Democrats ask Pentagon about Iran school strike and role of AI

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NBC News

March 12, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT / Updated March 12, 2026, 2:51 PM EDT


WASHINGTON — More than 120 Democratic members of Congress are asking the Pentagon for detailed information about how the U.S. military is limiting civilian casualties in Iran and what role artificial intelligence is playing in choosing targets.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that was sent Thursday morning and obtained by NBC News, the members singled out a strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school in Iran that killed more than 170 people, most of them children. The strike was in Minab, Iran, in the early hours Feb. 28 as the U.S. and Israel were launching their war on Iran.

The U.S. military has said it is still investigating the strike, but preliminary information shows that not only was a U.S. munition likely responsible for the attack, but also that outdated intelligence may have been to blame for selecting the target, NBC News has reported, citing four sources familiar with the preliminary findings.

In their letter, the lawmakers ask Hegseth why the target was selected and whether the Pentagon will investigate it as a possible war crime. They also ask what role AI has played in the selection of targets, as well as in assessing intelligence that has informed target selection, and in making legal determinations during the ongoing military operation. “If artificial intelligence is used, is it subject to human review and at what point? Was artificial intelligence, including the use of Maven Smart System, used to identify the Shajareh Tayyebeh school as a target? If so, did a human verify the accuracy of this target?” they ask in the letter.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/democrats-ask-pentagon-iran-school-strike-role-ai-rcna263083

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Link to LETTER (inquiry) (PDF viewer) - https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:eee71a8d-2736-4645-a485-9964ca56dfc3

[underpants]

1. Palantir

The Maven Smart System (MSS) is a U.S. Department of Defense AI-enabled platform developed with Palantir Technologies that integrates machine learning to analyze massive volumes of surveillance data (satellite, drone, radar) for rapid targeting, intelligence, and logistics. It automates the "sensor-to-shooter" loop, identifying potential targets to accelerate decision-making.
Army.mil
Army.mil
+4

[reACTIONary]

3. Sensor to shooter loop? I don't think Maven is capable of fire control....

.... and the munition in question, the Tomahawk missile, is not even close to having a "point and shoot" capability. It has to be programed well in advance of being fired. And it is old tech, it has to have (more than one) human in that loop.

I think this claim that it "automates the 'sensor-to-shooter' loop" is an exaggeration for PR purposes.

[twodogsbarking]

2. The little girls were planning on attacking the US when they became adults. Wait for it.

[jfz9580m]

4. I saw an article by John Naughton

Which I cannot locate at the moment on how metaphor is the new weapon in the war on terror. I always found Si Valley’s use of euphemisms like “janitors” or worse “homelessness” grating.

I find processing language and faces online superficially annoying in recent years after seeing demeaning suggestions about human decision making as driven by influence and manipulation rather than real world signals.
How shallow do they have to be ffs?

But these guys steeped in kayfabe and game worlds and on the flip side their shopaholic counterparts (a pox on all of them), probably do see the world that solipsistically and narcissistically.
This Ozymandias or Supermom like figure in thr centre surrounded by various pawns who exist to gratify this self centred human, while any pride in the pawns is treated ironically as self obsession.

They mangle language perception by the brain.