Op-Ed Russia Today: The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

The hypocrisy of the American-led ‘international order’ has been laid bare again after a report into a US drone strike that caused the deaths of Afghan civilians essentially found no one was to blame – and no one will be punished.

In the midst of the chaos in Afghanistan as the United States withdrew, failed intelligence on the ISIS-K group led to an American drone strike which killed a number of innocent people in Kabul.

eOp-ed

Killing civilians? Fine, if you’re the US    

Tom Fowdy is a British writer and analyst of politics and international relations with a primary focus on East Asia.

5 Nov, 2021 09:40 / Updated 4 hours ago

Several months on, an ‘independent Pentagon review’ into the incident found that there was no misconduct or negligence behind the attack, and recommended no disciplinary action for those responsible, who simply had reached “the wrong conclusion” in selecting their target.

The review will come as no surprise to those not blinded by the uncritical mainstream media cheerleading of US foreign policy. America has unapologetically, and without consequences, slain civilians again. It’s a recurring theme across many countries, especially those it has attacked or invaded, from Afghanistan, to Iraq, to Syria.

If, on the other hand, such an attack was committed by China, Russia, Iran or any other US opponent, it would have been condemned loudly by the mainstream media and political elite, who would have branded it an act of brutality and a war crime. The US has slapped sanctions on other countries for far, far less in the name of protecting people or ‘human rights.’

[. . .] If you believe the mainstream media wholeheartedly, you might be forgiven for truly thinking that popular opposition to the US in the world does not exist and is merely a fabrication, because everyone is presumed to automatically align with its values.

Hence the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was not depicted as what it really was, the US plundering of a strategic oil-rich nation, but the liberation of the country from a tyranny that was supposedly a threat to the world. All the Iraqi civilians who died in the invasion and in the subsequent insurgency? The US saved them, apparently.

This is why the situation in Afghanistan is an important rendition of the truth which is hidden. As we have seen, the US has the power and capabilities to willingly commit atrocities against people in impoverished countries who have no voice, yet brush them under the carpet as if they never happened, affirming the same old exceptionalism it has always professed to. . ."

READ MORE ...In the midst of this callous drone strike, which the US deems itself unaccountable for, it’s understandable why the mood in Afghanistan may have been one of good riddance. Yet the lie of US exceptionalism lives on, as it flounders from one target to the next.