Accountability in Aerial Warfare

This episode contains strong language.

In March 2019, workers inside an Air Force combat operations center in Qatar watched as an American F-15 attack jet dropped a large bomb into a group of women and children in Syria.

Assessing the damage, the workers found that there had been around 70 casualties, and a lawyer decided that it was a potential war crime.

We look at how the system that was designed to bring the airstrike to light, ended up keeping it hidden.

Guest: Dave Philipps, a national correspondent covering the military for The New York Times. 

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Background reading: 

• The military never conducted an independent investigation into a 2019 bombing on the last bastion of the Islamic State, despite concerns about a secretive commando force.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

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