He later sought help for psychological trauma, but was ridiculed by his NCO and told that if he were to go to the mental health officer, "there would be repercussions". All rights reserved. "[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 took her in there and we're checking to see if there were any other wounds. Wired.com: What did you understand that to mean? For about 5 to 10 minutes the team diverted its attention to this vehicle. He responded, "I hadn't heard of WikiLeaks before yesterday. He was shot and killed. It's obviously a hard thing to see. He was kind of sitting on the floorboard of the van, but with his head laying on the bench seat in the front. [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. Seven men were killed, including Noor-Eldeen and Chmagh, with three others being wounded. 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. When a congressman tried to jail him for his actions that day he . 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. Wired.com: Did you try to get information about the two children after the shooting? [38] The children, a girl and boy, suffered injuries. 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. For instance, the Web site takes special care to slow down the video and identify the two photographers and the cameras they are carrying. 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. There's no easy way to kill somebody. He looked at me, then his eyes rolled back into this head. They did have weapons there. 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 didn't know if he was telling me that just to get me to shut up and to do my job or if he really found something out. [81] McCord: I've spoken with one of the medics who was there. The owner told him that three families were living in the building and seven residents had died, including his wife and daughter. [57], Reuters reported that it could locate no witnesses who had seen gunmen in the immediate area. Tasked to conduct escort, armed reconnaissance patrols, and counter-IED and counter-mortar operations, the two helicopters left Camp Taji at 9:24a.m. The girl suffered from a stomach wound and glass in her eyes, and the boy a head injury. Since then, McCord has been receiving threats to him and his family on a regular basis. But you guys did have a firefight a couple of blocks away. [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. [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. China Is Relentlessly Hacking Its Neighbors. 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. But for Army veteran Ethan McCord, it was just another day on duty. [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]. [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. [28] Noor-Eldeen has a camera and Chmagh is talking on his mobile phone. [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. FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. He gave his view of the context of the killings: the Reuters guys walked into the hottest spot of a very hot morning. They're like, oh yeah, we're the "collateral murder" company. 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. The Apache crew then alerted the ground troops that they believed that they could see an injured child moving around inside the destroyed van. Instead, the Apaches decided to completely obliterate everybody in the van. Describing doubts over his initial enthusiasm in Iraq, McCord said that "I didnt understand why people were throwing rocks at us, why I was being shot at and why we're being blown up, when I have it in my head that I was here to help these people. It was more of a child who was frightened out of her mind. It could be that since he and Amelia (Sigrid Thornton) have quit. 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. The first real serious doubt, where I could no longer justify to myself being in Iraq or serving in the Army, was on that day in July 2007. Fox News reported in 2010 that the rules of engagement in Iraq had not been changed since the incident occurred. There is no bringing back all that was lost. Wired.com: The first thing you saw was the little girl in the van. I was called a pussy and that I needed to suck it up and a lot of other horrible things. 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. This is why we called it Collateral Murder. [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. Some of them [say] I don't care what anybody says they're not there. [47] The Australian newspaper said the group was displaying "no obvious hostile action". [2][22] Pentagon officials told the Reuters news agency that U.S. military lawyers were reviewing the video and could reopen an investigation into the incident,[67] but a spokesperson later said that there were no plans to reopen the investigation. 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. Ethan McCord: Right. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. One second later he screams, "He's got an 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. [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'. Colbert asked "So 'Collateral Murder' is to get political impact?" Josh states that these casualties demonstrate the impact of U.S. military policy on both the civilians and the soldiers on the ground. The missile hits the building, and the man is caught in the explosion. [18] Both helicopters strafe a group of ten men with 30 mm rounds once they became visible again. BACKGROUND ON JOSH STIEBER: Branch of service: United States Army (USA) Unit: 1st ID Rank: Spc. It wasnt like a cry of pain really. 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. However, I don't feel that the attack on the [rescue] van was necessary. 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. Among the group were two Iraqi war correspondents working for Reuters, Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen. 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