London — In barely a generation, air power has shifted from indiscriminate to discriminating. Thanks to advances in precision guidance, American bombs and missiles now generally get to where they’re intended. But human or machine error, bad luck or faulty military math still lead to unforeseen civilian deaths. And as the United States and its allies continue their bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, many more noncombatants are perishing than they seem prepared to admit.
During July, the number of reported civilian casualties from coalition airstrikes reached the highest level since the air war began in August 2014. On July 19, 78 or more civilians were reported killed near the Islamic State-occupied city of Manbij, Syria, many of them women and children. In the successful battle for Manbij alone, at least 200 civilians were reportedly killed.
The United States and its allies have taken care to mitigate harm to civilians, and the United States Central Command is investigating the July 19 incident. But with the fight moving deeper into the towns and cities of Iraq and Syria — where millions remain under the Islamic State’s thumb — the risk is rising. Denmark, a member of the coalition, recently warned that civilian deaths might be “unavoidable” in this new phase of the war. Yet the allies appear poorly equipped to properly assess the numbers already being killed....
War is not a mistake or accident, it is a deliberate act. The militaries involved should do everything possible to prevent and end the deaths of civilians, but, war requires only reparations after the surrender.
The invasion into Iraq never had an accurate body count of the civilians involved. There never will be one. If there are still official records of birth certificates before the invasion, those lost before their time could be discerned, but, it is my guess the official birth records were housed in a building that would be destroyed early on in the invasion.
The Geneva Conventions (click here) do not spell out a formula for war and counting the dead to the first decimal (1.0), but, it allows for a country to have assistance returning from the conflict. A peace treaty must be signed and honored. The USA is directly responsible for the issues that exist today in Iraq and Syria, but, not in it's entirety. The Iraqi people have to maintain their own defense forces and deploy them when needed.
I have stated this before. If the coalition of countries bombing Daesh's strongholds, training facilities and oil tankers expect to be able to prevent civilian causalities, they are delusional. There is no turning back. Every person should be given every affordable chance to leave the war zone, but, where there are people acting as human shields there is no good way to avoid those deaths.
The clock can't be turned back. The danger of Daesh is being felt everywhere. It has to be destroyed. There is no alternative. If there was an alternative the global community has already tried it. When someone enters a home with intent of killing the occupants they have already determined their own fate.
The body count in Syria and Iraq will be known only when civilization takes on the effort after the war ends.
There was a time when the USA did not issue birth certificates to all Americans and the family kept track of their family members inside a bible. There are ways of finding the truth. Population trends in Iraq and Syria before the wars began can be discerned and the actual trajectory known. The difference between the two numbers will begin the knowledge the global community may seek. In both these countries the ethnicity populations were known as well.
The question sincerely is, "Was there genocide?" And, who is being held responsible? The Hague has the capacity to decide in absentia.
