The U.S. Built a Blueprint to Avoid Civilian War Casualties. Trump Officials Scrapped It. ProPublica
by Hannah Allam
March 10, 2026, 5:25 pm
Reporting Highlights
Civilian Harm: In the opening days of the war with Iran, missile strikes have already killed civilians, including scores of schoolchildren.
Blueprint Stalled: The Pentagon had been working on a plan to avoid civilian deaths. It was heading toward implementation until Trump officials waylaid it last year.
Scant Accountability: With the plan to reduce civilian deaths sidelined, experts say the U.S. military plans face limited scrutiny before attacks are launched.
Images from the missile strike in southern Iran were more horrifying than any of the case studies Air Force combat veteran Wes J. Bryant had pored over in his mission to overhaul how the U.S. military safeguards civilian life.
Parents wept over their children’s bodies. Crushed desks and blood-stained backpacks poked through the rubble. The death toll from the attack on an elementary school in Minab climbed past 165, most of them under age 12, with nearly 100 others wounded, according to Iranian health officials. Photos of small coffins and rows of fresh graves went viral, a devastating emblem of Day 1 in the open-ended U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-defense-department-iran-hegseth-civilian-casualties
= new reply since forum marked as read
