On Oct 3, A U.S. air strike in Kunduz, Afghanistan, left 22 dead and 37 wounded. The strike, carried out by a USAF AC 130, was intended for the Taliban. The shells it sent down did not find any Taliban members, but instead, a Doctors Without Borders hospital filled with doctors, nurses, patients, and children. These are the 22 dead and 37 wounded.

The aerial bombardment came in increments of 15 minutes. What’s more, the hospital called its contacts in the U.S. and Afghan military, reporting the attack and begging for the destruction to cease. It took several more rounds of fire before the attack ended. The devastation wrought is heartbreaking. Photographs of the charred remains were online almost immediately. Those who survived recount patients burning up in their beds.

Bombing a hospital, no matter who the target inside, is considered a war crime by international law. Many of these laws were drafted and are implemented by the Western powers. If the U.S. does not respond correctly in the coming weeks, Doctors Without Borders will continue to denounce the actions by the U.S. as a war crime.

This tragedy became even more complicated when Pentagon reports revealed that Doctors Without Borders had given its location and information to all the right people in the Afghan and U.S. military. The compound was in the US database as a non-permissible attack zone. The question of who ordered the strike and why has yet to be answered. However, the New York Times reported that a unit normally assigned to regions in Asia had approved the air strike.

There are investigations being conducted by the Department of Defense, but Doctors Without Borders is calling for an independent investigation. The U.S. military command has a history of obscuring fact and withholding information; that’s practically its job. The requests are entirely reasonable.

To add insult to injury, the Pentagon’s story shifted dramatically in the following hours. First, it accepted the claim that it was a U.S. air strike, then it placed the blame on the Afghan military. Ultimately, though, the strike was conducted by the USAF and ordered by the U.S. military.

The Daily Iowan Editorial Board is saddened by this tragic event and ashamed of the U.S. government. Even with the proper information, the attack still occurred. When the U.S. military does anything at all overseas, it is on the behalf of the American people. It is representative of the ones who pay the bills, build the guns, and send the men and women. The U.S. should allow a full investigation by an independent organization to discover what went wrong, and with any luck, what can change so that a tragedy such as this doesn’t happen again.