The Ratio

One of the counter-insurgency tactics which the U.S. military has employed is to use reconnaissance drones, which hover in the air hunting for insurgents digging holes in the road to plant improvised explosive devices.

On several occasions U.S. troops have called in air strikes, but these have angered Sunni Arab leaders who say innocent civilians have been killed in the attacks.

Last week, an air strike on a Baiji house killed seven members of an Iraqi family. The U.S. military said aircraft bombed the building when three men were spotted going into it after digging a hole that troops suspected was for a bomb.

So it is US policy to bomb civilian areas on the basis of evidence collected from unmanned drones purporting to show people digging holes in a road. It is becoming harder and harder, for those who have been trying, to insist that our presence in Iraq does more good than harm.

See also: this, and this.

Tags: Iraq