War is messy. Anyone who has taken a history class could tell you that. What they shouldn’t be able to tell you is that some of that mess we witness today is at fault of outdated data, and lackluster government focus.
175 people died in the U.S. strike on Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Iran on February 28th. Most of the death toll is children under the age of 11, as is likely when an elementary school is bombed. The Defense Intelligence Agency, who still will not answer questions on the matter, provided outdated information for the intended strike, which was an Iranian base nearby. This lack of verification is an international break of humanitarian law.
When asked about the astounding number of deaths in this war, President Trump has insisted that Iran was, at one point, at fault for the whole ordeal. In this, he attempts to side-step the blame while almost unintentionally admitting we are fully to blame now. The larger majority of the federal government has refused to answer questions about who or what is at fault for the lack of information security in such an intensive situation. The data, which likely still included the school as part of the neighboring military base, was over 13 years outdated. It has now been over a month since the missile hit and killed those children, and no one has been held accountable.
Personal accounts of the tragedy have been released through the Guardian, outlining the horrifying perspectives of the parents in this tragedy. A child as young as 2 months old was killed due to a lack of oversight in a government agency whose entire job is to oversee the information. It’s tragic, it’s disappointing, and it’s entirely avoidable.
The Names and Ages of the Victims:
- Hana Dehqani, eight years old
- Fatemeh Salari, 34 years old
- Reza Habashian, seven years old
- Arya Bahadori, nine years old
- Ali Asghar Zaeri, eight years old
- Zahra Bahrami, seven years old
- Ahmad Soltani, eight years old
- Hamed Par-ashegh-nezhad, seven years old
- Fatemeh Yazdan-panah, young girl, age unknown
- Mahdis Nazari, seven years old
- Athena Chamani-nezhad, six years old
- Amirghasem Zaeri, seven years old
- Fatemeh Dorazehi, 10 years old
- Arad Ahmadizadeh, eight years old
- Saman Karimzadeh, seven years old
- Fatemeh Shahdadi, age unknown
- Nadia Shahmiri, nine years old
- Parham Ranjbari, nine years old
- Mahmoud Gholamyani, 35 years old
- Fatemeh Rahdar, 10 years old
- Amir-Hassan Rasouli, eight years old
- Zahra Behrouzi, eight years old
- Mohammadhatam Raisi, 10 years old
- Asna Raisi, 12 years old
- Benyamin Jangjou, eight years old
- Mohammad-Sadra Zarei, eight years old
- Maryam Pazark, 10 years old
- Liana Mohammadi, seven years old
- Mandana Salari, 29 years old
- Sara Shayesteh, five years old
- Zoha Pasand, eight years old
- Esra Zakeri, nine years old
- Salma Zakeri, six years old
- Fatemeh Taherifard, 29 years old
- Zahra Ansari, seven years old
- Fatemeh Fadavi, 10 years old
- Mahna Zarei, two months old
- Athareh Zarei, 10 years old
- Alireza Zarei, nine years old
- Mohammadreza Shahsavari, eight years old
- Samira Basarde, 38 years old
- Ehsan Saleminia, six years old
- Fatemeh Zahra Karimi, seven years old
- Zeynab Bahrami, 10 years old
- Mohammad Shah-dousti, eight years old
- Reza Barani, seven years old
- Athena Ahmadzadeh, 10 years old
- Khadijeh Darvishi, nine years old
- Roqayyeh Karimi, 42 years old
- Reza Ranjbar, six years old
- Marzieh Bashiri-far, 38 years old
- Mohammad-Mehdi Chegini, 10 years old
- Mohammadian Bahrami, 17 years old
- Ali-Akbar Karyani Pak, eight years old
- Hananeh Mehdikhah, seven years old
- Fereshteh Sangarzadeh, 44 years old
- Mohammad-Ali Karyani Pak, seven years old
- Parsa Mokhtari-nasab, 12 years old
- Arina Arab-Kish, eight years old
- Makan Nasiri, 12 years old
- Esra Farahi-Zadeh, young girl, age unknown
