We conclude our investigation into the Assange affair by asking “where are they now”? Who were the main actors in the Wikileaks affair of the Collateral Murder video coverup?
The military personnel have either died or retired, and we thank them for their service. The Reuters staff have been affected, Dean Yates is now working with organisations to train managers how to look after staff mental health & managing stress.
Chelsea Manning seems to be happy with her life. Julian Assange is in Belmarsh Prison.
Namir Noor-Eldeen, Saeed Chmagh and at least ten other people are in Baghdad, dead.
Where are they now?
General Vincent K. Brooks (Ret.)
General Vincent K. Brooks retired in 2019. Vincent Brooks is a principal with WestExec Advisors, a geopolitical business advisory firm that helps “defense corporations market their products to the Pentagon and other agencies,” and whose clients include Google’s Jigsaw (dedicated to understanding global challenges and applying technological solutions, from countering extremism, online censorship and cyber-attacks, to protecting access to information); Windward, an Israeli artificial intelligence firm; and Shield AI, a drone surveillance company.
Brooks is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations) and is on the boards of directors of Verisk (insurance risk information), Jacobs (cyber, intelligence, defense, analytics, geospatial technology and threat protection), Diamondback Energy (oil & gas), and various veterans associations.
Army General Vincent Brooks (now retired) helped coordinate the first meeting between President Trump and Kim Jung-un in Singapore, June 2018. Prior to that historic meeting, then–CIA Director Mike Pompeo visited North Korea’s capital Pyongyang in March, and was with Trump at his subsequent meetings with the North Korean leader.
General Vincent Brooks was commander of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart in Georgia. From that position he moved to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.
While serving there he was temporarily assigned to be Deputy Director of Operations at United States Central Command (CENTCOM).
Returning to the Pentagon and the Joint Staff in April 2003, he became the Lead Strategic Planner for the Global War on Terrorism working closely with the CIA, the Departments of State, Treasury and Justice, the FBI and the military’s United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM).
The meeting with Reuters
Colonel Scott R. Bleichwehl died on January 8th, 2022. He had a long career in senior Public Affairs for the U.S. Army.
Rear Admiral Mark Fox was Deputy Assistant to President George W. Bush and Director of the White House Military Office (WHMO). He retired from the navy in 2016 and now works as Vice President of Customer Affairs in a shipyard.
Dean Yates, Reuters bureau chief in Iraq
Dean Yates had led Reuters teams that covered the 2002 Bali bombings and 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in Indonesia’s Aceh province. Mr Yates was deputy bureau chief for Israel and Palestine in 2006, and was Reuters bureau chief in Iraq from 2007-2008.
After the Collateral Murder video was released by Julian Assange, Mr. Yates sent a message to the pilot of ‘Crazy Horse 1-8’ via a mutual contact asking to speak with him but the pilot refused.
Extract from Return to Ward 17: Making peace with lost comrades – Reuters by Dean Yates:
In 2016, I was treated in a psychiatric unit for PTSD after a career spent covering conflict and tragedy. Last July, I was back in Ward 17. It was time to face up to my moral injury and the event that drove me into mental hell.
I had planned to be in Iraq for the 10th anniversary, to apologise to Namir and Saeed’s families.
Instead, unable to cope as the day approached, I was admitted to the Psychological Trauma Recovery Services inpatient unit at Melbourne’s Austin Health. It was my second admission to the facility, known as Ward 17, in less than a year.
– Dean Yates
After his diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Dean Yates created and rolled out a mental health and wellbeing strategy for Reuters from 2017-2020. Mr Yates is now working with organisations to train managers how to look after staff mental health & managing stress, and offers general advice and assessing a mental health strategy and blogs about mental health on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Chelsea Manning
Private First Class Bradley E. Manning was found guilty of multiple charges under the Espionage Act of 1917, and sentenced to 35 years’ imprisonment on August 21, 2013, and dishonorably discharged. On January 17, 2017, President Barack Obama commuted Manning’s sentence to a total of seven years’ confinement. Manning was released on May 17, 2017.
Manning is a transgender woman, Chelsea Manning who regularly posts on social media.
Chelsea Manning justified the release of the video by saying:
“The dehumanized the individuals they were engaging and seemed to not value human life by referring to them as quote “dead bastards” unquote and congratulating each other on the ability to kill in large numbers. At one point in the video there is an individual on the ground attempting to crawl to safety. The individual is seriously wounded. Instead of calling for medical attention to the location, one of the aerial weapons team crew members verbally asks for the wounded person to pick up a weapon so that he can have a reason to engage. For me, this seems similar to a child torturing ants with a magnifying glass.”
CIA director turned Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Mike Pompeo is an Evangelist Christian who describes politics as “a never-ending struggle … until the Rapture.”
Mike Pompeo is such an interesting character that we’ve included a whole page on Did the CIA plot to kidnap & assassinate Julian Assange? Mike Pompeo was summoned by Spain’s National Court in June 2022 to testify over claims the US plotted to assassinate Julian Assange.
Julian Assange
The Publisher of Wikileaks, Julian Assange is in maximum security prison Belmarsh in the U.K. Mr. Assange was diagnosed with Covid-19 on 10 Oct 2022, and has suffered a stroke. He is fighting his extradition to the U.S. on charges under the Espionage Act and faces 175 years in prison if found guilty.
The families of Namir Noor-Eldeen, Saeed Chmagh and at least ten other people killed in Baghdad still grieve.
We understand that this case has made a lot of people angry, upset, and depressed. Lifeline 13 11 14
1 The trial of Julian Assange exposes US Rules of Engagement
2 US Military killed two Reuters photographers in Iraq
3 The fix is in: Military investigation into deaths of Reuters staff in Iraq
4 Generals Brookes & Fox meet the Reuters editors
5 Military ignored FOI requests for video of deaths
6 Rules of Engagement between military & civilians
7 Assange: WikiLeaks release Collateral Murder video
8 Definitions, Resources, Transcripts, Apache details
9 Who, what, when and why of the Assange case
10 Wikileaks Collateral Murder video aftermath. Where are they now?
A quick update on the Julian Assange story
