As the pilot positions the helicopter to attack the building, two unarmed men walk towards, and perhaps into, the building. That's when I started screaming, "The boy's alive! [17] Julian Assange said "permission to engage was given before the word 'RPG' was ever used". [58] Reuters subsequently asked the U.S. military to probe the deaths. We were probably there on the roof for another four to five hours. [But] I was actually starting to get kind of better. Our heavy hearts still hold hope that we can restore inside our country the acknowledgment of your humanity, that we were taught to deny. That's the hard part to swallow. Though we have acted with cold hearts far too many times, we have not forgotten our actions towards you. 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. 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. Among the group were two Iraqi war correspondents working for Reuters, Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen. There is no bringing back all that was lost. I'm guilty of it, too, myself. Ad Choices, U.S. It wasnt like a cry of pain really. "I grabbed him and ran to the Bradley myself". The soldier, Ethan McCord, has since been discharged from the military and has been an outspoken voice against the Iraq War. [Then] we were just told to move to this [other] location. For about 5 to 10 minutes the team diverted its attention to this vehicle. 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. An Apache maneuvered around a building to get a clear field of fire and shot all nine men, killing eight. [56] U.S. forces spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Scott Bleichwehl later stated: "There is no question that coalition forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force". However, personally I don't feel that the attack on the van was warranted. [43], Assange responded to the investigation report released by the Army in an interview with Democracy Now!, stating that "the tone and language is all about trying to find an excuse for the activity. The Washington Post has denied having any copy of the unedited video prior to WikiLeaks release of their edited version, and Finkel (who was on book leave from The Washington Post at the time) said that he has never made any statement about his sources for the story, except that it was "sourced from unclassified information and my presence in the area that day". After attending to the girl's wounds and handing her to a medic, McCord was ordered to take position on the roof but he returned to the van to find the boy moving his hand. Ethan McCord pulled your daughter and son from the van, and when doing so, saw the faces of his own children back home. ", "Hudson Institute > Warfare Through 'a Soda Straw', "Gates assails Internet group over attack video", "WikiLeaks releases video depicting US forces killing of two Reuters journalists in Iraq", "Leaked Video Depicts Civilian Deaths In Iraq", "Video shows death of 2 Reuters employees in Baghdad attack", "WaPo denies allegation it sat on WikiLeaks video", "Two members of the company in the WikiLeaks video speak out", "US soldier in WikiLeaks massacre video: 'I relive this every day', "Former US soldier speaks (interview transcript)", "US intelligence analyst arrested over security leaks", "U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in WikiLeaks Video Probe", "Report: Soldier arrested for allegedly leaking 'Collateral Murder' helicopter video to WikiLeaks", "Bradley Manning pleads guilty to some Wikileaks charges", "Bradley Manning Found Guilty of 19 Counts, Not Guilty of Aiding The Enemy", "Bradley Manning Found Not Guilty of Aiding the Enemy", "Army Pfc. "The helicopters were approximately a mile and a half away and they were zooming in on these guys . Ethan and Josh are available for interviews. Seven men were killed, including Noor-Eldeen and Chmagh, with three others being wounded. 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. With such pain, friendship might be too much to ask. I went back outside to the van, and that's when the boy took, like, a labored, breath. Ukraine Suffered More Wiper Malware in 2022 Than Anywhere, Ever. On June 7, 2010, The New Yorker reported that Kristinn Hrafnsson, an investigative reporter who worked on the Collateral Murder video and later became a spokesman for WikiLeaks,[54] said he had found the owner of the building involved in the incident. James W. McCord Jr., a security expert who led a band of burglars into the shambles of the Watergate scandal and was the first to expose the White House crimes and cover-ups that precipitated the . I think it is good that they're putting this stuff out there. [78] Gates stated: "They're in a combat situation. Both of these men, Chmagh and Tomal, were killed in the second strike, and two of Tomal's children were badly wounded. Wired.com: Did you try to get information about the two children after the shooting? 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". [59][16] In a personal statement during her court-martial, Chelsea Manning stated that the military had access to the video, and was actively examining it, yet it told Reuters in response to the FOIA request that the information might no longer exist. "Our forces were engaged in combat all that day with individuals that fit the description of the men in that video. Smoked is basically like you're doing pushups a lot, you're doing sit-ups crunches and flutter kicks. Fox News later stated that "although it could be argued AK-47 rifles are common household items, RPGs are not". Wired.com: How much sniper fire were you getting? That classified video created its own firestorm. McCord admits that she was sad to go because she had been there for a decade and a half, but that "it wasn't the end of the world" and that she wasn't worried for "a nanosecond" that . [86], Ethan McCord, the soldier seen in the video carrying the injured boy, recalled in an interview on The Marc Steiner Show that on arrival at the scene, "The first thing I did was run up to the van". They're smoking you, they're making you tired. The Push to Ban TikTok in the US Isnt About Privacy. He's no longer in the Army. [19], As the tape resumes, two men, one holding an AK-47, are seen walking. "The first thing I thought of was my children at home". There had been a lot of RPG, grenade fire and so on, and they were doing what journalists do. Josh . McCord: She had a stomach wound and she had glass in her eyes and in her hair. 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. One of the first soldiers on the scene after the air attack, Ethan McCord, is now the subject of a short documentary, Incident in New Baghdad, which will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York next week. Reuters also stated that local police described the attack as "random American bombardment". 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. "[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. [21], The Air Weapons Team (AWT) of two Apache AH-64s from the 1st Cavalry Division had been requested by the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment (216), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Kauzlarich, before July 12 to support Operation Ilaaj. [28] Noor-Eldeen has a camera and Chmagh is talking on his mobile phone. "[32][77] He said that WikiLeaks "does not point out that at least one man was carrying an AK-47 assault rifle. "[88] In this interview, McCord reports that repercussions for seeking mental health help could include being labeled as a "malingerer", a crime under U.S. military law. "[32], The Guardian stated "It is unclear if some of the men are armed but Noor-Eldeen can be seen with a camera". [50] In a later interview on the World Socialist Web Site, Stieber said that the attack "exposes so clearly the fallacy of using war as a tool of foreign policy or as a way to supposedly spread 'freedom and democracy' around the world".[51]. 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. With Russia regularly knocking out Ukraines power grid, the country has turned to high-capacity batteries to keep it connected to the worldand itself. [32], On the day of the attack the U.S. military reported that the two journalists were killed along with nine insurgents, and that the helicopter engagement was related to a U.S. troop raid force that had been attacked by small-arms fire and RPGs. A third, an infantry solider named Ethan McCord, was one of the men who had scooped up the bodies of the wounded children in the apache helicopter attack, what is now known as the "Collateral. If there's anything I can to do help, I would be more than happy to. The girl suffered from a stomach wound and glass in her eyes, and the boy a head injury. 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. Since then, McCord has been receiving threats to him and his family on a regular basis. 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. Knowing that I was part of the system that took their father away from them and made them lose their house it's heartbreaking. When this video first came out, there was a lot of outrage by the soldiers, just because it depicted us as being callous, cruel, heartless people, and we're not that way. More and more Americans are taking responsibility for what was done in our name. They were stating that these people had no weapons whatsoever, that they were just carrying cameras. 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. 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. The owner told him that three families were living in the building and seven residents had died, including his wife and daughter. [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). "[76], Captain Jack Hanzlik, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command stated that the airstrike video "gives you a limited perspective, [it] only tells you a portion of the activity that was happening that day. I don't think that people really want to see this, though, because this is war. Wired.com: But you had been in combat before. Wired.com: Civilians are supposed to know that they're not supposed to pick up a wounded person crawling in the road? Ethan McCord had just returned from dropping his children at school earlier this month, when he turned on the TV news to see grainy black-and-white video footage of a soldier running from a bombed-out van with a child in his arms. 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. I hit 'em" and another member of the crew responds "Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards".[29]. They request permission to fire a missile at the building, describing it as "abandoned" or "under construction". They're trained as soldiers to go into a building and clear a building. "[31], In May 2011 the Barcelona Human Rights Film Festival awarded the investigative film Collateral murder, Hellfire, done by Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks spokesperson, and Ingi Ingason, with the award for International Journalism and Human Rights. We're sorry for the system that we were involved in that took their father's life and injured them. So I went to a sergeant and asked to see [the mental health person], because I was having a hard time dealing with it. 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. It was pretty much a shock when we got there to see what had happened, the carnage and everything else. Wired.com: Do you support Wikileaks in releasing this video? [39][40] Just as the van was destroyed, U.S. ground troops made their final turn and arrived on the road with the van. They're like, oh yeah, we're the "collateral murder" company. In the video, you can clearly see that they did have weapons to the trained eye." We are both soldiers who occupied your neighborhood for 14 months. 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