US state-funded Voice of America published a hit piece accusing African Stream of spreading misinformation about AFRICOM’s activities in Somalia. We sat down to break down what was a shoddily executed propaganda piece.
From trying to smear African Stream, to asserting the US does not kill civilians (despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary), the VOA piece seemed designed to whitewash the crimes the US military has committed on the continent.
Have a watch and please let us know what you make of it.
Sources:
US created al-Shabaab
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/08/13/in-somalia-the-us-is-bombing-the-very-terrorists-it-created/
VOA is Voice of Washington
https://www.foxnews.com/media/white-house-voice-of-america-chinese-propaganda
VOA banned from US broadcast
https://www.theverge.com/2013/7/16/4529184/us-ends-smith-mundt-propaganda-ban-bbg
VOA is federally funded
https://www.foxnews.com/media/white-house-voice-of-america-chinese-propaganda
VOA’s parent company is US Agency for Global Media
https://www.insidevoa.com/p/5621.html
VOA role in furthering US interests
https://www.usagm.gov/who-we-are/
West Africa now epicentre for terrorism
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1145852
https://www.africa.com/west-africa-emerges-as-a-hotbed-for-global-terrorism/
Terrorism was much less of a threat before Western military presence
https://theintercept.com/2023/07/26/niger-coup-us-military/
How Gaddafi coup led to terrorism in Sahel
https://www.marxist.com/the-coup-in-mali-and-how-nato-destabilised-the-sahel.htm
US-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia had devastating effects
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17531050701452382
Iran condemns al Shabaab attack
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17531050701452382
VICE: US strikes killing Somali civilians
https://video.vice.com/en/video/us-airstrikes-are-killing-civilians-in-somalia/
No accountability for civilian deaths
https://theintercept.com/2024/07/25/somalia-airstrike-civilian-deaths-accountability/
Civilian with child struck with second missile after surviving first
https://theintercept.com/2024/07/25/somalia-airstrike-civilian-deaths-accountability/
US kicked out of Sahel
https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/04/26/niger-military-withdrawal-us-counterterrorism-russia/
Size and finances of al-Shabaab
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49908716
Al-Shabaab controls over 60% of Mandera county
https://citizen.digital/news/60-of-mandera-county-controlled-by-al-shabaab-laments-governor-mohamed-khalif-n323961
Al-Shabaab attacks in Lamu
https://nation.africa/kenya/news/15-terrorist-attacks-37-dead-lamu-s-deadliest-year–4472702
Military-industrial complex is a racket
https://newrepublic.com/article/163323/afghanistan-war-military-industrial-complex-scam
Real reason West wanted Gaddafi gone
https://www.counterpunch.org/2011/09/16/the-real-reason-the-us-wanted-gaddafi-gone/
Somalia was worse with the defeat of the ICU
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17531050701452382
US threatens sanctions when told to leave Iraq
https://www.npr.org/2020/01/06/793895401/iraqi-parliament-votes-to-expel-u-s-troops-trump-threatens-sanctions
US occupies one-third of Syria
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-us-military-proud-owners-one-third-syria-25306
How the US creates the groups it fights
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/08/24/propaganda-today-ben-norton-afghanistan-war/
Mohammed Ousman, AFRICOM’s victim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU95BOZyjy0&t=48s
Airways reveals the scale of civilian deaths is higher than reported
https://airwars.org/conflict/us-forces-in-somalia/
A ‘reporting error’ hid evidence of civilian casualties from Congress
https://sahanjournal.com/news/somalia-2018-us-drone-attack-pentagon-investigation-luul-dahir-mohamed/
Real number of killed 3,000% higher
https://sahanjournal.com/news-partners/pentagon-civilian-deaths-mom-child-killed-somalia/
Limitations of AFRICOM mechanism for reporting civilian deaths
https://www.justsecurity.org/71854/africoms-improved-civilian-casualty-reporting-system-still-leaves-gaps-for-somalia/
More evidence of a lack of accountability
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/04/somalia-zero-accountability-as-civilian-deaths-mount-from-us-air-strikes/
AFRICOM is in more than 25 countries
https://theintercept.com/2020/02/27/africa-us-military-bases-africom/
Kenya getting cozy with US in military cooperation
https://www.state.gov/joint-statement-on-the-third-u-s-kenya-bilateral-strategic-dialogue/
The Haditha massacre
https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/in-the-dark/the-haditha-massacre-photos-that-the-military-didnt-want-the-world-to-see
1 Comment
No surprises here. The U.S. propaganda machine counts on low reading comprehension and low listening comprehension. They also count on their listeners having been thoroughly brainwashed by legacy media. This is why they consistently use words like, “Iran, China , Russia,” for example., in a tangential fashion . These words cause a knee jerk reaction, Pavlovian, conditioned response.
If they thought for one moment, that their listeners were more astute, they would never broadcast such garbage.