Documents Reveal Flaws in Pentagon Dismissals of Civilian Casualty Claims in Iraq and Syria

The study that came to the attraction of the United States subject successful April 2017 relayed devastating quality from Iraq: More than 30 people, among them women and children, had been killed erstwhile craft from the American-led conjugation warring the Islamic State successful Mosul struck a vicinity known arsenic Siha.

A civilian casualty compartment of the U.S. military, which was charged with assessing reports of civilians killed oregon wounded successful conjugation operations, learned of the assertion successful a Facebook post published connected April 11 by the quality outlet, the Iraqi Spring Media Center.

The Pentagon began an inquiry, but lone a week aboriginal its appraisal officers couldn’t corroborate whether conjugation craft had targeted that location, and they dismissed the claim, saying Siha was not among “known districts of West Mosul.” There would beryllium nary further review.

Reporters from The New York Times were capable to find the westbound Mosul vicinity using conscionable Google Maps. The sanction appeared somewhat different, arsenic “Sihah” alternatively of “Siha,” a spelling saltation that is communal erstwhile Arabic words are written successful English.

Additionally, a simple Google search revealed respective quality reports published earlier April 2017, verifying the beingness of Siha and its approximate location.

An investigation of confidential Pentagon documents by The Times’s Visual Investigations unit recovered that a fig of allegations of civilian casualties had been dismissed arsenic “noncredible” based connected flawed reviews of grounds — oversights that Times reporters were capable to observe utilizing resources wide disposable to the public. That included websites similar Google Maps and Wikimapia, a crowdsourced mapping platform. Typically, U.S. subject assessors person entree to acold much robust resources, specified arsenic onslaught logs and video feeds of airstrikes.

“I’ll archer you what it is: That’s negligence,” said Marc Garlasco, a erstwhile Pentagon elder quality analyst. “That is plain and simple. It is the astir basal level of probe that they should beryllium doing, and not to bash it is wholly negligent.”

The Times obtained much than 1,300 confidential Pentagon assessments of allegations of civilian casualties successful the American-led aerial warfare successful the Middle East, betwixt September 2014 and January 2018, during the tallness of the warfare against the Islamic State. Based connected those documents, The Times precocious reported patterns of failed intelligence, decision-making and execution down deadly airstrikes.

These documents item the criteria and rationales for however the Pentagon chose to classify civilian casualty allegations arsenic either credible oregon noncredible.

A immense bulk of assessments — much than 1,100 — were deemed noncredible. In immoderate cases, determination was not capable accusation for reviewers to hunt for airstrikes that mightiness coincide with allegations oregon to reason that civilian casualties occurred arsenic a effect of a conjugation strike. However, The Times had recovered that galore allegations of civilian casualties were erroneously dismissed for reasons ranging from insufficient prime and quantity of video to the inability to find which of galore strikes successful an country was the taxable of a claim.

This probe focuses connected reviewers’ inability to found details astir the locations of strikes. In reviewing 80 assessments, including those with precocious numbers of reported civilian casualties, The Times repeatedly recovered what appeared to beryllium elemental mistakes. In a twelve instances, Pentagon assessors said that a determination could not beryllium identified, adjacent though it was easy recovered connected the internet, oregon they seemed to person conscionable looked successful the incorrect place.

Following recent revelations successful The Times astir botched strikes by U.S. forces, the Pentagon has said that it is committed to investigating its mistakes. But this introspection raises further questions astir the capability, oregon willingness, of the U.S. subject to accurately number civilian casualties from its aerial war.

“The full effort was truly astir responding to reports of civilian casualties successful nationalist and getting up of the narrative,” said Daniel Mahanty, 1 of the pb authors of a 2020 report connected however the United States assesses civilian casualty claims, and a erstwhile State Department official. “It was surely not astir doing thing otherwise to forestall harm arsenic the cognition proceeded.

Captain Bill Urban, spokesperson for the U.S. Central Command, said the subject “applies a argumentation of reviewing and assessing each reports of civilian harm, irrespective of their source, and wherever the accusation disposable warrants, conducting investigations, applying captious lessons learned, and acknowledging the civilian harm caused by our actions.” He did not remark connected the circumstantial errors identified by The Times’s investigation.

While the Pentagon reviews each allegations of civilian casualties, interviews with experts and existent and erstwhile subject unit revealed systemic problems, including a deficiency of training, inaccurate airstrike logs and an overworked, rotating appraisal squad of usually lone a fewer people.

There were important inconsistencies successful the prime of the assessments, pointing to a process whose occurrence relied much connected the skills and committedness of idiosyncratic officers than connected cohesive standards and methods.

The appraisal process

A reappraisal into civilian casualty allegations tin beryllium prompted successful respective ways, including reports from the section quality media and societal media posts monitored by American subject personnel. Most incidents are flagged by Airwars, a nonprofit watchdog radical based successful Britain that collects reports and provides summaries from section sources.

The allegations are typically sent to the civilian casualty cell, whose members person nary standardized grooming to go assessors.

“Each brings to the task his/her ain unsocial skills, and each are being perpetually required to hone those skills implicit time,” said Captain Urban, the subject spokesman.

The Pentagon’s appraisal process leaves a insubstantial way of confidential documents, including “initial appraisal forms,” filled retired by the civilian casualty compartment to find if a assertion warrants further investigation. Such inquiries are often conducted by the bid that carried retired the strike.

Assessors reply a bid of yes oregon nary questions to found details astir an allegation, including determination and timing.

In assessing the 2017 assertion from Siha successful Mosul, reviewers did not look to person consulted basal resources similar Google Maps. In different assessments, they made important efforts to reappraisal claims, utilizing a wide assortment of tools to reappraisal information.

Those concerns were confirmed by The Times’s ain crushed reporting, which recovered galore instances successful which the logged coordinates for airstrikes were much than 500 yards from the existent tract of impact. One was arsenic acold arsenic 5 miles away.

Some officers noted these inaccuracies successful the assessments, with one writing that the logs “shouldn’t beryllium utilized to place strikes.” Instead, the serviceman recommended searching reports by aircrews aft missions — a cumbersome and uncommon practice.

Captain Urban said that onslaught logs had go much accurate, but helium did not supply circumstantial details astir the improvements oregon whether antecedently dismissed allegations had been reassessed utilizing improved logs.

Basic errors

Sometimes, Pentagon assessors simply misread the allegations, starring to the dismissal of a report.

In an appraisal involving Hit, Iraq, Airwars and section sources said that an airstrike had killed 2 radical and wounded 3 successful “Al-Bab Al-Gharbi,” which translates to “the Western Gate” and describes what the country is: the occidental entranceway to the humanities halfway of the city.

The appraisal papers shows that the subject did transportation retired strikes successful Hit that day, but the assertion was dismissed due to the fact that assessors were incapable to find the location.

Captain Urban said the Pentagon could not supply immoderate penetration into however this allegation — oregon immoderate of the others reviewed by The Times — had been evaluated due to the fact that the assessors “have moved connected to caller assignments.”

Inadequate Arabic skills

Documents amusement that adjacent erstwhile precise accusation astir the determination of a reported onslaught was available, reviewers sometimes missed it due to the fact that of a deficiency of Arabic skills.

In 1 assessment, the Pentagon deemed arsenic noncredible an allegation that 8 radical had been killed, including 4 children, successful portion due to the fact that it could not find the Jerri neighborhood, besides successful Hit, Iraq.

The Jerri vicinity tin easy beryllium recovered connected Wikimapia — but lone if searched for successful Arabic.

Although assessors conducted immoderate searches successful Arabic, they did not bash truthful routinely. Multiple radical who worked connected oregon with the civilian casualty compartment told The Times that speaking oregon speechmaking Arabic was not a requirement.

While Captain Urban said interpreters were disposable to assessors “where connection skills are needed,” the reappraisal of documents suggested determination were inactive oversights erstwhile it came to Arabic comprehension.

Mixing up locations

In immoderate assessments, the Pentagon simply confused towns with the aforesaid oregon akin names and dismissed the claims, the documents show, arsenic happened with a reported airstrike connected a Syrian municipality successful March 2017.

Several societal media posts said that the onslaught had deed a vicinity successful Maskana, portion of Aleppo Province successful Syria, sidesplitting astatine slightest 8 people. An interior Pentagon squad flagged the assertion for further review.

The documents amusement that assessors zeroed successful connected Maskana, but it was the incorrect one. There is simply a municipality with the aforesaid sanction successful Homs, a antithetic state of Syria. The reviewers were incapable to find correlating airstrikes, and the allegation was dismissed.

Analysts reviewing the allegation looked for a colony called Sabha successful Deir al-Zour Province. They recovered one, and stopped there.

But determination is different municipality with the aforesaid sanction adjacent by. That municipality matches the adjacent determination of the reported onslaught described by a section nonmigratory successful a quality story.

In its dismissal of the allegation, the Pentagon said that “the nearest strikes […] were 17 km away” from the Sabha the reviewers had focused on.

The imaginable onslaught determination identified by Times reporters was astir precisely 17 kilometers away.

Ignoring evidence

The Pentagon’s 2018 procedures for assessing civilian harm prompts analysts to “narrow the date/time/location of the allegation utilizing photo/video evidence.” But successful aggregate civilian casualty assessments, this wasn’t done, a shortcoming that resulted successful appraisal officers’ missing important pieces of evidence.

That’s what happened successful the appraisal of the Sanjari household successful January 2017. Friends and relatives had gathered astatine the family’s location successful Mosul to mourn the passing of Aziz Ahmed Aziz Sanjari, a retired Iraqi Army colonel. An detonation ripped done the gathering, sidesplitting civilians, according to archetypal societal media and quality reports.

Airwars sent the assertion to the Pentagon and said that the onslaught had taken spot astatine a funeral. It included a nexus to a video from the Amaq News Agency, a quality outlet linked to the Islamic State.

Pentagon assessors look to person wrongly assumed the onslaught happened astatine a cemetery successful an country astir a half-mile from the Sanjari house. In their dismissal, they wrote that “no strikes were recovered wrong 100 m of the cemetery boundaries.”

The analysts besides reported that they were “unable to access” the video nexus that Airwars had included successful the claim. Whether the nexus was accessible astatine the clip is unclear, but the video was posted elsewhere online the time of the onslaught and was casual to find erstwhile the Pentagon did its assessment. And it’s inactive online to this time — a hunt that took 5 minutes connected Twitter, utilizing the word “Mosul” successful Arabic and the day of the strike.

In not reviewing the Amaq video, the Pentagon missed a cardinal portion of grounds showing that the airstrike had deed conscionable extracurricular a civilian home, not astatine a cemetery.

Interviews with the household successful June 2021 and decease certificates confirmed that 11 radical had been killed, including an unidentified pistillate and a miss who were walking adjacent the home.

Ridhwan Ahmed Aziz Sanjari, who mislaid 2 of his brothers and his relative successful the airstrike, told The Times, “I conscionable wanted to cognize why.”

Jeff Parrott, Hiba Yazbek, Abbie Cheeseman and Leila Barghouty contributed research. Momen Muhanned contributed translation. Drew Jordan and Michael Beswetherick contributed production.