吃瓜大本营

President Trump called the mission in the village of al Ghayil 鈥渟uccessful,鈥� but news reports and members of Congress have called that description into question. The military has that between four and 12 civilians were killed, but Human Rights Watch and journalists have reported that the true number is likely higher 鈥� at least and as many as . According to a journalist who visited the village, the dead include ranging in age from 3 months to 12 years old.

The Obama administration put in place rules requiring that there be 鈥渘ear certainty鈥� that no civilians would be killed in military strikes 鈥渙utside areas of active hostilities,鈥� such as in Yemen. But the Trump administration reportedly certain regions of Yemen from that rule, 鈥渢emporarily鈥� designating them as 鈥渁reas of active hostilities.鈥� The ACLU鈥檚 FOIA request also asks for information about this change, which the government has not explained.

The Departments of Defense, Justice, and State have produced some records鈥攁lthough most were heavily redacted鈥攂ut refused to produce many others. The ACLU is challenging these withholdings.

Unlike other agencies, the C.I.A. refused even to confirm or deny that it had records, claiming that doing so would reveal whether the C.I.A. had an intelligence interest in the raid鈥攁 supposedly secret fact. The ACLU challenged the C.I.A.鈥檚 secrecy claim, arguing that it is unjustified because the CIA鈥檚 intelligence interest had already been publicly disclosed by former White House press secretary Sean Spicer. In a victory for transparency, the federal court agreed, and ordered the C.I.A. to conduct a search and either produce records or justify any other specific secrecy claims it makes.

We have seen that the Trump White House cannot be trusted to give the public accurate information, which is especially critical when the president authorizes military action that kills civilians. The public has a right to know about any exceptions the Trump administration is making to civilian protection rules generally and what really happened with this tragic operation specifically. The administration鈥檚 explanations have little credibility, and the documents sought are essential for public accountability when civilians are killed in the name of our national security.

SEE DOCUMENTS RELEASED UNDER this FOIA REQUEST

See documents released under all of the ACLU鈥檚 targeted killing FOIA requests