NPR sues Pentagon for info on possible civilian deaths in Syria
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The US' NPR (National Public Radio) sues the US Department of Defense to force it to release documents on possible civilian casualties in Syria.
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General Kenneth McKenzie speaks on the raid that targeted al-Baghdadi in Syria.
NPR has sued the US Department of Defense to force it to release documents on possible civilian casualties during its raid in October 2019 in Syria, which resulted in the death of former ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Late in 2019, NPR reported claims that US helicopters fire on two Syrian civilians, blowing the arm off another civilian as well during the raid, forcing US Central Command to investigate. The Pentagon would later clear their troops of any wrongdoing and classify the victims as enemy combatants, which meant that their families were ineligible for death compensations, which the US has to pay to families killed by its attacks abroad.
However, the Pentagon offered no evidence that the three casualties were combatants or posed any threat, which raised questions of a cover-up in order not to downplay the raid on the ISIS leader.
The Pentagon's account of events offered no evidence the 3 men were combatants or intended to threaten troops, raising the question of whether the U.S. mischaracterized innocent civilians to protect a celebrated operation against the Islamic State leader. https://t.co/kqWb9ZT2V2
— NPR (@NPR) December 11, 2021
NPR had petitioned Central Command to release documents on the operation and the ensuing investigation, including military footage and Pentagon assessments of the raid that shows whether the victims' families were eligible for compensation.
The lawsuit that NPR filed alleges that Pentagon failed to comply with "its legal obligation to provide documents or respond in a timely manner to NPR's requests under the Freedom of Information Act."
"We hope that the truth will come out and that the United States will admit that it committed a mistake against civilians," said Mustafa Shaaban, a relative and close friend of Barakat Barakat, the Syrian man who says he lost his right arm and the use of most of his fingers on his left hand in the attack.
The Pentagon has been scrutinized over its role in civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Syria.
