The Civilian Casualty Files
The New York Times is making public hundreds of the Pentagon’s confidential assessments of reports of civilian casualties resulting from U.S.-led airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. The documents lay bare how the air war has been marked by deeply flawed intelligence, rushed and often imprecise targeting, and the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians, many of them children.
The documents were obtained through Freedom of Information requests beginning in March 2017 and subsequent lawsuits filed against the Defense Department and the U. S. Central Command. To date, The Times has received more than 1,300 reports examining airstrikes in Iraq and Syria from September 2014 to January 2018, more than 5,400 pages in all.
Independent reporting by The Times has closely matched much of the basic information from the documents, but it also found important discrepancies and oversights in some instances, including the location of a strike or the number of people killed or injured. Despite the inaccuracies, the documents serve as an important record for researchers seeking to understand the Pentagon’s internal processes.
Assessments of credible reports
Cases in which military investigators deemed it “more likely than not” that a strike caused civilian casualties. Documents include the Pentagon press releases for each credible case and internal reports where available.
Note: The dates, locations, and death and injury counts shown were drawn from the Pentagon’s press releases and may contain inaccuracies or differ from information contained in the internal reports. Some documents the Pentagon provided are partial or incomplete. The New York Times has made repeated requests for supplementary searches to locate these records.
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Assessments of noncredible reports
Cases in which military investigators were unable to determine, to the standard of “more likely than not,” that a strike caused civilian casualties. In some instances, noncredible reports were later deemed credible after further investigation. Documents include Pentagon press releases and internal assessments where available.
Note: Only cases where internal assessments were available are shown. Dates, locations, and death and injury counts come from the Pentagon’s press releases and may contain inaccuracies or differ from information contained in the internal reports. Some documents the Pentagon provided are partial or incomplete. The New York Times has made repeated requests for supplementary searches to locate these records.
Documents on process and procedure
Planning documents, which include the general protocols for targeting and the procedures for responding to casualty incidents and making sympathy payments, as well as mandated reports to Congress.Back to top
Glossary
Terms that appear frequently in the Pentagon’s reports and are useful for understanding the documents.Back to top