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. I don't think that [the] big picture is whether or not [the Iraqis who were killed] had weapons. [97] On July 30, Manning was acquitted of the most serious charge, that of aiding the enemy, for giving secrets to WikiLeaks. In an interview on NPR on April 6, the day after the Collateral Murder video release, David Finkel said that the Reuters reporters were not embedded with anyone, but working independently. 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. [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. "[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. Two former soldiers from the Army unit responsible for the Wikileaks "Collateral Murder" incident have written an open-letter of "Reconciliation and Responsibility" to those injured in the July 2007 attack, in which U.S. forces wounded two children and killed over a dozen people, including the father of those children and two Reuters employees. This is the problem that we're speaking out on as far as the rules of engagement. There is no bringing back all that was lost. 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. [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. 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. The missile hits the building, and the man is caught in the explosion. Ad Choices, U.S. 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. He is seen swinging the weapon below his waist while standing next to the man holding the RPG. 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). [61] The longer video shows the third attack, in which Hellfire missiles were fired into a building.[43]. Since then, McCord has been receiving threats to him and his family on a regular basis. She concluded that command structures need to be in place to identify "combatants with serious psychological problems". [89], When interviewed by Wired, McCord stated that he supported WikiLeaks in releasing the video, with some qualifications: "When it was first released I don't think it was done in the best manner that it could have been. Lawmakers are increasingly hellbent on punishing the popular social network while efforts to pass a broader privacy law have dwindled. We're sorry for the system that we were involved in that took their father's life and injured them. More and more Americans are taking responsibility for what was done in our name. "[90], James Spione made a short documentary film about the airstrikes called Incident in New Baghdad, featuring a first-person account from Ethan McCord. If there's anything I can to do help, I would be more than happy to. McCord: I've spoken with one of the medics who was there. Fox News later stated that "although it could be argued AK-47 rifles are common household items, RPGs are not". [18] A long shadow cast on the ground by a telephoto lens on Noor-Eldeen's camera is misidentified by the pilot as an additional RPG aimed at him and a U.S. Army Humvee directly below his aircraft. In the video, you can clearly see that they did have weapons to the trained eye." Just from looking into the van, and the amount of blood that was on the boy and the father, I immediately figured they were dead. Wired.com: But you had been in combat before. Instead, the Apaches decided to completely obliterate everybody in the van. Josh . I hit 'em" and another member of the crew responds "Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards".[29]. ", The letter, which they hope to get to the family who lost their father and whose children were injured in the attack, states that they "are acknowledging our responsibility for bringing the battle to your neighborhood, and to your family. 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. The soldier, Ethan McCord, has since been discharged from the military and has been an outspoken voice against the Iraq War. We are doing what we can to speak out against the wars and military policies responsible for what happened to you and your loved ones. That's the hard part to swallow. On July 12, 2007, a series of air-to-ground attacks were conducted by a team of two U.S. AH-64 Apache helicopters in Al-Amin al-Thaniyah, New Baghdad, during the Iraqi insurgency which followed the invasion of Iraq. It was sent back for more reporting in an effort to incorporate a wider range of experts. [85] 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. 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]. 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). [19], The team observed several individuals from this group, some possibly wounded, run into a large multistory building. [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. 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. The majority of us aren't. The soldier, Ethan McCord, has since been discharged from the military and has been an outspoken voice against the Iraq War. It was nominated as a Documentary Short Subject for the 84th Academy Awards. Ethan McCord, who was one of the first soldiers on the scene in the 2007 attack, told Wired.com that he saw several weapons at the scene, including a rocket propelled grenade launcher. The film received an Oscar nomination in January. In a third strike, Apache pilots watched people, including some armed men, run into a building and engaged that building with several AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. An Apache maneuvered around a building to get a clear field of fire and shot all nine men, killing eight. McCord: I doubt that they were a part of that firefight. 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. 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. Ethan McCord was a U.S. soldier on patrol in Baghdad in July 2007 when he came upon a scene he says he'd never encountered. 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. They heard about something, they came to it and they just wantedfrom everything I've learned since, they were just there to get that side of the story. 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". Wired.com: Civilians are supposed to know that they're not supposed to pick up a wounded person crawling in the road? WikiLeaks identified the leak's source as "a number of military whistleblowers". The review was not released in full until 2010, after the video of the incident had been released by WikiLeaks. One second later he screams, "He's got an RPG!" But you guys did have a firefight a couple of blocks away. [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. I would like the American people and the whole world to understand what happened here in Iraq. Seven men (including Noor-Eldeen) were killed during this first strike; Saeed Chmagh, who was injured, later died in a hospital. We lost our country and our lives were destroyed. [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. "[32][77] He said that WikiLeaks "does not point out that at least one man was carrying an AK-47 assault rifle. They were stating that these people had no weapons whatsoever, that they were just carrying cameras. They split up and the footage follows one who appears to be armed. I was pretty distraught over the whole situation with the children. I was also told that there would be repercussions if I was to go to mental health. In 2009, Stieber left the military as a conscientious objector and became a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. 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. 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. She draws parallels with soldiers who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder in earlier wars. In refusing to recognize this, the US military fails both its own soldiers and their victims. They did have weapons there. [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. 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. "These people can put out anything they want, and they're never held accountable for it. When the cameraman on the ground aimed his camera in the direction of Bravo Company 216, a pilot remarked "He's getting ready to fire". [61] Speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, a U.S. Defense official confirmed the authenticity of the leaked audio and video. Advertisement. Though we have acted with cold hearts far too many times, we have not forgotten our actions towards you. There's houses behind where the van was. [56], The Washington Post reported it was unclear whether the journalists were killed by U.S. fire or by shooting from the targeted Iraqis. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C 107. She said that she was "aghast" at Finkel's portrayal of the incident. The company was supported by two Apache helicopters from the 1st Cavalry Division's Aviation Brigade, call signs "Crazyhorse 1/8" and "Crazyhorse 1/9". You joke about the situations and what's happened to push away your true feelings of the matter. And With Reason", July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike radio traffic, US intelligence analyst arrested over Wikileaks video, WikiLeaks editor on Apache combat video: No excuse for US killing civilians, Families of Victims of 2007 US Helicopter Killing React to Leaked Video, Ethan McCord Describes Emotional Toll of Witnessing Killings, 'Collateral Murder' in Baghdad Anything But, Use of white phosphorus by the United States, United States and the International Criminal Court, A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq, "The wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time", AfghanIraqi Freedom Memorial (Salem, Oregon), The Iraq War: A Historiography of Wikipedia Changelogs, Democratic National Committee v. Russian Federation, WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=July_12,_2007,_Baghdad_airstrike&oldid=1140602029, Articles with dead external links from May 2019, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with dead external links from July 2022, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Press reports of the number killed vary from 12, Representation (including audio) by Banksy, October 9, 2013. That [ the ] big picture is whether or not [ the who! Popular social network while efforts to pass a broader privacy law have dwindled with one of the medics who there... The Apaches decided to completely obliterate everybody in the van back all that was lost that.. Later stated that `` although it could be argued AK-47 rifles are common items... For the system that we 're speaking out on as far as the rules of engagement here in Iraq matter. 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