The Pentagon Is Missing Comprehensive War-Crime Reports
A government report found that a year’s worth of records that could include war-crime allegations is missing from the US military’s Middle East operations command center — a period that coincides with an independent watchdog group’s claims of war crimes.
Prayers are recited for the dead before they could be laid into the ground to be buried, as around two hundred people attend a mass funeral for the ten civilians killed by a US drone strike said to be targeting ISIS-K militants, in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 30, 2021. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
The Pentagon is not retaining comprehensive records of alleged war crimes in its global military operations as required by the Defense Department’s own policies, according to a declassified version of a government report reviewed by us.
The report found that an entire year’s worth of records that could include such allegations has gone missing from the military’s command center overseeing operations in the Middle East — a period that coincides with an independent watchdog group’s claims of war crimes committed in the region.
Government investigators found evidence of at least forty-seven allegations of US military war crimes between 2012 and 2022 as the United States waged an air and ground war against the Islamic State in the Middle East and Africa. But a significant portion of information about alleged war crimes during that time was missing.
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