An expanding chorus in Congress is urging the Pentagon to make amends to a Somali family following an investigation by The Intercept into a 2018 U.S. drone strike that killed a woman and her 4-year-old daughter.
The growing pressure on the Pentagon coincided with a government watchdog’s rebuke of the Defense Department for failing to accurately track law of war violations. The Government Accountability Office last month singled out officials at U.S. Africa Command, or AFRICOM, who they said “may not be reporting all alleged law of war violations as required.”
Since late January, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and Jim McGovern, D-Mass., have called on the Pentagon to compensate the family of the woman and child killed in the U.S. strike, Luul Dahir Mohamed and Mariam Shilow Muse. They’ve joined Reps. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who made the same demand earlier this year. In December 2023, two dozen human rights organizations — 14 Somali and 10 international groups — also called on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to compensate the family for the deaths.
“We cannot condemn other nations for civilian casualties if we are not following best practices.”The April 1, 2018, attack in Somalia killed at least three, and possibly five, civilians, including Luul and Mariam. A formerly secret........