Distorted picture of journalists’ reporting from Syria is what is ‘shameful’

From the safety of Brown University, Stephen Kinzer effectively cheers Russia’s war of extermination in Syria and implies that reports of regime and Russian atrocities originate from the Pentagon and think tanks in Washington (“Getting it wrong in Syria,” Ideas, Feb. 21). Kinzer presents a distorted picture of a brave generation of journalists who produce work that is exceptional, not “shameful,” as he purports. If we who cover Syria are “astonishingly brave,” as Kinzer claims, perhaps he should listen to what we have to say.

Information on Russian and regime atrocities comes from humanitarian groups such as Human Rights Watch, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Rescue Committee, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. These organizations have reported on Russia’s use of illegal cluster munitions against civilian targets. Kinzer suggests that the encirclement and carpet bombing of Aleppo offers a “glimmer of hope” to its residents. This is appalling given how the regime-imposed starvation sieges in Madaya and Yarmouk have turned out.

I have been to Syria many times. Kinzer will not fool me into believing that regime atrocities are an illusion concocted as part of “Washington’s narrative.” Information on Russia’s deliberate bombing of hospitals comes from Medecins Sans Frontieres, not the Pentagon, as Kinzer would claim. In fact, MSF has condemned the US military for targeting its facility in Afghanistan.

Kinzer presents an inaccurate picture of the work that so many journalists and aid workers have literally died for. Witnessing the scale of the mass murder in Syria and subsequently thanking the perpetrators is beneath the otherwise excellent standards of The Boston Globe. I will publicly debate Kinzer any time he sees fit.

Patrick Hilsman

New York

The writer reported from Syria between 2012 and 2015 as a freelance journalist, and is currently associate editor of theinfluence.org.