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Secret Doc Exposes Flaws in Pentagon Claim That No Civilians Were Killed in al-Baghdadi Raid [1]
['Brett Wilkins', 'Brett Wilkins Is A Staff Writer For Common Dreams.']
Date: 2023-07-21 22:22:32+00:00
A formerly classified document published Friday by NPRrevealed how the Pentagon dismissed highly credible evidence of civilian deaths caused by the October 2019 U.S. assassination of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria.
In a raid hailed by then-U.S. President Donald Trump as "impeccable," U.S. special forces stormed al-Baghdadi's hideout just outside Barisha in Idlib province on October 26-27, 2019. Realizing he was cornered during the raid, al-Baghdadi detonated an explosive device, killing himself and two children he was carrying with him, according to U.S. officials.
For years, the Pentagon dismissed a December 2019 NPRreport of a U.S. military helicopter attacking Syrian civilians in Barisha during the raid, killing two cousins traveling in a van and blowing the hand off a third man, claiming the victims were enemy combatants who ignored repeated warning shots.
NPR subsequently filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Pentagon and obtained a redacted copy of the military's erstwhile secret assessment of the raid.
The document revealed that:
U.S. troops fired warning shots just seconds before helicopters opened fire on the victims' van, belying claims that the men demonstrated hostile intent by failing to stop or move;
The Pentagon offered no solid evidence that the victims were enemy combatants;
The military did not compile a recommended intelligence dossier to back its claim that the victims were "unlawful enemy belligerents";
The Pentagon questioned the veracity of a survivor's account of the attack given to NPR—but did not interview the man; and
The military dismissed credible evidence—including photos, reporting by NPR and other media, and assessments by NGOs including Airwars—that civilians were harmed in the raid.
"Over the past 20 years, the U.S. military has struggled with escalation of force and many civilians were killed when they were falsely viewed as a threat," Larry Lewis of the Center for Naval Analyses told NPR. "This incident appears to be one of many such cases."
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