When the crew were informed that a child had been injured by their attack, one initially responded, "Ah damn. "[60], Early in 2010, the Internet whistleblower site WikiLeaks made a public request for assistance in decrypting a video it described as "US bomb strikes on civilians", specifically requesting access to supercomputer time. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The crew then reposition the helicopter and fire two more missiles into the upper floors of the building[44], WikiLeaks said in the preface to one of their videos of the incident that "some of the men appear to have been armed [although] the behavior of nearly everyone was relaxed" in the introductory text of the shorter video. [28] Noor-Eldeen has a camera and Chmagh is talking on his mobile phone. The soldier in the video said that your husband shouldn't have brought your children to battle, but we are acknowledging our responsibility for bringing the battle to your neighborhood, and to your family. He runs the girl to the Bradley. McCord's courage and integrity has nothing to do with his US army training. The soldier, Ethan McCord, has since been discharged from the military and has been an outspoken voice against the Iraq War. I don't think that [the] big picture is whether or not [the Iraqis who were killed] had weapons. "[111] An article at Gawker stated that Reuters reporter Luke Baker had written an article claiming that the airstrikes may have been war crimes, but Reuters refused to run the story. In an Al Jazeera English interview on April 19, 2010, WikiLeaks' Julian Assange explained why WikiLeaks titled the video Collateral Murder: And you can see that they also deliberately target Saaed, a wounded man there on the ground, despite their earlier belief that they didn't have the rules of engagementthat the rules of engagement did not permit them to kill Saeed when he was wounded. McCord: I've spoken with one of the medics who was there. You joke about the situations and what's happened to push away your true feelings of the matter. He said that the debate should be re-framed, that it is more appropriate to ask "questions of the larger system" that teaches "doing these things is in the best interests of my own country". Gates said that the video provides the public with a view of warfare "as seen through a soda straw". We are both soldiers who occupied your neighborhood for 14 months. The breakthroughs and innovations that we uncover lead to new ways of thinking, new connections, and new industries. In the video, you can clearly see that they did have weapons to the trained eye." Josh states that these casualties demonstrate the impact of U.S. military policy on both the civilians and the soldiers on the ground. So, the first thing I did was grab the girl. On 19 April 2010, Ethan McCord, who appears on the ground in the video, and Josh Steiber, a member of the same company who was not present on the day, wrote an open Letter of Reconciliation & Responsibility to the Iraqi People apologising for the events in the video. They did have weapons there. [115], While the Air Weapons Team was providing support at the first engagement area they were informed by ground troops that they were receiving small arms fire from the south/southwest. So I just sucked it up and tried to move on with everything. Smoked is basically like you're doing pushups a lot, you're doing sit-ups crunches and flutter kicks. 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. Part of Banksy's, This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 21:26. "I grabbed him and ran to the Bradley myself". [43] The report stated that the helicopter crew did not know how many people were in the building when they destroyed it with missiles, and that "there is evidence that unarmed people have both entered and are nearby". Bill Keller of The New York Times wrote, "But in its zeal to make the video a work of antiwar propaganda, WikiLeaks also released a version that didn't call attention to an Iraqi who was toting a rocket-propelled grenade and packaged the manipulated version under the tendentious rubric Collateral Murder. I had blood all down the front of me from the children. 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. [56], The Washington Post reported it was unclear whether the journalists were killed by U.S. fire or by shooting from the targeted Iraqis. Lying dead on a street were inanimate objects that turned out to be. When a congressman tried to jail him for his actions that day he . But the video and accompanying audio make clear that the soldiers in the helicopter said they spotted 'weapons' among those in the grouplater identified by an internal army investigator as an AK-47 and an RPG. Wired.com: But you had been in combat before. "[32], The Guardian stated "It is unclear if some of the men are armed but Noor-Eldeen can be seen with a camera". I was up on a rooftop at that time. Reuters also stated that local police described the attack as "random American bombardment". 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? In 2009, Stieber left the military as a conscientious objector and became a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. McCord: There were approximately two to three other people who were moving who were still somewhat alive, and the medics were attending to them. And that in turn is what helped me and Josh write the letter, hoping that it would find its way to them to let them know that we're sorry. Our heavy hearts still hold hope that we can restore inside our country the acknowledgment of your humanity, that we were taught to deny. These people were operating in split second situations.". [59] Reuters requested a copy of the full video under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on the same day. You can hear the medic saying on the video, "There's nothing I can do here, she needs to be evac'd." [19] This account of first bringing the wounded children to the Combat Support Hospital appears to be contradicted by orders by radio that form part of the video record, which forbids it and orders that the children be handed over to local police. China Is Relentlessly Hacking Its Neighbors. The Apache crew saw unarmed[25] men exit the vehicle and move to Chmagh. They also found 10-year-old Sajad Mutashar and his five-year-old sister Doaha covered in blood in a van. [81], Publicity of the incident ballooned following the release of the footage. WikiLeaks identified the leak's source as "a number of military whistleblowers". She draws parallels with soldiers who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder in earlier wars. Ethan McCord: Right. 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. Ad Choices, U.S. "[112], On April 5, 2010, the same day as the release of the video footage by WikiLeaks, the United States Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, released a collection of documents including two investigative reports. [25] Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com said that "the vast majority of the men were clearly unarmed". Tasked to conduct escort, armed reconnaissance patrols, and counter-IED and counter-mortar operations, the two helicopters left Camp Taji at 9:24a.m. It was a scene that had played repeatedly in his mind the last three years, and he knew exactly who the soldier was. With Russia regularly knocking out Ukraines power grid, the country has turned to high-capacity batteries to keep it connected to the worldand itself. With such pain, friendship might be too much to ask. 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". And then the father, who I'm assuming was the father, in the driver's seat slumped over on his side. However, the co-pilot/gunner then observed a child and some other non-combatants in the vicinity of the individuals and decided to hold off on the engagement until the non-combatants were clear. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C 107. Fox News later stated that "although it could be argued AK-47 rifles are common household items, RPGs are not". Ethan McCord, a former US soldier, has shown great courage and integrity by exposing and condemning US war crimes in Iraq. As the pilot positions the helicopter to attack the building, two unarmed men walk towards, and perhaps into, the building. The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our livesfrom culture to business, science to design. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. [58], On July 25, 2007, during an off-the-record briefing in Baghdad by the U.S. military, two Reuters editors were shown "less than three minutes of video from the Apaches gun camera, up to the exact moment it opened fire the first time." [16] The military reported that it could not find its copy of the video. They also found two Canon EOS digital cameras with telephoto lenses. Wired.com: Civilians are supposed to know that they're not supposed to pick up a wounded person crawling in the road? [65][66] He condemned and reported the massacre as soon as it happened. 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. [57], Reuters reported that it could locate no witnesses who had seen gunmen in the immediate area. It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation. They were stating that these people had no weapons whatsoever, that they were just carrying cameras. Those guys could have just been protecting their area". 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. The film received an Oscar nomination in January. The story was then overtaken by a more updated one out of Washington that incorporated reporting from the original piece. Stuff like that happens on a daily basis in Iraq. A unit from Bravo Company 216 was within 100 meters of the individuals that were fired upon with 30mm AH-64 Apache cannons. That classified video created its own firestorm when the whistleblower site Wikileaks posted it April 5 on a website titled "Collateral Murder" and asserted that the attack was unprovoked. 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. 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. We humbly ask you what we can do to begin to repair the damage we caused. I was trying to wash it off in my room. . Two men were identified by Crazyhorse 1/8 as carrying an RPG launcher and an AKM or AK-47. We heard the gunships open up. And where the soldier said [in the video], "Well, you shouldn't take your kids to battle." 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. He kept saying, we were there, we know the truth, they're saying there was no weapons, there was. Many soldiers felt threatened just by the fact that you were looking at them, so they fired their weapons on anybody that was looking at them because they (I . The flood of emotions came back. [18][25][31] The Apache crew requested permission to engage, stating it "looks like [the men] possibly, picking up bodies and weapons" from the scene,[33] and repeated their request to shoot,[7][34][35][36][37] before they received permission to begin firing on the van and its occupants. "Our forces were engaged in combat all that day with individuals that fit the description of the men in that video. You are seeing only a very narrow picture of the events". [97] On July 30, Manning was acquitted of the most serious charge, that of aiding the enemy, for giving secrets to WikiLeaks. 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. [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. 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. [92][93] The Internet chats between Manning and Lamo were revealed to the public by Wired. [17], In an interview with Fox News Assange said that "it's likely some of the individuals seen in the video were carrying weapons" and "based upon visual evidence I suspect there probably were AKs and an RPG, but I'm not sure that means anything. [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. Using short sentences, similar punctuation, or using the same words frequently as well as using Grammarly can boost your content as AI written. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. McCord: I wasn't around that building when it happened. However, the long version of the video shows that this van had already been targeted by one Apache (Crazyhorse 1/8), prior to the second strike, as it traveled south toward the Reuters employees who were simultaneously targeted by the other Apache (Crazyhorse 1/9) as they walked with the group of men north on the same road toward the van. 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. The crew for Crazyhorse 1/9 could not engage due to target obfuscation from buildings and dust. US Soldiers from Wikileaks Collateral Murder Video Apologize. [32], U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized WikiLeaks for releasing the video without providing any context. When we were on that roof, we were still taking fire. And I picked him up and started running with him over to the Bradley. I did see a video on YouTube after the Wikileaks [ video ] came out, of the children being interviewed. They're trained as soldiers to go into a building and clear a building. They arrived on station in New Baghdad at 9:53a.m., where sporadic attacks on coalition forces continued. But you're not supposed to do that in Iraq. The footage was portrayed as classified,[7] but the individual who leaked it, U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning,[a] testified in 2013 that the video was not classified. I'm guilty of it, too, myself. [18][25][31] As the U.S. soldiers moved towards the site of the attack, a van stopped near Chmagh. In the video, you can clearly see that they did have weapons to the trained eye. Seven men were killed, including Noor-Eldeen and Chmagh, with three others being wounded. That's a violation of the laws of war and of course what the mainstream media have omitted from their stories is this context. There's houses behind where the van was. This is his account of what he saw. 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. We were probably there on the roof for another four to five hours. "[88] McCord also recalled being ordered to "kill every motherfucker on the street" in the event of an attack on their convoy. The ground controller responds, "If you've [positively identified] the individuals in the building with weapons, go ahead and engage the building". Noor-Eldeen fails to photograph the Apache but three pictures of the U.S. Humvee appear on his camera's memory card when it was recovered by U.S. soldiers. 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