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The reality is that the U.S. military campaign in Syria — from arming the very armed groups it is ostensibly at war with, to its massive undercounting and denial of civilian casualties — has been a dismal display of illegality and failure.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/12/07/we-cant-trust-the-us-military-to-investigate-civilian-casualties/

Written by
Kate Kizer

U.S. Central Command reported late on Friday a U.S. drone strike in Idlib, Syria against a senior member of al-Qaida, rather than against a member of the self-described Islamic State  — the ostensible legal justification the United States is even in Syria. Even more interestingly, CENTCOM claimed it “immediately self-reported” one civilian casualty that it is investigating. 

But U.S. policymakers should not defer to the military’s investigatory promises given its history of covering up or not sufficiently accounting for civilian casualties. In fact, the Associated Press has since reported that the strike wounded a family of 6, including a 10-year-old child.

With such “over-the-horizon” strikes likely to become a key component of Team Biden’s rebranded counterterrorism strategy, the national security committees in Congress have a duty to comprehensively review and interrogate the strategic and human costs of this approach. 

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