Subject: collateral damage


(ABCNEWS.com)

Collateral Chaos?
Air Force Report Expects Numerous Civilian Deaths, Damaging Publicity

By The ABCNEWS Investigative-Legal Unit

Jan. 23 The Air Force is preparing to fly as many as 1,500 sorties a day if there is war with Iraq and is seriously concerned about the public relations backlash from an expected high level of collateral damage, according to a 104-page report, portions of which were obtained by ABCNEWS.

The report, called "'PSAB CAOC Tiger Team: Interim Report and Recommendations," was commissioned last year to examine communication and staffing problems at the Combined Air Operations Command located at the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, which would coordinate an air war against Iraq.

The report found "collateral damage concerns, the CNN effect and casualty aversion are all placing additional tensions on the CAOC." The so-called "CNN effect" is the ability of television viewers around the world to have ongoing, often real-time, access to coverage which was unavailable before the advent of cable news and improved satellite technology.

The Air Force report says the Saudis permitted only 350 additional personnel at the base during Operation Enduring Freedom, the Afghanistan Air War, and that at least 1,000 more personnel will be needed if war begins with Iraq.

But the report cautioned that even with the additional 1,000 personnel, there could still be problems.

"There's little room for error, no cushion for fog and friction," the report said.

The report also warns that fatigue and "requirements for collateral damage estimates" could wear out the Air Force personnel who worked 14- to 19-hour days "with no time off for 60 days" during the Afghanistan operation.

The report also found "significant confusion about roles, responsibilities and chain of command" throughout key areas within the CAOC. It blamed a lack of clear organization and training by commanders.

"For our premier USAF Weapons system we do not man our force smartly," the report said.

Air Force officials had no immediate comment on the report.

The study, stamped extensively with "For Official Use Only," was finished May 31, 2002. A month and a half earlier, two U.S. pilots mistakenly bombed a Canadian training exercise near Kandahar, and on Jan. 24, a commando raid on the village of Hazar Qadam in the Uruzgan province killed at least 16 people. The Pentagon later said it had made a mistake, and that it had likely killed pro-American Afghan fighters.

On July 1, a month after the report, a U.S. bomb strike hit a wedding in Uruzgan province, killing dozens of people and injuring more than 100.

During the 1991 Gulf War, a laser-guided bomb strike destroyed a bomb shelter in Baghdad, killing 400 civilians, many of them children. The site had appeared to U.S. intelligence to be a military target. It later turned out that Iraqi defenders has simply used the building to mount an antenna.

Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz