COLLATERAL DAMAGE

U.S. Military Killed Scores of Civilians in Attempt to Destroy ISIS: NYT

Between 2014 and 2019, the U.S. military launched tens of thousands of bombs against ISIS targets in Syria. When they missed, they killed kids, farmers and civilians.

A top-secret military mission called Talon Anvil, tasked with wiping out ISIS in Syria between 2014 and 2019 by targeting convoys and command centers, often missed and killed civilians, The New York Times reports. Though only 20 people worked on the mission to identify targets, they sent more than 112,000 bombs and missiles at targets in Syria. But the Times says they also killed people who “had no role in the conflict: farmers trying to harvest, children in the street, families fleeing fighting, and villagers sheltering in buildings.” In interviews with collaborators and military officials, the Times was able to confirm that despite military officials insisting that the war against ISIS was the “most precise and humane in military history,” those involved made horrific miscalculations. “They were ruthlessly efficient and good at their jobs,” a former Air Force intelligence officer who worked on the project told the Times. “But they also made a lot of bad strikes.”