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. 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. However, personally I don't feel that the attack on the van was warranted. [32] Assange also said "it's ludicrous to allege that we have taken anything out of context in this video". He is seen swinging the weapon below his waist while standing next to the man holding the RPG". 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. It was more of a child who was frightened out of her mind. [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. We are both soldiers who occupied your neighborhood for 14 months. They did have weapons there. Hanzlik said images gathered during a military investigation of the incident show multiple weapons around the dead bodies in the courtyard, including at least three RPGs. I do know that there was a teenage girl [in there], just because I saw the pictures when I was there, that one of the soldiers took. McCord: I would be smoked. [Then I] took my children to school one day and I came home and sat down on the couch and turned on the TV with my coffee, and on the news I'm running across the screen with a child. Soldier Ethan McCord's Eyewitness Story, "Shadowed, Clamoring, Blurry. We humbly ask you what we can do to begin to repair the damage we caused. Eamonn McCann Mon Aug 19 2013 - 20:49 Bradley Manning was scheduled to speak yesterday at the sentencing phase of his trial for having leaked 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos to. There were plenty of times in the past where other insurgents would come by and pick up the bodies, and then we'd have no evidence or anything to what happened, so in looking at it from the Apache's point of view, they were thinking that [someone was] picking up the weapons and bodies; when, in hindsight, clearly they were picking up the wounded man. Part of Banksy's, This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 21:26. Seven men (including Noor-Eldeen) were killed during this first strike; Saeed Chmagh, who was injured, later died in a hospital. [8] The video, which WikiLeaks titled Collateral Murder, showed the crew firing on a group of men and killing several of them, then laughing at some of the casualties, all of whom were civilians, including two Reuters journalists. [18] The report recommends encouraging journalists in Iraq to wear special vests to identify themselves, and to keep the U.S. military updated about their whereabouts. [19], As the tape resumes, two men, one holding an AK-47, are seen walking. So I went to a sergeant and asked to see [the mental health person], because I was having a hard time dealing with it. 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". The Web site does not slow down the video to show that at least one man in that group was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a clearly visible weapon that runs nearly two-thirds the length of his body. Michael Bailey a medic who treated some of. McCord added, "I don't say that Wikileaks did a bad thing, because they didn't. I think it is good that they're putting this stuff out there. Wired.com: Civilians are supposed to know that they're not supposed to pick up a wounded person crawling in the road? The Push to Ban TikTok in the US Isnt About Privacy. [20] According to a military review, soldiers in that company "had been under sporadic small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire since" the operationdescribed as "clearing their sector and looking for weapons caches"began. [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. 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. 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. 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. [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. They also found two Canon EOS digital cameras with telephoto lenses. But you guys did have a firefight a couple of blocks away. You can hear the medic saying on the video, "There's nothing I can do here, she needs to be evac'd." 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. [63] The site stated on its Twitter account on January 8, 2010, that it had a copy of gunsight footage of the incidents. The WikiLeaks edited video did not add arrows pointing to these men, or label them, as it did with the men carrying cameras. Highlighted in the 17-minute version of the video are Noor-Eldeen with a camera and Chmagh talking on his mobile phone. 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). If there's anything I can to do help, I would be more than happy to. 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. And then the father, who I'm assuming was the father, in the driver's seat slumped over on his side. [117], In June 2011 the Federation of German Scientists (VDW) awarded the "Whistleblower Award" to the person who made the video Collateral Murder public via WikiLeaks. When Bravo Company arrived at the scene, they reported finding two RPGs and an AK-47 or AKM. [19], The team observed several individuals from this group, some possibly wounded, run into a large multistory building. WikiLeaks stated that the footage shows the "murder of Iraqi civilians and two Reuters journalists". Among the group were two Iraqi war correspondents working for Reuters, Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen. 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. [Then] we were just told to move to this [other] location. McCord: I have never seen anybody being shot by a 30-millimeter round before. [84], Finkel had reported the day in his book The Good Soldiers,[62] including conversations which closely matched the subsequently leaked video footage. Just over a year ago, WikiLeaks released footage from a gunsight camera of an Apache helicopter engaged in an attack that killed two journalists and eight ci. [47] The Australian newspaper said the group was displaying "no obvious hostile action". 2023 Cond Nast. We took her in there and we're checking to see if there were any other wounds. [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". I went back outside to the van, and that's when the boy took, like, a labored, breath. This is why we called it Collateral Murder. 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. After getting permission to fire, the Apache crew fired on the van. [59] Reuters requested a copy of the full video under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on the same day. However, I don't feel that the attack on the [rescue] van was necessary. I was also told that there would be repercussions if I was to go to mental health. Just from watching that video, people cannot understand the complex battles that occurred. Iraq war veteran Ethan McCord was one of three US soldiers who were on the ground during the Apache helicopter assault on twelve civilians in Baghdad in 2007 that was captured in a video. 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. "[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. 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. These people were operating in split second situations.". Assange said that Finkel had seen the video and that at least one individual at the offices of The Washington Post had a copy of the video for at least a year, prior to its release by WikiLeaks. The film received an Oscar nomination in January. In July 2007, McCord, a 33-year-old Army specialist, was engaged in a firefight with insurgents in an Iraqi suburb when his platoon, part of Bravo Company, 2-16 Infantry, got orders to investigate a nearby street. She had a stomach wound? There is no bringing back all that was lost. Wired.com: At the time you arrived on the scene, you didn't know what had happened, is that right? [68], Stephen Colbert, in an interview with Assange in April 2010, asked him about the title: "You have edited this tape, and you have given it a title called 'Collateral Murder'. 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. [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. But the time is long overdue that we say that the value of our nation's leaders no longer represent us. That's the hard part to swallow. It was pretty much a shock when we got there to see what had happened, the carnage and everything else. [17] Julian Assange said "permission to engage was given before the word 'RPG' was ever used". "Our forces were engaged in combat all that day with individuals that fit the description of the men in that video. 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. They were stating that these people had no weapons whatsoever, that they were just carrying cameras. [16][18][30] After the lead helicopter fires, one of the crew shouts "Hahaha. When we were on that roof, we were still taking fire. Home: Laytonsville, Maryland Served in: Baghdad (Rustamiyah) 07-08 Fort Riley, KS 06-07, 08-09, BACKGROUND ON ETHAN MCCORD: Branch of service: United States Army (USA) Unit: 1st ID Rank: Spc. It happened because my content was bad. Using short sentences, similar punctuation, or using the same words frequently as well as using Grammarly can boost your content as AI written. 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. The crew for Crazyhorse 1/8 then located multiple individuals with weapons about 400 meters east of coalition forces and was given clearance to engage the targets. [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". 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. It wasnt like a cry of pain really. McCord: I've spoken with one of the medics who was there. [97] On July 30, Manning was acquitted of the most serious charge, that of aiding the enemy, for giving secrets to WikiLeaks. 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? [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." [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. For about 5 to 10 minutes the team diverted its attention to this vehicle. 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. Fox News reported in 2010 that the rules of engagement in Iraq had not been changed since the incident occurred. When the helicopter pilots discover that they have killed a number of Iraqi civilians and wounded two children, one of them is heard to say: "Well, its their fault for bringing their kids into a battle".[41]. Josh Stieber was in the same company but was not there that day, though he contributed to the your pain, and the pain of your community on many other occasions. According to the U.S. Army investigation report released by the United States Central Command, the engagement started at 10:20 Iraqi local time and ended at 10:41. Personally, I believe the first attack on the group standing by the wall was appropriate, was warranted by the rules of engagement. 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. [81], Publicity of the incident ballooned following the release of the footage. But you're not supposed to do that in Iraq. [30], Assange stated that some of the press had not reported on the third airstrike, in which three Hellfire missiles were fired onto an apartment complex, which only appears in the longer unedited version of the two videos.[31]. Oh well", and a minute later continued, "Well, it's their fault for bringing kids into a battle". 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. Vehicle; "When I saw those kids, all I could picture was my kids back home". There were some people taking pot shots, sniper shots, at us on the rooftop. McCord: There were approximately two to three other people who were moving who were still somewhat alive, and the medics were attending to them. I was up on a rooftop at that time. China Is Relentlessly Hacking Its Neighbors. McCord: Yeah. Soldier on 2007 Apache Attack: What I Saw, 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. I was diagnosed with chronic, severe PTSD. I have a huge place in my heart for children, having some of my own. The boy's alive!" 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