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. However, personally I don't feel that the attack on the van was warranted. That classified video created its own firestorm. But for Army veteran Ethan McCord, it was just another day on duty. We are both soldiers who occupied your neighborhood for 14 months. [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. I have a huge place in my heart for children, having some of my own. Well in all actuality, we brought the battle to your kids. 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. [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. [29], A crew member requests authorization to engage after seeing five or six of the men moving in the direction of U.S. Wired.com: What did you understand that to mean? [32], U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized WikiLeaks for releasing the video without providing any context. Lawmakers are increasingly hellbent on punishing the popular social network while efforts to pass a broader privacy law have dwindled. 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. But you guys did have a firefight a couple of blocks away. McCord: She had a stomach wound and she had glass in her eyes and in her hair. Bradley Manning acquitted of aiding the enemy, convicted of six counts of espionage", "Bradley Manning acquitted of aiding the enemy for giving secrets to WikiLeaks", "BBC News Bradley Manning guilty of espionage in Wikileaks case", "Manning Gets 35 years for wikileaks disclosures", "Bradley Manning Sentenced To 35 Years In Prison For WikiLeaks Disclosures", "Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison live updates", "Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years", "Obama commutes Chelsea Manning's prison sentence", "Obama's final press conference: Chelsea Manning commutation is 'appropriate', "The WikiLeaks Video and the Rules of Engagement", "Exclusive: Reuters Chief Spikes Story on Killing of His Own Staffers In Baghdad", "US 'reviewing' Iraq killing video posted on WikiLeaks", "Ingi Ingason Ragnar and Kristinn Hrafnsson awarded International Journalism and Human Rights Award at Barcelona Human Rights Film Festival", "Verleihung des Whistleblower-Preises 2011", Whistleblower-Preis 2011 geht an Kernforscher, Collateral Murder: U.S. 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 Push to Ban TikTok in the US Isnt About Privacy. It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation. The flood of emotions came back. Fox News later stated that "although it could be argued AK-47 rifles are common household items, RPGs are not". The WikiLeaks edited video did not add arrows pointing to these men, or label them, as it did with the men carrying cameras. Their request was denied at the briefing and they were told to seek access under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act. On April 5, 2010, the attacks received worldwide coverage and controversy following the release of 39 minutes of gunsight footage by the Internet whistleblower website WikiLeaks. 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. The missile hits the building, and the man is caught in the explosion. Nearly every Iraqi household has a rifle or an AK. "Reading his account," she explained, "one would believe the engagement was somehow justified as 'payback' for an earlier attack that led to the death of a soldier. [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". And where the soldier said [in the video], "Well, you shouldn't take your kids to battle." McCord: When it was first released I don't think it was done in the best manner that it could have been. How to Make Sure Youre Not Accidentally Sharing Your Location, Security News This Week: Sensitive US Military Emails Exposed. There had been running gun battles. Home: Wichita, Kansas, AN OPEN LETTER OF RECONCILIATION & RESPONSIBILITY TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE From Current and Former Members of the U.S. Military. You are seeing only a very narrow picture of the events". "[88] McCord also recalled being ordered to "kill every motherfucker on the street" in the event of an attack on their convoy. [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. [17] Politifact stated: "When Assange points out in the context of justifying the title 'Collateral Murder' that the word 'RPG' was not used until after permission to engage was given, he leaves the impression that the soldiers were given the okay to open fire on a group of unarmed men, or men believed to be unarmed. In addition to five[98][99] or six[100][101][102] espionage counts, she was also found guilty of five theft specifications, two computer fraud specifications and multiple military infractions. [57], Reuters reported that it could locate no witnesses who had seen gunmen in the immediate area. 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. 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. [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. [97] On July 30, Manning was acquitted of the most serious charge, that of aiding the enemy, for giving secrets to WikiLeaks. She draws parallels with soldiers who suffered post-traumatic stress disorder in earlier wars. Our hearts are open to hearing how we can take any steps to support you through the pain that we have caused. He opened his eyes when I was carrying him. A school district is mourning the loss of a 13-year-old student who was found dead along with 3 other family members after a "potential murder-suicide" in Clermont County.It happened around 9:41 a . McCord states he was yelled at for not "pulling security". Please accept our apology, our sorrow, our care, and our dedication to change from the inside out. [47] The Australian newspaper said the group was displaying "no obvious hostile action". When the crew were informed that a child had been injured by their attack, one initially responded, "Ah damn. 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. Fox News reported in 2010 that the rules of engagement in Iraq had not been changed since the incident 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. [43] The report stated that the helicopter crew did not know how many people were in the building when they destroyed it with missiles, and that "there is evidence that unarmed people have both entered and are nearby". 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. [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. [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. A third, an infantry solider named Ethan McCord, was one of the men who had scooped up the bodies of the wounded children in the apache helicopter attack, what is now known as the "Collateral. What was shown in the Wikileaks video only begins to depict the suffering we have created. classified video created its own firestorm. [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]. [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. WIRED may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. It was pretty much a shock when we got there to see what had happened, the carnage and everything else. I based the account in my book on multiple sources, all unclassified". "Our forces were engaged in combat all that day with individuals that fit the description of the men in that video. James W. McCord Jr., a security expert who led a band of burglars into the shambles of the Watergate scandal and was the first to expose the White House crimes and cover-ups that precipitated the . 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