The men become obscured behind a building as the Apache moves around the group. In the first example maybe it's collateral exaggeration or incompetence when they strafe the initial gathering, this is recklessness bordering on murder, but you couldn't say for sure that was murder. [92][93] The Internet chats between Manning and Lamo were revealed to the public by Wired. Tasked to conduct escort, armed reconnaissance patrols, and counter-IED and counter-mortar operations, the two helicopters left Camp Taji at 9:24a.m. They also found 10-year-old Sajad Mutashar and his five-year-old sister Doaha covered in blood in a van. For instance, the Web site takes special care to slow down the video and identify the two photographers and the cameras they are carrying. Oh well", and a minute later continued, "Well, it's their fault for bringing kids into a battle". 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. WikiLeaks stated that the footage shows the "murder of Iraqi civilians and two Reuters journalists". Soldier on 2007 Apache Attack: What I Saw", "Redacted internal US Army report: "Investigation into Civilian Casualties Resulting from an Engagement on 12 July 2007 in the New Baghdad District of Baghdad", "WikiLeaks releases video of slaughter in Iraq", "Military shooting of Reuters men online", "Joan Smith: Now we see what war does to those who wage it", "US soldier on Baghdad airstrike: "Not out of the ordinary in Iraq", "2 soldiers in 'Collateral Murder' video apologize. Smith describes this reaction as inhuman. Soldier Ethan McCord's Eyewitness Story, "Shadowed, Clamoring, Blurry. 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. "These people can put out anything they want, and they're never held accountable for it. I just kept telling him, "Don't die; don't die." WikiLeaks stated 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. 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. And cracking jokes is a way of pushing that stuff down. Wired.com: At the time you arrived on the scene, you didn't know what had happened, is that right? That classified video created its own firestorm. On the video, it is then seen that Army soldiers establish a perimeter around the site and extract the children from the burning van. I went back outside to the van, and that's when the boy took, like, a labored, breath. McCord: I doubt that they were a part of that firefight. When a congressman tried to jail him for his actions that day he . Their request was denied at the briefing and they were told to seek access under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. She draws parallels with soldiers who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder in earlier wars. [21][79], The New Yorker praised its release, calling it "a striking artifactan unmediated representation of the ambiguities and cruelties of modern warfare".[3]. McCord added, "I don't say that Wikileaks did a bad thing, because they didn't. Wired.com: Wikileaks presented the incident as though there was no engagement from insurgents. (The quote begins at 12:22 in video, and the shot that killed Saaed is at 12:25)", "Stephen Colbert Interviews WikiLeaks Founder", "US veterans write apology letter to Iraqis following WikiLeaks video", "We killed your father I'm heartbroken", "Widow of Iraqi killed by US troops in video 'accepts apology' after letter", "Airstrike Video Brings Attention to WikiLeaks Site", "Elliptical vs. treadmill: Which will give you the better workout? I was told to go pull security on a rooftop. We humbly ask you what we can do to begin to repair the damage we caused. 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. Seven men (including Noor-Eldeen) were killed during this first strike; Saeed Chmagh, who was injured, later died in a hospital. This is why we called it Collateral Murder. As the pilot positions the helicopter to attack the building, two unarmed men walk towards, and perhaps into, the building. Manning's Providence Inquiry", "US military video showing 2007 Apache attack on Iraqi civilians released", "Leaked video shows US military killing of civilians, Reuters staff", "Permission to Engage: WikiLeaks collateral murder footage examined", "US soldier linked to Iraq helicopter video leak charged", "Leaked U.S. video shows deaths of Reuters' Iraqi staffers", "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange tells Colbert permission to engage was given before the word RPG was ever used", "Leaked video reveals chaos of Baghdad attack", Investigation into Civilian Casualties Resulting from an Engagement on 12 July 2007 in the New Baghdad District of Baghdad, Iraq, "Gates said leaked military video of shooting in Iraq doesn't show the broader picture of Americans being fired upon", "Records released to the public, under the FOIA, that are or will likely become the subject of subsequent requests", "July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike transcript", "Video expands notoriety of WikiLeaks site", "WikiLeaks reveals video showing US air crew shooting down Iraqi civilians", "The pictures that prove US helicopter gunships opened fire on Iraqi civilians", "Calls for inquiry into Apache attack on Iraqi civilians", "U.S. Military Releases Redacted Records on 2007 Apache Attack, Questions Linger", "Wikileaks reveals video showing US air crew shooting down Iraqi civilians", "Video shows deaths of two Reuters journalists in Iraq in 2007", "Massacre Caught on Tape: US Military Confirms Authenticity of Their Own Chilling Video Showing Killing of Journalists", "Military Raises Questions About Credibility of Leaked Iraq Shooting Video", 'Let Us Shoot': US Troops Fire On Journalists, Legal Glance on the Baghdad Helicopter Shooting | Peanik, "U.S. [59], An internal legal review by staff at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in Iraq during July 2007 stated that the helicopters had attacked a number of armed insurgents within the rules of engagement, and that in an apparent case of civilian casualties two reporters working for Reuters had also been killed. [96] Her trial on the remaining charges began on June 3, 2013. Wired.com: Did you try to get information about the two children after the shooting? On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [28] Noor-Eldeen has a camera and Chmagh is talking on his mobile phone. I grabbed the medic and we went into the back. They're trained as soldiers to go into a building and clear a building. I was pretty distraught over the whole situation with the children. Nearly every Iraqi household has a rifle or an AK. [16] The military reported that it could not find its copy of the video. Reuters responded, "It is absolutely untrue that this story was spiked. [67], WikiLeaks released a 39-minute version, which shows all three incidents, and a 17-minute version, which shows only the first two incidents. Please accept our apology, our sorrow, our care, and our dedication to change from the inside out. Josh . 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 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". We acknowledge our part in the deaths and injuries of your loved ones as we tell Americans what we were trained to do and what we carried out in the name of "god and country". That's not leaking, that's a pure editorial." Ethan McCord: Right. Ethan McCord who says he scooped up the children and at least one of his comrades say the incident revealed the bankrupt brutality of the war. When I saw their faces, I was relieved, but I was just heartbroken. 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. When he is rescued, suddenly that belief changed. The ground controller responds, "If you've [positively identified] the individuals in the building with weapons, go ahead and engage the building". Wired.com: Civilians are supposed to know that they're not supposed to pick up a wounded person crawling in the road? You can make out in the video [someone] carrying an AK-47, swinging it down by his legs. And as far as the way that the soldiers are speaking in the video, which is pretty callous and joking about what's happened that's a coping mechanism. [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". New details reveal that Beijing-backed hackers targeted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, adding to a string of attacks in the region. 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". I have a huge place in my heart for children, having some of my own. 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. So if people have a different opinion, the full material is there for them to analyse and assess. McCord states he was yelled at for not "pulling security". 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