"The Intelligence Was Outdated. They Fired Anyway"

"The Intelligence Was Outdated. They Fired Anyway"

by Redacted

"A CNN report released Tuesday suggests the deadly strike on an Iranian elementary school that killed 168 children was not the unavoidable mistake the government portrayed it to be. Nor did President Trump's claim hold up when he said, "Based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran."

According to multiple sources familiar with the investigation, senior U.S. military commanders were warned that the information used to identify targets inside Iran was based on intelligence that was years old. Those warnings were embedded directly inside the Pentagon's targeting databases, flagging that the information needed to be re-vetted before strikes were approved. Instead of re-vetting the intelligence before unleashing a deadly missile strike, commanders reportedly signed off anyway because it was faster and they were on a timeline.

This information was never disclosed to those demanding accountability, even when military officials reportedly determined within days that outdated intelligence had contributed to the strike. Months later, the public is still getting the runaround whenever the administration is confronted about what happened.

Just last month, when asked by a journalist at the G7 summit in France whether anyone would be held accountable, President Trump replied, "It's such a strange question to be asked at this date, because you're talking about a long time ago." A long time ago? Tell that to the parents who buried their children only four months ago. Grief doesn't expire because the news cycle moved on.

In the same statement, Trump also said, "Nobody did that on purpose. Mistakes are made. War is nasty." Can it really be called a mistake if commanders ignored warnings that the intelligence was unreliable? Doesn't that sound more like criminal negligence? But outdated intelligence wasn't the only issue. The military's safeguards had already been weakened after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reduced the personnel responsible for identifying and preventing civilian casualties.

In light of what we now know, it's worth asking: If the tables were turned and Iran carried out the same attack on U.S. soil, taking the lives of innocent American children, would it still be acceptable to simply call it a "mistake" and move on?"

- https://redacted.inc/