Pentagon comes clean on Afghan drone strike

[O]n Friday, officials said an internal review revealed that no Islamic State members had been killed in the attack, only civilians.

"The strike was a tragic mistake," Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, told a Pentagon news conference.

"I am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to seven children, were tragically killed in that strike," McKenzie added. "Moreover, we now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K, or a direct threat to U.S. forces."

[...]

At the time, a U.S. Central Command spokesman said officials believed the attack in Nangahar Province had killed the target and that there were no known civilian casualties.

  NPR

They could only report no known civilian casualties if they hadn't yet done even the simplest investigation.

The strike was hailed as a success that had blocked "multiple suicide bombers" from further attacks on the airport as people desperately sought to leave the country.

[...]

In a press conference Sept. 1, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley called it a "righteous strike" that correctly followed procedures.

Destroying any credibility he had for his resistance to Trump.

As many as six U.S. Reaper drones had tracked a white Toyota Corolla for eight hours and deemed it an imminent threat, McKenzie explained.

In all, he said, U.S. forces had collected more than 60 pieces of intelligence indicating another attack was imminent.

Sixty pieces of bad itelligence, as it happens.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.