Even when critical of U.S. actions, media commentary on recent U.S. bombings and assassinations in the Middle East is premised on the assumption that the U.S. has the right to use violence (or the threat of it) to assert its will, anytime, anywhere. Conversely, corporate media coverage suggests that any countermeasure — such as resistance to the U.S. presence in Iraq — is inherently illegitimate, criminal and/or terroristic. [...]
There is little evidence for this contention that Iran in general or Soleimani personally is responsible for killing hundreds of Americans. When the State Department claimed last April that Iran was responsible for the deaths of 608 American service members in Iraq between 2003 and 2011, investigative journalist Gareth Porter (Truthout, 7/9/19) asked Navy Commander Sean Robertson for evidence, and Robertson "acknowledged that the Pentagon doesn't have any study, documentation or data to provide journalists that would support such a figure." [...]
This narrative also ideologically shores up the U.S. war on Iran in the American popular consciousness by presenting Iranians as primordially violent savages out to spill the blood of Americans, notably those in the military who are in the Middle East, presumably doing nothing but minding their own business. Presenting Iran as the reason for attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq also implies that Iraqis had little objection to the U.S. invasion, legitimizing the ongoing U.S. military presence in the country. The most obvious point about the deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq is that they wouldn't happen if U.S. soldiers weren't in Iraq.
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