[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. 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. She had a stomach wound? [45][114], "Cameramen and armed insurgents" (all captions from the Army report), "Cameraman peering around corner of wall", "Pictures taken by ground forces after reaching the site". On the same day as the NPR interview, Finkel was asked how he had seen the unedited video and whether WikiLeaks had shown it to him. 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. [47] Greenwald called the second airstrike a "plainly unjustified killing of a group of unarmed men carrying away an unarmed, seriously wounded man to safety". [43] He walks into a building which has been identified as the source of fire at U.S. ground troops. So, the first thing I did was grab the girl. The story was then overtaken by a more updated one out of Washington that incorporated reporting from the original piece. 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. [96] Her trial on the remaining charges began on June 3, 2013. [18][25][31] As the U.S. soldiers moved towards the site of the attack, a van stopped near Chmagh. I was called a pussy and that I needed to suck it up and a lot of other horrible things. When I saw their faces, I was relieved, but I was just heartbroken. Ethan McCord, a former US soldier, has shown great courage and integrity by exposing and condemning US war crimes in Iraq. 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". I was also told that there would be repercussions if I was to go to mental health. [113], The report states that at least two members of the group which were first fired on were armed, that two RPGs and one AKM or AK-47 rifle could be seen in the helicopter video, and that these weapons were picked up by the follow-up U.S. ground troops. "[46] Assange later said "Based upon visual evidence, I suspect there probably were AKs and an RPG, but I'm not sure that means anything". 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 could be that since he and Amelia (Sigrid Thornton) have quit. [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. Wired.com: Did you try to get information about the two children after the shooting? WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Ahlam Abdelhussein Tuman, the widow of the man who had been driving the van, and the mother of the children McCord had carried out, responded to the open letter in 2010:[75]. Wired.com: Do you support Wikileaks in releasing this video? [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. [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. 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. 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. Towards the end of the show, the star actor became an active member of the Screen Actors Guild and after he left "Adam-12." 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. [81], Publicity of the incident ballooned following the release of the footage. 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. classified video created its own firestorm. [61] Speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, a U.S. Defense official confirmed the authenticity of the leaked audio and video. The company was charged with clearing their sector of any small armed forces, and had been under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). [81] 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. When Bravo Company arrived at the scene, they reported finding two RPGs and an AK-47 or AKM. Both of these men, Chmagh and Tomal, were killed in the second strike, and two of Tomal's children were badly wounded. 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. I have a huge place in my heart for children, having some of my own. [19], As the tape resumes, two men, one holding an AK-47, are seen walking. Tasked to conduct escort, armed reconnaissance patrols, and counter-IED and counter-mortar operations, the two helicopters left Camp Taji at 9:24a.m. "[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. http://www.mediasanctuary.orghttp://www.wikileaks.org U.S. Responsibility for civilian deaths in such encounters rests with those who violate the rules of war. [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. We did unto you what we would not want done to us. And I picked him up and started running with him over to the Bradley. [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. Since then, McCord has been receiving threats to him and his family on a regular basis. Wired.com: There was another attack depicted in the video that has received little attention, involving a Hellfire and a building that was fired on. 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 first thing I thought of was my children at home". 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. 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. But for Army veteran Ethan McCord, it was just another day on duty. 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. He is seen swinging the weapon below his waist while standing next to the man holding the RPG". The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. The Apache crew saw unarmed[25] men exit the vehicle and move to Chmagh. In refusing to recognize this, the US military fails both its own soldiers and their victims. He was kind of sitting on the floorboard of the van, but with his head laying on the bench seat in the front. They also found 10-year-old Sajad Mutashar and his five-year-old sister Doaha covered in blood in a van. [57], Reuters reported that it could locate no witnesses who had seen gunmen in the immediate area. It's very disturbing. Instead, the Apaches decided to completely obliterate everybody in the van. I'm guilty of it, too, myself. Wired.com: Have you heard from any other soldiers since the video came out? They're like, oh yeah, we're the "collateral murder" company. [39][40] Just as the van was destroyed, U.S. ground troops made their final turn and arrived on the road with the van. The Push to Ban TikTok in the US Isnt About Privacy. There is no bringing back all that was lost. The soldier, Ethan McCord, has since been discharged from the military and has been an outspoken voice against the Iraq War. Part of Banksy's, This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 21:26. [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). Wired.com: The first thing you saw was the little girl in the van. I always questioned it in the back of my mind. He was shot and killed. McCord, in New York for the festival premiere, told the story of what he experienced while saving two children wounded in the incident. But the time is long overdue that we say that the value of our nation's leaders no longer represent us. Smith describes this reaction as inhuman. [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. [16][18][30] After the lead helicopter fires, one of the crew shouts "Hahaha. She concluded that command structures need to be in place to identify "combatants with serious psychological problems". It was a scene that had played repeatedly in his mind the last three years, and he knew exactly who the soldier was. 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. [103], On August 21, 2013, Manning was sentenced to 35 years' imprisonment, reduction in rank from private first class to private, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and a dishonorable discharge. Give us a picture of what happened that day. [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]. 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". Series of air-to-ground attacks conducted in New Baghdad during the Iraqi insurgency, An AH-64 Apache helicopter, the type used in the attack, Arrest, convictions and sentencing of Manning, Attack on personnel and a van per U.S. Army report account, Attack on building per U.S. Army report account, Julian Assange's comments regarding U.S. Army report, List of coalition military operations of the Iraq War 2007, "In Disclosing Secret Documents, WikiLeaks Seeks 'Transparency', "Video Shows U.S. US Soldiers from Wikileaks Collateral Murder Video Apologize. You can see in this particular image he is lying on the ground and the people in the van have been separated, but they still deliberately target him. I would like the American people and the whole world to understand what happened here in Iraq. [91], In May 2010, a 22-year-old American Army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning, was arrested after telling hacker Adrian Lamo she had leaked the airstrike video, along with a video of another airstrike and around 260,000 diplomatic cables, to WikiLeaks. As the pilot positions the helicopter to attack the building, two unarmed men walk towards, and perhaps into, the building. There's no front lines here. 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. We were probably there on the roof for another four to five hours. And where the soldier said [in the video], "Well, you shouldn't take your kids to battle." However, I do know some soldiers went in to clear that building afterwards and there were some people with weapons in there, but there was also a family of four that was killed. The video doesn't show the broader picture of the firing that was going on at American troops. On the video, it is then seen that Army soldiers establish a perimeter around the site and extract the children from the burning van. Josh Stieber was not at the scene of the shooting but says similar incidents happened throughout his 14-month tour; "The acts depicted in this video are everyday occurrences of this war." Home: Wichita, Kansas, AN OPEN LETTER OF RECONCILIATION & RESPONSIBILITY TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE From Current and Former Members of the U.S. Military. [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. [18][25][31] Chmagh was killed[18][25][31] along with three other men, while two children, not known to be in the van to the U.S. forces, were injured. Our heavy hearts still hold hope that we can restore inside our country the acknowledgment of your humanity, that we were taught to deny. Their 43-year-old father, Saleh, had been driving them to a class when he spotted one of the wounded men moving in the street and drove over to help him, only to become a victim of the Apache guns. 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. 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". A unit from Bravo Company 216 was within 100 meters of the individuals that were fired upon with 30mm AH-64 Apache cannons. [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. 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. "[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. Among the group were two Iraqi war correspondents working for Reuters, Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen. I think it is good that they're putting this stuff out there. 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. After the incident, we went back to the FOB [forward operating base] and that's when I was in my room. I know the scene by heart; it's burned into my head. [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". Ethan Cord (Horsley) is still a man with a conscience, and kids, but he is also less reluctant to rely on his ability with a gun. [60] The Pentagon eventually blocked the FOIA request[25] despite several follow-up requests by Reuters. Ethan McCord pulled your daughter and son from the van, and when doing so, saw the faces of his own children back home. For instance, the Web site takes special care to slow down the video and identify the two photographers and the cameras they are carrying. McCord was captured in a video shot from one helicopter as he ran frantically to a military vehicle with Sajad in his arms seeking medical care. It's very disturbing. 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