The first casualty of war is the truth. This truism is proving itself once again.
With all evidence pointing to U.S. responsibility for the February 28 bombing of Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Iran, President Trump claimed the attack “was done by Iran.” In spreading this blatant lie, Trump was continuing a White House tradition.
A Long History of Falsehoods
In 1945, announcing the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, President Harry Truman falsely called the city “an important Japanese Army base.” In reality, most killed were civilians — including nearly 6,000 schoolchildren. In Nagasaki, more than 1,400 students and teachers died at Shiroyama Elementary School. Yet generations of U.S. students were taught that the bombs saved lives.
Long before George W. Bush’s WMD claims, dubious pretexts launched major wars: the USS Maine explosion sparked the Spanish-American War in 1898; LBJ cited a “phantom battle” to push the Tonkin Gulf Resolution for Vietnam.
Trump stands out mostly because he made little effort to sell lies before going to war. In his April 1 address, he retroactively claimed without evidence that Obama’s nuclear deal made Iran a greater threat and that Iran was on the cusp of targeting “the American homeland.”
The Erasure of War Crimes
Calling truth a casualty of war may imply it survives between wars. But militarism is sustained by lies stretching decades. The most common lie is omission — erasing U.S. war crimes from records, textbooks, and public memory.
Racism enables this erasure. As General William Westmoreland said during Vietnam: “The Oriental doesn’t put the same high price on life as does a Westerner.”
In 1906, U.S. troops in the Philippines killed 1,000 Moro people — including women, children, and surrendering men — at what was recorded as the “Battle of Bud Dajo,” a great victory.
Robert McNamara admitted: “In that single night, we burned to death 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo.” He later oversaw the Vietnam War, which killed over 3 million. The My Lai massacre — wanton slaughter and sexual assault — was initially recorded as a successful enemy defeat. Most Americans treated it as a horrific exception, not a pattern.
But My Lai echoed the Korean War’s No Gun Ri massacre, where U.S. soldiers killed hundreds of defenseless civilians. The truth only emerged through a Pulitzer-winning AP investigation nearly 50 years later.
Continuing the Pattern
On February 13, 1991, over 400 Iraqi civilians in a shelter were killed by two U.S. “smart bombs” — dismissed as “collateral damage.” In Afghanistan, Amnesty International documented 10 incidents killing at least 140 civilians, including 50 children. Retired Lieutenant General Douglas Lute admitted: “We virtually never held anyone accountable for civilian casualties.”
Impunity and Its Consequences
The U.S. ensured its own conduct was barred from review at the Tokyo Trials. Since 2002, it has failed to endorse the International Criminal Court. The Trump administration has gone further, sanctioning ICC judges while waging war alongside Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the ICC for war crimes in Gaza.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s “Secretary of War,” declared “We negotiate with bombs” and dismantled Pentagon programs meant to reduce civilian harm.
What Can Be Done?
Trump’s threat to obliterate Iran’s civilian infrastructure should be opposed — as a war crime against innocents and because it could trigger global economic meltdown.
Holding leaders accountable at the ballot box and under international law is a first step. But change cannot wait for those at the top. From Vietnam-era activists to today’s humanitarian flotillas challenging the blockades of Gaza and Cuba, people-to-people solidarity offers a way to break the chain of lies.
Reckoning with empire requires awareness best achieved through solidarity from below.
Source: Truthout
