Historian of US foreign policy here. One of the core functions of US diplomacy towards client states engaging in mass murder is denial of death tolls. I cannot think of a single example of simple acknowledgment of client state atrocities since 1945. A few examples:
When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, with US military and diplomatic backing, its armed forces killed 50-100k civilians in the first 12 months (roughly 15% of the population). US officials flatly denied the scope and scale of killing:() jstor.org/stable/40647042
In Dec. 1981 a US backed El Salvadoran special forces unit massacred more than 800 civilians amidst the Salvadoran civil war. The Reagan Administration, led by Elliot Abrams, initially just denied the massacre or blamed FMLN guerrillas. thenation.com/article/archiv…
We can find dozens of similar examples over the last 40 years. More recently the Trump (and now Biden Admin) denied the scope and scale of US backed Saudi atrocities and killings in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has killed more than 100,000 civilians: hrw.org/news/2020/09/2…
The point here is simple. The US government, under Democratic and Republican Administrations, *will always deny atrocities* carried out by client states and allies and use its diplomatic and media influence to this end. We should expect the Biden Admin to lie in this way.
It’s worth noting that no US government since has initially acknowledged an Israeli massacre or atrocity. Its reflexive response is to back Israeli denials. If anyone can think of one, please post. I cannot think of a single one since the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
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