[63] The site stated on its Twitter account on January 8, 2010, that it had a copy of gunsight footage of the incidents. The first real serious doubt, where I could no longer justify to myself being in Iraq or serving in the Army, was on that day in July 2007. When they arrived, they found a scene of fresh carnage the scattered remains of a group of men, believed to be armed, who had just been gunned down by Apache attack helicopters. I think it is good that they're putting this stuff out there. A Pentagon spokesman said the video did not contradict the official finding that the helicopters' crew acted within the rules of engagement and said that the inquiry backed the assessment that the group of men were carrying a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG). Both of these men, Chmagh and Tomal, were killed in the second strike, and two of Tomal's children were badly wounded. We are doing what we can to speak out against the wars and military policies responsible for what happened to you and your loved ones. The promise we make to our sources is that not only will we defend them through every means that we have available technologically, legally and politically but we will try and get the maximum possible political impact for the material that they give to us. Though we have acted with cold hearts far too many times, we have not forgotten our actions towards you. It was a scene that had played repeatedly in his mind the last three [], All the Settings You Should Change on Your New Samsung Phone, Its Time to Fall in Love With Nuclear FusionAgain, Give Your Back a Break With Our Favorite Office Chairs, Fat, Sugar, Salt Youve Been Thinking About Food All Wrong, Apple Users Need to Update iOS Now to Patch Serious Flaws. I was also told that there would be repercussions if I was to go to mental health. When we were on that roof, we were still taking fire. Wired.com: Did you try to get information about the two children after the shooting? Lawmakers are increasingly hellbent on punishing the popular social network while efforts to pass a broader privacy law have dwindled. "[32], The Guardian stated "It is unclear if some of the men are armed but Noor-Eldeen can be seen with a camera". [118][119], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}331849N 443043E / 33.3137N 44.512E / 33.3137; 44.512 (Airstrike of 2007-07-12). They were stating that these people had no weapons whatsoever, that they were just carrying cameras. Josh states that these casualties demonstrate the impact of U.S. military policy on both the civilians and the soldiers on the ground. WikiLeaks also does not point out that at least one man was carrying an AK-47 assault rifle. I grabbed the medic and we went into the back. [87], McCord discussed his experience in the battle in an interview with the World Socialist Web Site on April 28, 2010, stating, "What happened then was not an isolated incident. Michael Bailey a medic who treated some of. Stuff like that happens on a daily basis in Iraq. "[88] McCord also recalled being ordered to "kill every motherfucker on the street" in the event of an attack on their convoy. I don't think that people really want to see this, though, because this is war. In refusing to recognize this, the US military fails both its own soldiers and their victims. The co-pilot/gunner for Crazyhorse 1/9 spotted three individuals near this building get into a red SUV and drive away to the west. Among the group were two Iraqi war correspondents working for Reuters, Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen. [81] That classified video created its own firestorm. This is why we called it Collateral Murder. The editors asked to see the remaining footage so Reuters could check whether it had been edited or manipulated. A passing van then stopped and attempted to load a wounded man. 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. The film received an Oscar nomination in January. According to Tom Raju, a reporter at CNN, "the soldiers of Bravo Company, 216 Infantry had been under fire all morning from rocket-propelled grenades and small arms on the first day of Operation Ilaaj in Baghdad". I've had nightmares. If you or I saw someone wounded on the ground what is your first inkling? Our heavy hearts still hold hope that we can restore inside our country the acknowledgment of your humanity, that we were taught to deny. How to Make Sure Youre Not Accidentally Sharing Your Location, Security News This Week: Sensitive US Military Emails Exposed. In an interview on NPR on April 6, the day after the Collateral Murder video release, David Finkel said that the Reuters reporters were not embedded with anyone, but working independently. The video makes plain that in this incident, as in almost all military encounters in both Iraq and Afghanistan, our soldiers are up against forces that do not wear uniformsa violation of international law precisely because it places innocent civilians in jeopardy. FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. She said that she was "aghast" at Finkel's portrayal of the incident. [18][24][25][26][27] While the two are carrying media cards, a military officer claimed they were not wearing distinctive clothing identifying themselves as such. More and more Americans are taking responsibility for what was done in our name. Ethan McCord, a 33-year-old Army specialist, was engaged in a firefight with insurgents in an Iraqi suburb in July 2007, when his platoon, part of Bravo Company, 2-16 Infantry, got orders to. I'm guilty of it, too, myself. And then the father, who I'm assuming was the father, in the driver's seat slumped over on his side. New details reveal that Beijing-backed hackers targeted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, adding to a string of attacks in the region. It's obviously a hard thing to see. You Cant Trust App Developers Privacy Claims on Google Play, Mozilla researchers found that apps often provide inaccurate data use disclosures, giving people a false sense of security., Batteries Are Ukraines Secret Weapon Against Russia. However, according to the co-pilot for Crazyhorse 1/8 they failed to positively identify the occupants as combatants and returned to the previous engagement area. [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. Two men were identified by Crazyhorse 1/8 as carrying an RPG launcher and an AKM or AK-47. 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. Please accept our apology, our sorrow, our care, and our dedication to change from the inside out. The men become obscured behind a building as the Apache moves around the group. 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. classified video created its own firestorm. It also states that "The cameras could easily be mistaken for slung AK-47 or AKM rifles, especially since neither cameraman is wearing anything that identifies him as media or press". McCord: My platoon sergeant knew that I was having a hard time with it and that same night he came into the room and he told me, hey, just so you know, both of the children survived, so you can suck it up now. BACKGROUND ON JOSH STIEBER: Branch of service: United States Army (USA) Unit: 1st ID Rank: Spc. She wrote that the co-pilot urged a dying, unarmed journalist to pick up a weapon as he tried to crawl to safety and that "the Apache crew open[ed] fire on civilians". McCord: I wasn't around that building when it happened. [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. When the crew were informed that a child had been injured by their attack, one initially responded, "Ah damn. McCord: She had a stomach wound and she had glass in her eyes and in her hair. 2023 Cond Nast. Ethan applied for mental health support following this incident and was denied by his commanding officer. On the video, it is then seen that Army soldiers establish a perimeter around the site and extract the children from the burning van. They asked for an explanation of the confiscation of the journalists' two cameras, access to the on-board footage and voice communications from the helicopters involved, and access to the reports of the units involved in the incident, particularly logs of weapons taken from the scene. 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. 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]. 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. [38] The children, a girl and boy, suffered injuries. [42] According to the internal legal review, the helicopters engaged a group of armed insurgents, and that some were seen entering a nearby building. They request permission to fire a missile at the building, describing it as "abandoned" or "under construction". [25] Both videos depict the attack on the van, van driver, and two other men, and the aftermath when the two seriously injured children were evacuated by U.S. ground forces who arrived on the scene. Ethan McCord: From Atrocities in Iraq to Resisting U.S. Wars Tweet This interview was done by and first appeared in Revolution newspaper Revolution: In the attack shown in the WikiLeaks video, you were part of the unit that was at the scene, on the ground. The flood of emotions came back. Plus: Irans secret torture black sites, hacking a bank account with AI-generated voice, and Lance Bass unhinged encounter in Russia. It's very disturbing. We did unto you what we would not want done to us. This is his account of what he saw. Ethan McCord, a soldier who arrived on the scene after the attack, stated in an interview for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: From being in the perspective of the Apache helicopter crew, I can see where a group of men gathering, when there's a firefight just a few blocks away, which I was involved in, and theyre carrying weapons, one of which is an RPG. But you're not supposed to do that in Iraq. We have asked our fellow veterans and service-members, as well as civilians both in the United States and abroad, to sign in support of this letter, and to offer their names as a testimony to our common humanity, to distance ourselves from the destructive policies of our nation's leaders, and to extend our hands to you. Highlighted in the 17-minute version of the video are Noor-Eldeen with a camera and Chmagh talking on his mobile phone. [96] Her trial on the remaining charges began on June 3, 2013. With Russia regularly knocking out Ukraines power grid, the country has turned to high-capacity batteries to keep it connected to the worldand itself. [58] Reuters subsequently asked the U.S. military to probe the deaths. Fox News later stated that "although it could be argued AK-47 rifles are common household items, RPGs are not". Ethan McCord was a member of the military unit in "Collateral Murder" - the Wikileaks video showing 12 Iraqis being killed from a US helicopter.He rescued the two children severely wounded in the attack and is now speaking out to corroborate the Collateral Murder video. "The helicopters were approximately a mile and a half away and they were zooming in on these guys . [18] Both helicopters strafe a group of ten men with 30 mm rounds once they became visible again. Those guys could have just been protecting their area". We're sorry for the system that we were involved in that took their father's life and injured them. Forces Clash With Militias", "Reuters seeks U.S. probe into killing of Iraqi staff", "Return to Ward 17: Making peace with lost comrades", "Bradley Manning's statements during his trial", "U.S. gunfire kills two Reuters employees in Baghdad", "WikiLeaks silent on how it broke encryption", "Twitter / WikiLeaks: Have encrypted videos of U", "WikiLeaks posts video of 'US military killings' in Iraq", "Collateral Murder? I hit 'em" and another member of the crew responds "Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards".[29]. You joke about the situations and what's happened to push away your true feelings of the matter. I was told to go pull security on a rooftop. [29], A crew member requests authorization to engage after seeing five or six of the men moving in the direction of U.S. There's no front lines here. And I picked him up and started running with him over to the Bradley. [17] Julian Assange said "permission to engage was given before the word 'RPG' was ever used". 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