NEW YORK: In the last days of the battle against the Islamic group in Syria, when a member of the Convinced Caliphate was cornered in the ground next to a city called Baghuz, a US military drone circling for the military, military hunting target.
But only saw many crowds of women and children gathered against the banks of the river.
Without a warning, the US F-15e attack shot across the field of drone vision and dropped a bomb of almost 227 kg in the crowd, swallowing it with an explosion.
When the smoke is cleaned, some people tripped to seek protection.
Then the jet tracks them to drop one 907-LG bomb, then the others, killing most of the victims.
It was March 18, 2019.
In the US military combined air operation center that was busy at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Personnel in uniform watching a record of drones immediately looked at unbelievers who were stunned, according to one officer there.
“Who dropped it?” Analysts who are confused typing on chat systems that are safely used by those who monitor drones, two people who review the chat log remember.
The others answered, “We just dropped 50 women and children.” The initial battle damage assessment quickly found that the number of dead people was actually around 70.
Baghuz strike was one of the largest civilian incidents of the war against IS, but had never been publicly recognized by the US military.
Details showed that the death toll was almost immediately seen by military officials.
A legal officer marks a strike as a possibility of war crimes who need an investigation.
But on almost every step, the military made a movement that hid the disaster strike.
The death toll was underestimated.
Reports are delayed, dissed and classified.
US coalition forces led the explosion site.
And the top leader is not told.
Independent Inspector General Defense General began an investigation, but a report containing his findings stopped and stripped of every mention of the attack.
“Leadership looks so organized to bury this.
No one wants something to do with it,” said Gene Tate, an evaluator who worked on the case for the Inspector General Office.
Tate said he criticized the lack of action and was finally forced out of his work.
Investigation by NYT found that the bombing was called by a classified US operating unit, the task of the 9th unit, which was responsible for land operations in Syria.
The task force is operated in such confidentiality sometimes does not tell even his own military partner.
In the case of Baghuz bombs, the US Air Force Command in Qatar did not know the strike came, an officer on duty at the Command Center.
The Air Force lawyer responsible for the determination of the legality of strikes reported it to his superiors, said it was a war crime and regulations that might require a comprehensive independent investigation.
But a thorough independent investigation never happened.
This past week, after NYT sent his findings to the US Central Commander, which oversees the air war in Syria, the order admitted the strike for the first time, said 80 people were killed but air strikes were justified.
It was said that the bomb killed 16 fighters and four civilians.
As for 60 other people were killed, the statement said it was not clear that they were civilians, partly because women and children sometimes took weapons.
The only assessment was made immediately after the strike was carried out by the same land unit that ordered the strike.
It determined that the bombing was legitimate because it only killed a small number of civilians while targeting was fighters, the command said.
Therefore, there is no notification of formal war crimes, criminal investigations or disciplinary actions guaranteed, he said, adding that other deaths were accidental.