In their continued struggle to handle the narrative surrounding one of the most calamitous US airstrikes in modern history, Central Command (Centcom) has now admitted that they killed at least 105 Iraqi civilians in an attack on Mosul’s residential neighborhood.
That’s the most they’ve been willing to admit to so far, despite reports repeatedly putting the toll in excess of 230. Even this admission is a major step forward, as while officials said they “probably” did the attack, they also totally omitted this death toll from their official statement on civilian deaths in March.
Even two months later, and even admitting to less than half the actual death toll, Centcom was still full of excuses, claiming they destroyed the buildings while targeting two “ISIS snipers” on the roof, and accusing ISIS of having filled the building with explosives so it was kind of their fault too.
They offered no evidence for either of these claims, and survivors of the destruction of the buildings have previously denied both claims, insisting the whole reason so many people were hiding in the buildings was because they were a bit away from ISIS and the fighting, hoping that would keep them from getting blown up by the US.
Even as half-hearted and full of excuses as it is, the offer of “condolences” from the US about all the people they killed that day in Mosul is, at the very least, a lot more than most of the in Iraq and Syria get when they are bombed by the Americans.
So the American bombs missed everyone but set off the ISIS bombs, which did the killing. I’m going to have to adjust my common sense thinking to adjust to American thinking….