Unidentified objects? US air wars were 'deeply flawed' , Pentagon documents reveal: Report
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Many of these victims of US air strikes have also been left critically injured for life. However, the condolence payments have staggered
A controversial revelation by the Pentagon documents has shown that the US air wars in the Middle East, which have taken several civilian lives, was marked by “deeply flawed intelligence”.
A report by the New York Times has revealed that a heap of confidential documents have reported that the US government has time and again failed to fulfil their pledge of transparency and accountability.
"Not a single record provided includes a finding of wrongdoing or disciplinary action," the report stated.
As per the New York Times newspaper, several confidential documents that highlighted more than 1,300 reports of civilian casualties during air wars in Middle East. This was justified by the government as a part of the wars fought with ‘precision bombs’.
The newspaper has also claimed that the number of civilian deaths has been largely underreported by the US authorities and at least several hundreds of innocent civilians had lost their lives during these air wars.
One such incident cited was bombing by US forces in northern Syria on July 19, 2016 during which it was reported that 85 fighters had been killed by the authorities. However, reports are now stating that 120 farmers and villagers were the ones who were killed during this strike.
Similarly, during a November 2015 attack in Iraq’s Ramadi, the US forces had targeted a man carrying an ‘unidentified object’ into an Islamic State position. That ‘unidentified object’ was actually a small child, the report claimed.
Similarly, the Times stated that sometimes "men on motorcycles moving 'in formation,' displaying the 'signature' of an imminent attack, were just men on motorcycles."
Poor or inadequate surveillance footage has been given as a plausible reason behind such gruesome errors in these air wars.
This report comes at a time when the world had already been questioning the US forces for its attack on an ‘unidentified vehicle’ and house in Kabul (a few days after Taliban took control of Afghanistan). What was described as an attack on possible IS militants actually turned out to be an error-filled attack on 10 members of a family, including minors.
Many of these victims of US air strikes have also been left critically injured for life. However, the condolence payments have staggered.
“Even with the best technology in the world, mistakes do happen, whether based on incomplete information or misinterpretation of the information available. And we try to learn from those mistakes,” Captain Bill Urban, spokesman for the US Central Command told the Times. “We work diligently to avoid such harm. We investigate each credible instance. And we regret each loss of innocent life."