How the U.S. Hid a Deadly Airstrike

<p><i>This episode contains strong language.</i></p><p>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.</p><p>Assessing the damage, the workers found that there had been around 70 casualties, and a lawyer decided that it was a potential war crime.</p><p>We look at how the system that was designed to bring the airstrike to light, ended up keeping it hidden.</p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/dave-philipps?smid=pc-thedaily">Dave Philipps</a>, a national correspondent covering the military for The New York Times. </p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/signup/NTTD?smid=pc-thedaily">Sign up here</a> to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/the-daily?module=inline">subscribe to our newsletter</a>. </p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>The military<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/13/us/us-airstrikes-civilian-deaths.html"> never conducted an independent investigation</a> into a 2019 bombing on the last bastion of the Islamic State, despite concerns about a secretive commando force.</li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. </p>