On Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran, the deadliest strike in terms of civilian casualties was on a girl’s elementary school in the town of Minab, Iran. The attack killed at least 175 people, most of whom were children.

In the immediate aftermath, neither Israel nor the United States took responsibility for the attack. But a New York Times visual investigation found that the school appeared to be targeted by a precision strike and that the United States was the likely culprit.

And yet, President Trump tried to pin blame on Iran. “In my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran,” Trump told reporters. “We think it was done by Iran, because they’re very inaccurate with their munitions, they have no accuracy whatsoever, it was done by Iran.”

Since then, a preliminary investigation by the Pentagon found that the United States was indeed at fault for the strike. Iran does not even possess the type of missile that was used.

This kind of attack can’t be brushed aside as just the unfortunate cost of war. The high civilian death toll — many of whom were schoolgirls between the ages of 7 and 12 — and the fact that the site was a school, entitled to special protection under international law, should make the attack a scandal deserving of the utmost scrutiny.

That’s why a military investigation alone is not enough. Congress should launch an independent inquiry to find out what went wrong, how, and why. The findings of that investigation should be made public, and depending on what those findings are, officials responsible for any wrongdoing must be held accountable.

An independent investigation is about more than just accountability. It’s also about ensuring that an attack like this does not happen again. If it was a mistake, then what can be done to prevent that kind of mistake in the future?

One of the alarming findings that emerged in the aftermath of the strike is that it could have been a result of outdated data. The school was adjacent to an Iranian naval base, which was the target of the US strikes that day. According to The New York Times, the school at one point was part of the naval base but has since at least 2016 been partitioned off. If that’s true, then why is the US military operating on information that’s at least a decade old?

During the bombing campaign against what was then Yugoslavia in 1999, the United States accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three and creating an international uproar. Officials blamed that mishap on outdated maps — so why is that still a problem almost 30 years later?

There are also questions about whether artificial intelligence played a role in the deadly strike.

Congress can maximize pressure on the Trump administration to provide answers by using the power of the purse. It’s expected that the White House will require supplemental funding for the war — at least an additional $50 billion — and lawmakers should pause before considering such requests. They should demand answers and ensure that the Trump administration doesn’t stonewall any investigations and that taxpayer money isn’t spent funding operations that result in deadly attacks like the tragic one on the elementary school.

Getting to the bottom of this should not be a partisan issue. Republicans have also expressed their concerns about the strike on the school. “I think it was a horrible, horrible mistake,” Republican Senator John Kennedy, of Louisiana, said. “And when you make a mistake, you ought to admit it.”

Republicans should work with Democrats to get answers. After all, even if Republican lawmakers fully support Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, it is still their responsibility to ensure that the United States is accurate and precise in targeting enemy combatants, not innocent civilians, let alone children. If this strike highlights something systemically wrong with the Pentagon’s operations, that would make clear that the longer this war lasts, the more likely it is that strikes like the one on the elementary school could happen again. For supporters of the war, that’s not only a moral stain but also a strategic blunder that would only strengthen popular support for the Iranian regime and further exacerbate anti-Western sentiments. And without Republican leadership, neither Congress nor the public will get the answers needed from the White House.

This is also an opportunity to review the Pentagon’s standards and procedures, especially under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Since Hegseth took this role, he has been boasting about US military strength and adamantly arguing that the United States should be less cautious when it comes to considering standard rules of engagement and international law. When Trump rebranded the Department of Defense into the Department of War, Hegseth insisted that the Pentagon will focus on “maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct.”

It’s worth digging into whether standards under Hegseth have indeed been lowered, and if so to what degree. It’s already been reported that he gutted the offices that would have been tasked with probing situations like the strike on the elementary school. What else has happened under Hegseth that could minimize accountability and potentially make strikes like this one all the more likely in the future?

Those are just some of the issues Congress should be investigating. And when lawmakers get answers, they should share them with the public. We might be at war, but we should still hold the Pentagon to the highest of standards.

— Boston Globe