To date, the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State has acknowledged killing just 21 civilians during Operation Inherent Resolve, as the campaign is known. Independent monitoring groups put the toll much higher. Airwars, an organization that tracks reports of civilian casualties, says coalition airstrikes have probably killed between 862 and 1,116 civilians during the campaign so far.

One of the reasons for this discrepancy is the manner in which the US coalition investigates reports of civilian deaths. GlobalPost's own reporting reveals some uncomfortable truths about just how cursory some of these investigations can be. In two examples detailed below, basic information provided by GlobalPost led the coalition to revisit allegations it had previously denied.

The coalition has a team of "several" individuals dedicated to investigating possible civilian casualties caused by its airstrikes, a Pentagon spokesman told GlobalPost. That small team is responsible for investigating the unintended consequences to civilians of the more than 35,000 bombs and missiles that have been deployed during the campaign over the last 16 months.