WikiLeaks posts video of 'US military killings' in Iraq

[SlyPokerDog]

WikiLeaks has posted a video on its website which it claims shows the killing of civilians by the US military in Baghdad in 2007.

The website's organisers say they were given the footage, which they say comes from cameras on US Apache helicopters.

They say they decrypted it, but would not reveal who gave it to them.

The WikiLeaks site campaigns for freedom of information and posts leaked documents online. So far there has been no official Pentagon response.

However, Reuters and the Associated Press have quoted unnamed US military officials as confirming the video was genuine.

High-quality video

The video, released on Monday, is of high quality and appears to be authentic, the BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says.

It is accompanied by a recording of the pilots' radio transmissions and those of US troops on the ground.

The video shows a street in Baghdad and a group of about eight people, whom the helicopter pilots identify as armed insurgents.

The transmissions says of one of the individuals: "He's got an RPG [rocket-propelled grenade]. I'm going to fire."

After a voice on the transmission urges the pilot to "light 'em all up", the individuals on the street are shot by the gunship's cannon.

A few minutes later a van drives to the scene, and its occupants appear to start picking up a wounded person.

It, too, is fired upon. Altogether, around 12 people die.

'Hostile force'

The transmission continues: "Looks like we've got some slight movement from the van that was engaged. Looks like a kid."

US soldiers on the ground establish there are two child casualties and agree to take them to a hospital, according to the transmission.

"Well it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle," says a voice.

Two journalists working for Reuters were killed on the day the incident took place in July 2007.

A spokeswoman for the news agency said they were not sure if the individuals in the footage included those two Reuters journalists.

WikiLeaks has published a statement from Reuters news editor-in-chief David Schlesinger saying that the video was "graphic evidence of the dangers involved in war journalism and the tragedies that can result".

At the time, the US military said the helicopters were engaged in combat operations against a hostile force.

WikiLeaks said the video demonstrated that civilians had died in the incident, and that the US military's rules of engagement were flawed.

The website's organisers complained recently of coming under surveillance by the US government, and of harassment by other governments, ostensibly for their role in posting leaked documents on sensitive subjects.

Here's the video. Right or wrong, justified or not you'd like to see a little more reason to "eliminate" 12 threats. The bottom line is it's f'cking war. If you don't want to get killed by the winner don't walk abound with weapons.

And don't stand next to someone with a weapon.

 

[illmatic99]

"Well it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle," says a voice.

That quote and pretty much the whole story made me sick to my stomach

 

[SlyPokerDog]

That was sad and unfortunate. But that didn't happen because of incompetency, our troops are very well trained, very well equipped and are excellent at what they do. There were some times during that where I was very impressed by their accuracy and efficiency.

I'd like to see the battles in that same area before this occurred. I think it would help to provide a more complete picture.

 

[illmatic99]

What disturbed me most was how eager they seemed to kill. This video will do nothing to help right America's image to the world, which has for years dissented this "war."

 

[SlyPokerDog]

What disturbed me most was how eager they seemed to kill. This video will do nothing to help right America's image to the world, which has for years dissented this "war."

Nah. It's unfortunate but it's not inhuman. Those gun crews were responding to perceived and targeted threats in an actively hostile area. They weren't just firing randomly. I was sadden about the children getting shot too but I just don't know if there was a better way to handle that.

 

[illmatic99]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36182090#36182090

"Do not strike anyone who has surrendered or out of combat due to sickness or wounds."

That was in reference to when the people in the van showed up to aid the wounded. Yet they kept on firing. I call that inhuman.

 

[Haakzilla]

The bottom line is it's f'cking war. If you don't want to get killed by the winner don't walk abound with weapons.

And don't stand next to someone with a weapon.

...I saw absolutely nobody walking around with "weapons" in that video

 

[barfo]

I don't see anything particularly surprising about this video. It's very hard to ask people for ID when you are shooting them from a helicopter.

barfo

 

[SlyPokerDog]

...I saw absolutely nobody walking around with "weapons" in that video

At the beginning there was one man with a rifle and there was the photographer who was squatted down while adjusting or reloading his camera at the very edge of the building. Watch the very first part again. The photographer really did look like he was ducked around the corner of the building with a RPG.

 

[DeanMoriarty]

When does hearing about the possibility of guys with weapons walking around justify firing at anyone you want?

Even if those were enemies, since when are we allowed to shoot "medics" or people who don't aim back?

And that children comment? Disgusting.

The guys in this vid are probably working some low-level military job for the rest of their lives because an officer ordered them to shoot indiscriminately.

Lose-lose situation for all.

ALSO, the argument that "it's war, it happens" is based on absurd logic. If this were the case, then we might as well say that Al Qaeda was justified in bombing the twin towers because it's war and casualties are unfortunate.

We might as well just nuke the goddamn Middle-East. We've been estranged with Israel for awhile now, Iran is a threat, too many problems in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc. Casualties will be suffered but as long as we take out the bastards and their ideals, we will have won.

Actually, I figure members of Al Qaeda are hiding all over the world, so we might as well start bombing enemies in every other country as well. We could nuke our soil, that will take care of the Socialists at the very least.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36182090#36182090

"Do not strike anyone who has surrendered or out of combat due to sickness or wounds."

That was in reference to when the people in the van showed up to aid the wounded. Yet they kept on firing. I call that inhuman.

And the terrorists have been known to take the very recently dead or the seriously injured, wire them with explosives and move them to where our troops or the Iraqi police will find them. If you've already been shot and are dying that's a pretty good time to decide to become a martyr/human bomb and try to take out some of the enemy with you.

It wasn't as if our troops were just firing indiscriminately everywhere and they accidentally hit some people. They had reasons behind their targeting and were very efficient at eliminating those targets.

 

[Rodolfo]

...I saw absolutely nobody walking around with "weapons" in that video

The guys at the 3:38 mark look like they're holding guns.

The graphic nature of the video shocked me, but the actions of the pilots didn't. We need to get the fuck out of there, soon.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

We need to get the fuck out of there, soon.

This!

 

[illmatic99]

They had reasons behind their targeting and were very efficient at eliminating those targets.

And unfortunately, their "targets" were civilians.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

That was sad and unfortunate. But that didn't happen because of incompetency, our troops are very well trained, very well equipped and are excellent at what they do. There were some times during that where I was very impressed by their accuracy and efficiency.

I'd like to see the battles in that same area before this occurred. I think it would help to provide a more complete picture.

I agree completely.

 

[blue32]

This is pretty damn telling...... to my untrained eye, I did not see any evidence of guns, but its also not unheard of for their citizens to carry. Also the Heli pilot said they were shooting? I don't know. I easily saw the camera and it did not look like a freakin' RPG....

I have a couple of friends that were in the Army, rolling on the tanks shooting the piss out of insurgents and possibly civvies as well. They're still trigger happy to this day, so I definitely feel for the innocent....big time.

You'd think they'd want to come in for a closer look, they were at least a quarter mile or more a way..

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

If I wouldnt have been told those where cameras before the video, I would have assumed they had guns also.

It might have been a good idea for the guys with the cameras to hold their cameras up when they saw the helicopter flying around them for a visual ID... especially when you are walking near bad guys with AK47's.

The people who edited this video had the time etc. to look carefully at it over and over and examine every detail. Obviously the soldiers in the helicopter cant do that in the heat of the moment.

I could never be soldier. I wouldt be able to deal with/handle stuff like that.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

If I wouldnt have been told those where cameras before the video, I would have assumed they had guns also.

It might have been a good idea for the guys with the cameras to hold their cameras up when they saw the helicopter flying around them for a visual ID... especially when you are walking near bad guys with AK47's.

The people who edited this video had the time etc. to look carefully at it over and over and examine every detail. Obviously the soldiers in the helicopter cant do that in the heat of the moment.

I could never be soldier. I wouldt be able to deal with/handle stuff like that.

Good post.

 

[blue32]

Apparently we need better cameras on those Apache's.

 

[ABM]

Nah. It's unfortunate but it's not inhuman. Those gun crews were responding to perceived and targeted threats in an actively hostile area. They weren't just firing randomly. I was sadden about the children getting shot too but I just don't know if there was a better way to handle that.

[video=youtube;S06nIz4scvI]

 

[TradeNurkicNow]

I'm just going to pretend like our intelligence is stop notch and I just saw a bunch of "terrists" get killed and not innocent civilians.

 

[MARIS61]

The cavalier attitude and glee expressed by the shooter is disgusting. This is not a person playing with a full deck.

Frightening to know he will eventually be back in America, walking the streets unmonitored, looking for targets.

 

[Luther]

At the beginning there was one man with a rifle and there was the photographer who was squatted down while adjusting or reloading his camera at the very edge of the building. Watch the very first part again. The photographer really did look like he was ducked around the corner of the building with a RPG.

Dude you are an absolute moron. These guys murdered innocent people and you keep trying to justify it. These men are sick fucks and were so eager to kill they were making shit up...."There is a van approaching trying to pick up bodies AND WEAPONS"......Then they OPEN FIRE ON A VAN WITH FUCKING CHILDREN INSIDE...what the fuck is wrong with you? Imagine if another country had soldiers in your neck of the woods and pulled this shit. Pull your head out of your ignorant ass and for one second think about the families that were affected by this....jesus.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

The cavalier attitude and glee expressed by the shooter is disgusting. This is not a person playing with a full deck.

Frightening to know he will eventually be back in America, walking the streets unmonitored, looking for targets.

These guys are trained to have no remorse. Trained killers. I fucking hate war.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Dude you are an absolute moron. These guys murdered innocent people and you keep trying to justify it. These men are sick fucks and were so eager to kill they were making shit up...."There is a van approaching trying to pick up bodies AND WEAPONS"......Then they OPEN FIRE ON A VAN WITH FUCKING CHILDREN INSIDE...what the fuck is wrong with you? Imagine if another country had soldiers in your neck of the woods and pulled this shit. Pull your head out of your ignorant ass and for one second think about the families that were affected by this....jesus.

They didn't know the van had children in it. That was truly tragic that those children were shot.

 

[Rodolfo]

This is pretty damn telling...... to my untrained eye, I did not see any evidence of guns, but its also not unheard of for their citizens to carry. Also the Heli pilot said they were shooting? I don't know. I easily saw the camera and it did not look like a freakin' RPG....

I have a couple of friends that were in the Army, rolling on the tanks shooting the piss out of insurgents and possibly civvies as well. They're still trigger happy to this day, so I definitely feel for the innocent....big time.

You'd think they'd want to come in for a closer look, they were at least a quarter mile or more a way..

at one point in the video, one of the photographers crouched behind a building at started taking pictures. The pilot assumed he was getting ready to fire an RPG.

 

[Luther]

They didn't know the van had children in it. That was truly tragic that those children were shot.

It's odd they were sure they saw weapons yet they couldn't see 2 children in the front seat of a car with the window down. The men operating the helicopter need to be punished severely. I would love to see these men jailed for 20+ years.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

It's odd they were sure they saw weapons yet they couldn't see 2 children in the front seat of a car with the window down. The men operating the helicopter need to be punished severely. I would love to see these men jailed for 20+ years.

The video is from the helicopter. What we're watching is what they saw. Even when the one frame of the video showing the passenger side window of the van is magnified it's very hard to see what that is.

If they could clearly see that those two blurs were children and decided to fire anyway then you are 1000% correct. Those men should be jailed for life. You're saying that they knew there were children there and decided to fire anyway. I'm not seeing that.

 

[Luther]

The video is from the helicopter. What we're watching is what they saw. Even when the one frame of the video showing the passenger side window of the van is magnified it's very hard to see what that is.

If they could clearly see that those two blurs were children and decided to fire anyway then you are 1000% correct. Those men should be jailed for life. You're saying that they knew there were children there and decided to fire anyway. I'm not seeing that.

Hm. I didn't know that they had to look through a low quality camera when flying a multi millon dollar helicopter. I've never been in an Army aircraft before but I'm going to assume they can look with THEIR EYES to spot potential threats...Not a shitty camera. Either way. If any of those people even looked like they had weapons and were firing....I would not give a flying fuck and would be glad that our soldiers came out alive and the enemy did not prevail. Unfortunately it seems like a bunch of innocent photographers and a few children were brutally wounded or murdered by two trigger happy soldiers who were incredibly eager to kill.

 

[Denny Crane]

This is pretty damn telling...... to my untrained eye, I did not see any evidence of guns, but its also not unheard of for their citizens to carry. Also the Heli pilot said they were shooting? I don't know. I easily saw the camera and it did not look like a freakin' RPG....

I have a couple of friends that were in the Army, rolling on the tanks shooting the piss out of insurgents and possibly civvies as well. They're still trigger happy to this day, so I definitely feel for the innocent....big time.

You'd think they'd want to come in for a closer look, they were at least a quarter mile or more a way..

The video was quite disturbing, obviously.

However, the audio was of the radio communications so you couldn't hear what was going on in the helicopter or on the ground. The soldiers did say that shots were fired. That's some extra context, but not nearly enough, IMO.