amy: anand gopal, how does the u.s. military gather its numbers?> most of these numbers come from internal reports by the u.s. military itself. for example, if they notice a mission irregularity, let's say a pilot is dropping a bomb and all of the sudden a civilian vehicle appears after the bomb is dropped. they will report that to their superiors. they will, investigate that. occasionally, they get reports from outside sources, from the media, from air wars that tracks these things. they can were often than not to actually discount those reports and it is her own internal reports they take the most seriously -- which is why the number is so low, for hundred 66 civilians killed in 14,000 airstrikes. if that was true, it would make it must precise air war in history of humanity. but because the threshold for what qualifies as evidence for being a civilian is extremely high muscle in practice, people like basim in fact are guilty until proven innocent. amy: is basim included in this count? >> initially, he was in. wasrge part of our pressing distress

but an on-the-ground investigation by reporters azmat khan and anand gopal found the actual civilian death toll may be 31 times higher than the u.s. is admitting. they write -- "in terms of civilian deaths, this may be the least transparent war in recent american history." you will hear the authors of that report on democracy now! next week when we are back in new york. in news from syria, russia has vetoed a united nations security council measure to renew an international inquiry into who is to blame for chemical weapons attacks in syria. zimbabwean president robert mugabe emerged from house arrest today to attend a university graduation in the capital of harare. this marked his first appearance in public since the zimbabwean military launched an apparent coup earlier this week. mugabe has resisted calls by the military to resign. the 93-year-old-old mugabe has ruled zimbabwe since it became an independent country 37 years ago. in nigeria 15 people have died after four suicide bombers set off explosives on wednesday in the northern city of maiduduguri whicich is considered to be th

in an expose entitled "the uncounted," journalists azmat khan and anand gopal revealed the u.s. is killing civilians in up to one in every five airstrikes -- a figure 31 times higher than the pentagon admits. in his letter, congressman lieu demanded the pentagon investigate "the times" reports of civilian casualties, writing -- "if the findings are accurate, the coalition's conduct not only may violate the law of armed conflict, it may also help isis in recruiting efforts. " and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. we begin today's show looking at sexual harassment in washington and what happens to a member of congress when someone dares to come forward to report wrongdoing. on monday, senator al franken returned to congress in the face of allegations from four women now that he had groped or inappropriately touched women. and contrite franken vowed "this will not happen again." >>