated ludicrous claims that British bombs do
not kill civilians.
It is
of course only part of the media distortion
around the Syria debacle. Western intervention
is aimed at supporting various Saudi backed
jihadist militias to take over the country,
irrespective of the fact that they commit
appalling atrocities. These the media label
“democratic forces”. At the same time, we are
attacking other Saudi controlled jihadists on
the grounds that they are controlled by the
wrong kind of Saudi. You see, chopping off the
heads of dissidents and gays is OK if you are
one of the Saudis who directly controls the
Saudi oil resources. It is not OK if you do it
freelance and are one of the Saudis who is
merely acting at the covert behest of the other
Saudis who control the Saudi oil resources.
I do
hope that is clear.
Craig Murray is an author, broadcaster and human
rights activist. He was British Ambassador to
Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004 and
Rector of the University of Dundee from 2007 to
2010.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk
The
views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.
