{"id":31106,"date":"2022-04-01T15:23:10","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T15:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/04\/01\/pentagon-policies-dont-do-enough-to-prevent-harm-to-civilians-report\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:47:16","slug":"pentagon-policies-dont-do-enough-to-prevent-harm-to-civilians-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2022\/04\/01\/pentagon-policies-dont-do-enough-to-prevent-harm-to-civilians-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon policies don\u2019t do enough to prevent harm to civilians: report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The second of two reviews to come out of New York Times reporting that U.S. troops targeted civilians in Syria<\/a> dropped on Thursday, finding that while current planning and targeting processes do take the risk of civilian casualties<\/a> into account, they do not do enough to mitigate avoidable harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rand Corp. report <\/a>focused specifically on the 2017-2018 battle for Raqqa, as Kurdish and U.S. forces teamed up to liberate the city from ISIS. The major causes of civilian casualties were the conditions on the ground and a lack of good intelligence, the report found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing we present in this report should be interpreted as accusing coalition forces or leaders of violating the law of war,\u201d according to the findings. \u201c[The Defense Department] abided by its policies and procedures, which go beyond the law of war, at multiple levels to help protect civilians during armed conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Rand found some issues it recommends DoD improve in its future efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the strategic decision to encircle Raqqa and push in to take out ISIS fighters. While it was effective in doing that part, it was also impossible for civilians to get out of the city, keeping them in harm\u2019s way throughout the battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another major issue was the reliance on air strikes by U.S. forces, making it difficult to get good, on-the-ground intelligence about where civilians were sheltering.<\/p>\n\n\n\t