New York Times Investigation Reveals Thousands of Hidden U.S. Airstrike Civilian Deaths

The New York Times published the Civilian Casualty Files on December 18, 2021, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by Azmat Khan based on over 5,400 pages of Pentagon documents obtained through FOIA litigation. The investigation found that the actual rate of civilian deaths from U.S. airstrikes in Iraq was 31 times higher than officially reported: one civilian killed per five strikes versus the Pentagon claimed rate of one per 157. Children were killed or injured in 62 percent of strikes investigated on the ground.