The Apache crew saw unarmed[25] men exit the vehicle and move to Chmagh. [16][18][30] After the lead helicopter fires, one of the crew shouts "Hahaha. I have a huge place in my heart for children, having some of my own. As the killing goes on, you obviously would see the killing of men who are lying on the ground in an operation where ground troops are approaching and perfectly capable of taking those people captive, but meanwhile you're murdering before the troops arrive. I hit 'em" and another member of the crew responds "Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards".[29]. [62] At a February 2013 pretrial hearing, Manning stated that Finkel "was quoting, I feel in verbatim, the audio communications of the aerial weapons team crew". Some of them [say] I don't care what anybody says they're not there. The second strike, also using 30mm rounds, was directed at a van whose driver, Saleh Matasher Tomal, appeared to happen to drive by and who proceeded to help the wounded Chmagh. McCord was captured in a video shot from one helicopter as he ran frantically to a military vehicle with Sajad in his arms seeking medical care. But this particular eventthis is clearly murder. One second later he screams, "He's got an RPG!" It happened because my content was bad. Wired.com: Was anyone moving when you got there other than the two children? Ethan McCord, a former US soldier, has shown great courage and integrity by exposing and condemning US war crimes in Iraq. [61] The longer video shows the third attack, in which Hellfire missiles were fired into a building.[43]. He gave his view of the context of the killings: the Reuters guys walked into the hottest spot of a very hot morning. I was told to go pull security on a rooftop. "[88] McCord also recalled being ordered to "kill every motherfucker on the street" in the event of an attack on their convoy. [61], Washington Post reporter David Finkel, who at the time was embedded with Bravo Company 216 Infantry, later covered the incidents of the day in his book, The Good Soldiers. Wired.com: At the time you arrived on the scene, you didn't know what had happened, is that right? The film received an Oscar nomination in January. I know the van, I know the faces of everybody that was there that day. Well in all actuality, we brought the battle to your kids. The event was covered by Al Jazeera English and Reuters,[16] and later by The Washington Post,[82] The New York Times,[2] The Christian Science Monitor,[83] the BBC,[66] and CNN. Fox News reported in 2010 that the rules of engagement in Iraq had not been changed since the incident occurred. [28] Noor-Eldeen has a camera and Chmagh is talking on his mobile phone. [63] The site stated on its Twitter account on January 8, 2010, that it had a copy of gunsight footage of the incidents. Wired.com: Have you heard from any other soldiers since the video came out? A passing van then stopped and attempted to load a wounded man. [18] A long shadow cast on the ground by a telephoto lens on Noor-Eldeen's camera is misidentified by the pilot as an additional RPG aimed at him and a U.S. Army Humvee directly below his aircraft. Ethan Cord (Horsley) is still a man with a conscience, and kids, but he is also less reluctant to rely on his ability with a gun. We have been speaking to whoever will listen, telling them that what was shown in the Wikileaks video only begins to depict the suffering we have created. Ethan McCord describes the moment he realised Sajad Toman was alive In July 2007, 19 people were killed when an Apache helicopter opened fire on a group of Iraqis whom the pilots had identified. Both children were said to have been evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital via Forward Operating Base Loyalty, then transferred to an Iraqi medical facility the next day. Wired.com: The first thing you saw was the little girl in the van. Both of these men, Chmagh and Tomal, were killed in the second strike, and two of Tomal's children were badly wounded. They heard about something, they came to it and they just wantedfrom everything I've learned since, they were just there to get that side of the story. [43] It concluded that an investigating officer would want to know how the armed men were identified as combatants from the earlier engagement; would question the nature of the collateral-damage estimate carried out by the crew before the missiles were launched; and would wish to determine whether a missile attack was a proportionate response to the threat. [21][79], The New Yorker praised its release, calling it "a striking artifactan unmediated representation of the ambiguities and cruelties of modern warfare".[3]. It was nominated as a Documentary Short Subject for the 84th Academy Awards. They split up and the footage follows one who appears to be armed. [32], U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized WikiLeaks for releasing the video without providing any context. "I grabbed him and ran to the Bradley myself". Towards the end of the show, the star actor became an active member of the Screen Actors Guild and after he left "Adam-12." A unit from Bravo Company 216 was within 100 meters of the individuals that were fired upon with 30mm AH-64 Apache cannons. Captain James Hall stated they couldn't drive in Bradleys in fear of running over bodies. These people were operating in split second situations.". She said that she was "aghast" at Finkel's portrayal of the incident. You can hear the medic saying on the video, "There's nothing I can do here, she needs to be evac'd." [22], In the video on the morning of July 12, 2007, the crews of two United States Army AH-64 Apache helicopters observe a gathering of men near a section of Baghdad in the path of advancing U.S. ground troops, some armed with AKMs and RPGs. We were probably there on the roof for another four to five hours. So if people have a different opinion, the full material is there for them to analyse and assess. And where the soldier said [in the video], "Well, you shouldn't take your kids to battle." However, I do know some soldiers went in to clear that building afterwards and there were some people with weapons in there, but there was also a family of four that was killed. [110], Mark Taylor, an international law expert and a director at the Fafo Institute for International Studies in Norway, told Al Jazeera "there's a case to be made that a war crime may have been committed." I was also told that there would be repercussions if I was to go to mental health. The video doesn't show the broader picture of the firing that was going on at American troops. We humbly ask you what we can do to begin to repair the damage we caused. [48], In The Independent on April 8, 2010, human rights activist Joan Smith wrote that the engagements were like a game to the helicopter crew. Daniel Ellsberg, a former United States military analyst who was known for having leaked the Pentagon Papers to the media, said of the airstrike: It would be interesting to have someone speculate or tell us exactly what context would lead to justifying the killing that we see on the screen. [15] An anonymous U.S. military official confirmed the authenticity of the footage,[16] which provoked global discussion on the legality and morality of the attacks. After getting permission to fire, the Apache crew fired on the van. McCord, together with another former member of the company, Josh Stieber, have addressed an open "Letter of Reconciliation" to the Iraqi people taking responsibility for their role in this. McCord: I've spoken with one of the medics who was there. Wired.com: But you had been in combat before. I didn't know if he was telling me that just to get me to shut up and to do my job or if he really found something out. [19], Fox News said that of the attack "WikiLeaks appears to have done selective editing that tells only half the story. From our own experiences, and the experiences of other veterans we have talked to, we know that the acts depicted in this video are everyday occurrences of this war: this is the nature of how U.S.-led wars are carried out in this region. He condemned and reported the massacre as soon as it happened. Two men assisting in the rescue effort were from a group of five standing at an intersection seen in the upper right corner of the video when the Reuters employees arrive in the courtyard reported to Apaches as being a second position combatants were using to attack the Humvee. It didn't seem real, in the sense that it didn't look like human beings. [94], WikiLeaks said they were unable to confirm whether or not Manning was the source of the video, stating "we never collect personal information on our sources", but saying that "if [Manning is the] whistleblower then, without doubt, [s]he's a national hero"[95] and "we have taken steps to arrange for [her] protection and legal defence". It's very clear that that is the approach, to try and find any mechanism to excuse the behavior, and that is what ended up happening. It's very disturbing. When Bravo Company arrived at the scene, they reported finding two RPGs and an AK-47 or AKM. That's why so many soldiers come back home and they're no longer in the situations where they have other things to think about or other people to joke about what happened and they explode. Using short sentences, similar punctuation, or using the same words frequently as well as using Grammarly can boost your content as AI written. I think that the people could have been deterred from doing what they were doing in the van by simply firing a few warning shots versus completely obliterating the van and its occupants.[52][53]. Josh states that these casualties demonstrate the impact of U.S. military policy on both the civilians and the soldiers on the ground. China Is Relentlessly Hacking Its Neighbors. [49], On Democracy Now!, Josh Stieber, who was at the time assigned to Bravo Company 216, said that although it's natural to "judge or criticize the soldiers", in fact "this is how [they] were trained to act". [58] Reuters subsequently asked the U.S. military to probe the deaths. He responded, "I hadn't heard of WikiLeaks before yesterday. [2], After the U.S. military concluded that the actions of the soldiers were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own "Rules of Engagement", WikiLeaks released the classified Rules of Engagement for 2006, 2007 and 2008, revealing the rules before, during, and after the attacks. [25] Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com said that "the vast majority of the men were clearly unarmed". You don't just take somebody's life and then go on about your business for the rest of the day. He kept saying, we were there, we know the truth, they're saying there was no weapons, there was. Killing of Reuters Employees", "Dealing With Assange and the WikiLeaks Secrets", "Iraq war files: Apache Hellfire victims", "US soldier on aftermath of WikiLeaks Apache attack", Leaked U.S. video shows deaths of Reuters' Iraqi staffers, "Notes from the Courtroom: Alexa O'Brien's Transcript of Pfc. Their age, their weapons, and the fact that they were within the distance of the forces that had been engaged made it apparent these guys were potentially a threat. Just from watching that video, people cannot understand the complex battles that occurred. Gabriel Schoenfeld, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, said of the airstrike: It is precisely the presence of weapons, including RPGs, that goes a long distance toward explaining why cameramen for Reuterspointing television cameras around corners in a battle zonewere readily mistaken by our gunships for insurgents. But you're not supposed to do that in Iraq. Wired.com: Wikileaks presented the incident as though there was no engagement from insurgents. I can accept their apology, because they saved my children, and if it were not for them, maybe my two little children would be dead. I think that the bigger picture is what are we doing there? I'm guilty of it, too, myself. In addition to five[98][99] or six[100][101][102] espionage counts, she was also found guilty of five theft specifications, two computer fraud specifications and multiple military infractions. It was sent back for more reporting in an effort to incorporate a wider range of experts. Ethan McCord was a U.S. soldier on patrol in Baghdad in July 2007 when he came upon a scene he says he'd never encountered. We've been there for so long now and it seems like nothing is being accomplished whatsoever, except for we're making more people hate us. Michael Bailey a medic who treated some of. The girl suffered from a stomach wound and glass in her eyes, and the boy a head injury. In the video, you can clearly see that they did have weapons to the trained eye." To all of those who were injured or lost loved ones during the July 2007 Baghdad shootings depicted in the "Collateral Murder" Wikileaks video: We write to you, your family, and your community with awareness that our words and actions can never restore your losses. There's no front lines here. [65][66] [104][105][106][107] Pursuant to a commutation by President Obama, Chelsea Manning was released on May 17, 2017. That's a violation of the laws of war and of course what the mainstream media have omitted from their stories is this context. McCord: She had a stomach wound and she had glass in her eyes and in her hair. When a congressman tried to jail him for his actions that day he . They're smoking you, they're making you tired. [45][114], "Cameramen and armed insurgents" (all captions from the Army report), "Cameraman peering around corner of wall", "Pictures taken by ground forces after reaching the site". (quote begins at 5:15)", "Soldiers in 'Collateral Murder' video apologise", "Meet The New Public Face Of WikiLeaks: Kristinn Hrafnsson Forbes", "2 Iraqi Journalists Killed as U.S. Apache helicopters were called in by a soldier in the Humvee (Hotel 26) under attack from the same position used by Namir Noor-Eldeen to photograph the vehicle. Bradley Manning acquitted of aiding the enemy, convicted of six counts of espionage", "Bradley Manning acquitted of aiding the enemy for giving secrets to WikiLeaks", "BBC News Bradley Manning guilty of espionage in Wikileaks case", "Manning Gets 35 years for wikileaks disclosures", "Bradley Manning Sentenced To 35 Years In Prison For WikiLeaks Disclosures", "Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison live updates", "Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years", "Obama commutes Chelsea Manning's prison sentence", "Obama's final press conference: Chelsea Manning commutation is 'appropriate', "The WikiLeaks Video and the Rules of Engagement", "Exclusive: Reuters Chief Spikes Story on Killing of His Own Staffers In Baghdad", "US 'reviewing' Iraq killing video posted on WikiLeaks", "Ingi Ingason Ragnar and Kristinn Hrafnsson awarded International Journalism and Human Rights Award at Barcelona Human Rights Film Festival", "Verleihung des Whistleblower-Preises 2011", Whistleblower-Preis 2011 geht an Kernforscher, Collateral Murder: U.S.
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