The War Over Syria’s War Dead
Assad is routinely accused of murdering 250,000 of his own people. The only problem is that there’s no proof he did.
BY JANUARY 13, 2016
Assad is routinely accused of murdering 250,000 of his own people. The only problem is that there’s no proof he did.
BY JANUARY 13, 2016
On Dec. 19, in the heat of a presidential debate, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton blamed the Syrian government for killing 250,000 of its own people. Over the last few months, Republican Sens.Lindsey Graham and John McCain have made similar claims. Yet there is no evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is responsible for killing a quarter-million people — even if governments involved in the nearly five-year civil war continue to exploit the death toll for political aim.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also has estimated Syria’s war dead at 250,000 — but has stopped far short of blaming Assad’s government for all of them.
