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Brennan Weiss, Business Insider: The US recorded civilians as ISIS members in what may be 'the least transparent war in recent American history'
* The US military has drastically underreported the number of civilian casualties in its fight against ISIS.
* A recent investigation found the rate of civilian deaths in Iraq to be 31 times higher than what has been reported by US-led coalition forces.
* News of underreported civilian casualties comes as President Donald Trump loosens rules of engagement abroad, which many human rights organizations say will lead to more innocent lives lost.
An 18-month investigation by The New York Times revealed that the US-led coalition fighting ISIS repeatedly recorded civilian deaths as enemy casualties.
The Times' journalists scanned the locations of nearly 150 coalition airstrikes across northern Iraq and found the rate of civilian deaths to be more than 31 times that acknowledged by the coalition.
Such negligence — a combination of simply flawed and outdated intelligence — amounted to what the Times noted "may be the least transparent war in recent American history."
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WNU Editor: This Business Insider post summarizes the work that the New York Times has done in tracking civilian casualties in the war against ISIS .... but it is months late, and already reported by others .... Civilian Casualties Have Increased Under President Trump (July 17, 2017). My comment from my post in July also still holds ....
.... This blog has posted countless articles in the past six months outlining how ISIS was civilians as human shields .... especially in Mosul. In such an environment .... heavy urban combat with hundreds of civilians in a few buildings .... was (and is) a guarantee that there will be high civilian casualties. I suspect that when the war is over .... and a true accounting of who was killed and wounded in the battle of Mosul is finally tallied .... we are going to be shocked to learn that thousands died .... and most within the past 2 or 3 months. As for blaming President Trump for these casualties .... casualties that came from U.S. artillery and air strikes that Iraqi soldiers on the ground called for .... please .... the ones who should be blamed for this slaughter are those who fought for the Islamic State.
