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The Human Cost -
Civilian Casualties in Iraq & Afghanistan
Since U.S. troops first set foot in Afghanistan in 2001, the Defense
Department has gone to significant lengths to control and suppress
information about the human cost of war. It banned
photographers on U.S. military bases from covering the arrival
of caskets containing the remains of soldiers killed overseas. It paid
Iraqi journalists to write positive accounts of the U.S. war
effort. It invited U.S. journalists to "embed" with
military units but required them to submit their stories to the military
for pre-publication review; according to some reports,
the policy was meant to co-opt the embedded journalists and make
independent and objective reporting more difficult. It has erased
journalists' footage of civilian deaths in Afghanistan . And
it has refused
to disclose statistics on civilian casualties. "We don't do body
counts," General Tommy Franks has said.
But it is critical that the public have full and accurate information
about the human cost of war. As Justice Stewart wrote in 1971, "the
only effective restraint upon executive policy and power in the areas
of national defense and international affairs may lie in an enlightened
citizenry - in an informed and critical public opinion which alone
can here protect the values of democratic government."
In an effort to obtain more information about the human costs of
war, the ACLU filed Freedom of Information Act requests with various
components of the Defense Department. The documents searchable on
this page were provided to the ACLU in response to those requests.
> Press
Release: ACLU Releases U.S. Army Documents That Depict American Troops' Involvement in Civilian Casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan
> Audio/Podcast: Attorney Nasrina Bargzie on documents that depict Army involvement in civilian casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan
> ACLU v. Department of Defense - Complaint
> Audio/Podcast: Attorney Jameel Jaffer on civilian claims documents from Iraq and Afghanistan, and government attempts to suppress information about the human cost of war
> Browse the Complete
Log of Documents |
