![Civilians have died in air attacks carried out by the RAF and coalition forces. [image source: Ministry of Defense- YouTube]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2018/4/22/660x290/b_502x220x82/civilians-have-died-in-air-attacks-carried-out-by-the-raf-and-coalition-forces-image-source-ministry-of-defense-youtube_1967739.jpg "Civilians have died in air attacks carried out by the RAF and coalition forces. [image source: Ministry of Defense- YouTube]")
Sen. Hiram Johnson (R-CA) is credited with saying, “The first casualty when war comes is truth,” a century ago. Just ask the British people. Great Britain’s Ministry of Defense denies causing any civilian causalities a full year after the allied coalition bombing of Mosul stopped. Now comes a monitoring group in Mosul with evidence coalition planes, including those of the RAF, bombed civilians.
The MOD says its reports are based on aerial images taken before and after the bombings. Further, London says "everything possible" was done to minimize the risk to civilians.
However, above ground surveillance cannot see through buildings and rubble.
A monitoring group, Airwars, documented that between 1,066 and 1,579 civilians died in the nine-month fight for Mosul. “It’s simply fanciful to claim no civilians have been harmed by the RAF," Chris Woods of Airwars told the BBC. “We don’t live in a world of magic bombs and missiles that only kill bad people.”
The coalition has admitted to causing more than 350 civilian deaths in Mosul. The US and Australia have accepted responsibility for causing civilian casualties. Thirteen members of the coalition conducted airstrikes in and around Mosul, where British warplanes hit more than 750 targets.
BBC reported other coalition members have alerted the MOD when civilians were killed.
Some of the “high-precision” bombs have malfunctioned and missed targets. It is impossible to conduct an air campaign in a highly populated area without killing civilians.
The continued denials come at a time when the Brits need a transparent government rather than one that denies the obvious until it hits Her Majesty in the face.
The MOD could have spun this story to reflect how many civilian deaths they avoided.
Scandal season
Downing Street’s credibility is reeling in the wake of the Windrush generation scandal. Home Secretary Amber Rudd was forced out after lying about plans to deport immigrants of Caribbean descent invited to the UK to answer a labor shortage after WWII.
The immigrants arrived between 1948 and 1971.
The 1971 Immigration Act gave Commonwealth citizens, already living in the UK, the right to remain, but their children were not protected. Many children never applied for citizenship, apparently thinking they were British citizens. Recently, reports have arisen of elderly people being denied services, losing their jobs and facing deportation. Rudd denied knowledge, but a paper trail led to her.
