Strikes with high collateral damage estimates received extra review. The computer software was able to rapidly model collateral effects. In the process, collateral damage may become one of the considerations that would affect what weapon we had to choose… All of the preplanned targets had a CDE done very early in the process, many months before the war was actually fought… For emerging target strikes, we still do a CDE, but do it very quickly. Next is to use the minimum weapon to achieve that effect. He primary concern for the conduct of the war was to do it with absolutely minimum civilian casualties…The first concern is having the desired effect on a target. Central Command official responded, “with excruciating pain.” He told Human Rights Watch, Air Force reviewed strikes in Iraq for collateral damage, a senior U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reportedly had to authorize personally all targets that had a collateral damage estimate of more than thirty civilian casualties.Īsked how carefully the U.S. air forces carry out a collateral damage estimate using a computer model designed to determine the weapon, fuze, attack angle, and time of day that will ensure maximum effect on a target with minimum civilian casualties. Since the CDE influences target selection, weapon selection, and even time and angle of attack, it is the military’s best means of minimizing civilian casualties and other losses in air strikes. military’s official targeting process and are usually prepared for targets well in advance. Collateral damage estimates are part of the U.S. military uses the term “collateral damage” when referring to harm to civilians and civilian structures from an attack on a military target. On April 7, air attacks targeted Saddam Hussein and other Iraqi leaders in Baghdad.
The same day, the United States bombed the reported safe house of Ali Hassan al-Majid (known as “Chemical Ali”) in Basra. On April 5, close air support missions flew over Baghdad to support ground combat. The bombing of government facilities largely ceased by the morning of April 3 when the airport was taken, but attacks on Republican Guard units continued. forces hit telecommunications facilities on the night of March 27.ĭaylight bombing in Baghdad began on March 31, and elements of the Republican Guard around the city bore the brunt of the aerial assault aimed at paving the way for U.S. The air war shifted to attacks on Republican Guard divisions south of Baghdad after the sandstorms of March 25 stalled the ground offensive, but the bombardment of Baghdad continued. On the night of March 21, precision-guided munitions began destroying government facilities in the Iraqi capital. During the early morning hours of March 21, Coalition air forces attacked targets in Basra, Mosul, al-Hilla, and elsewhere in Iraq. on the same day with an aerial bombardment of Baghdad and the Iraqi integrated air defense system. The major air war effort began at approximately 6:00 p.m. This unsuccessful air strike was not part of long-term planning but was instead a “target of opportunity” based on late-breaking intelligence, which ultimately proved incorrect. on March 20, 2003, with an attempt to “decapitate” the Iraqi leadership by killing Saddam Hussein. They employed other methods to help minimize civilian casualties, such as bombing at night when civilians were less likely to be on the streets, using penetrator munitions and delayed fuzes to ensure that most blast and fragmentation damage was kept within the impact area, and using attack angles that took into account the locations of civilian facilities such as schools and hospitals. The United States and United Kingdom recognized that employment of precision-guided munitions alone was not enough to provide civilians with adequate protection. Ĭoalition forces took significant steps to protect civilians during the air war, including increased use of precision-guided munitions when attacking targets situated in populated areas and generally careful target selection.
Many of the civilian casualties from the air war occurred during U.S.
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