A former CIA officer says that US officials are trying to distort Russia's image in order to save face. On top of concerns over Russia's air strikes in Syria, new figures suggest that around 81 have already been killed in Moscow's recent attack on an Al-Qaeda run prison.

Former CIA officer Philip Giraldi said that several US officials and experts are constantly projecting Russia in a hostile image in order to secure their jobs. Giraldi now works as an executive director of the Council for the National Interest.

His piece on the opinion journal American Conservative narrated his accounts with Russians in Moscow including those asking him why Washington is against Russia so much. Ordinary Russians were concerned on why the West media often paint Russia in a bad light. Giradli admitted that pinpointing the problem was hard,sc but he tried relating the matter to political conditions. Nonetheless, he did say that there is the traditional notion of Russia being the enemy.

"As for the negativity regarding Russia, to be sure there are many older Americans entrenched in the media and government as well as in the plentitude of think tanks who will always regard Russia as the enemy," wrote Giraldi.

"And then there are the more cunning types who always need the threat of an enemy to keep their well-paid jobs in the government itself and also within the punditry, both of which rely on the health and well-being of the military-industrial-congressional complex. And there will always be reflexive jingoists like Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham."

Stephen Lendman also seemingly shared the same view on the US-Russia situation. He said in his piece via Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG): "Thousands of Russian sorties and strikes hit ISIS and other terrorist groups with pin-point accuracy, causing major disruptions in their operations, permitting Syrian military advances."

"Claiming otherwise distorts reality on the ground, ignoring Russia’s real war on terrorism, polar opposite to Washington’s phony one, supporting the scourge it claims to oppose."

Nonetheless, this does not affect the fact that many organizations have linked Russia's air strikes to counts of civilian casualties. According to a new report, around 81 people have been killed already during Moscow's campaign on an Al-Qaeda managed prison in Syria. Around 23 Al-Qaeda fighters were killed along with 52 civilians. Russia has come under fire for the recent attacks with the US saying that Moscow is not hitting the right targets and adding to the refugee crisis.

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