Part 8 of our investigation into the death of Reuters cameramen in Iraq and the Wikileaks Collateral Murder leak. The series starts here and covers The General & The CIA Director & Secretary of State.
This Resources page contains the out takes from our month-long investigation, some definitions, a look at the Apache helicopter involved, and some general house keeping for the investigative series into the Wikileaks Collateral Murder video leak. Resources for the Assange campaign link people to how to get involved. Follow Julian Assange’s wife Stella Assange on the website formerly known as Twitter, for the latest accurate information.
Words are important
Words are important, especially to the military and to news organisations such as Reuters. The lawyers are being paid a fortune to explain what the legal definitions and implications are.
As part of our contribution to the culture wars, here are the definitions and stories behind Woke, Captured Agency, Green washing, SLAPP legal actions and arrests, What is a Social License and how to get one.
Researchers, and I hope that who I am writing this for, can find the suite of letters between Julian Assange & King Charles, from my Australian union MEAA, the publishers
Letter Urging the US to End Prosecution of Julian Assange
Open letter supporting Julian Assange by 63 Australian federal politicians
Letter from Julian Assange to King Charles III
Australian & UK politicians implore USA to release Assange
United States of America v Julian Paul Assange
US Dept of Justice indictment against Julian Assange
Civil rights groups call for US to drop charges against Julian Assange
Publishers call for release of Julian Assange
AH-64 Apache helicopter
The AH-64 Apache has a four-blade main rotor and a four-blade tail rotor. The crew sits in tandem, with the pilot sitting behind and above the co-pilot/gunner. Both crew members are capable of flying the aircraft and performing methods of weapon engagements independently.
Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire being loaded onto an Apache helicopter. Credit: USAAC
The AGM-114 Hellfire is an air-to-ground missile (AGM) developed for anti-armor use, later developed for precision drone strikes against other target types, especially high-value targets.
M230 Chain Gun is a 30 mm (30×113 mm), single-barrel chain-driven autocannon, The practical rate of fire is about 300 rounds per minute
In 2010, Private First Class Bradley E. Manning, a U.S. military intelligence analyst working in Baghdad, leaked the gun camera videotape from the Apache helicopter that killed a Reuters photographer and his assistant in 207, and more than 700,000 other classified documents to WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks released classified U.S. military footage of the incident at a press conference in 2010. The video, titled “Collateral Murder,” was viewed online millions of times.
The footage showed a U.S. Apache helicopter call sign ‘Crazy Horse 1-8’ opening fire with 30 mm cannon, apparently mistaking Namir and Saeed for combatants.
Namir was killed in the first wave, the footage showed; Saeed was gunned down in a second attack.
Leaked U.S. video shows deaths of Reuters’ Iraqi staffers
6 April, 2010 by Reuters Staff
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters that killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff, was released on Monday by a group that promotes leaking to fight government and corporate corruption.
The group, WikiLeaks, told a news conference in Washington that it acquired encrypted video of the July 12, 2007, attack from military whistleblowers and had been able to view and investigate it after breaking the encryption code.
Major Shawn Turner, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said an investigation of the incident shortly after it occurred found that U.S. forces were not aware of the presence of the news staffers and thought they were engaging armed insurgents.
“We regret the loss of innocent life, but this incident was promptly investigated and there was never any attempt to cover up any aspect of this engagement,” Turner said.
The gunsight tracks two of the men, identified by WikiLeaks as the Reuters news staff, as the fliers identify their cameras as weapons. Military spokesman Turner said that during the engagement, the helicopter mistook a camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
Two children wounded in the van were evacuated by U.S. ground forces arriving at the scene as the Apache helicopters continued to circle overhead.
“Well it’s their fault for bringing their kids into a battle,” one of the U.S. fliers said.
Turner said the military had released documents to Reuters last year in response to the FOIA request showing the presence of weapons on the scene, including AK-47 rifles and an RPG 7 grenade launcher.
Assange said he disagreed with a U.S. military assessment that the attack was justified.
“I believe that if those killings were lawful under the rules of engagement, then the rules of engagement are wrong, deeply wrong,” he said.
Leaked U.S. video shows deaths of Reuters’ Iraqi staffers
Assange stated that the attack on the van was the most damning part of the video: “I’m very sceptical that was done under the rules of engagement; and, if it was legal, the rules of engagement must be changed”. Fox News reported in 2010 that the rules of engagement in Iraq had not been changed since the incident occurred.[32]
Why did the military bury the tape? Was it because it showed a wounded Saeed trying to get up for three minutes before ‘Crazy Horse 1-8’ opened fire on the van driver who came to his aid, killing them both and wounding two children inside the van? Was it because of the sickening banter between the pilots?
The second attack, employing 30 mm rounds, targeted a van driven by Saleh Matasher Tomal, who seemed to coincidentally pass by and proceeded to assist the injured Chmagh.
However, the extended version of the video reveals that this van had been previously targeted by one Apache (Crazyhorse 1/8) before the second strike. It was traveling south towards the Reuters employees, who were simultaneously targeted by the other Apache (Crazyhorse 1/9) as they walked north on the same road with a group of men toward the van.
Shortly after the initial engagement concluded, the van returned, now moving in the opposite direction (north) once again on the same road. Two individuals aiding in the rescue effort belonged to a group of five standing at an intersection visible in the upper right corner of the video when the Reuters employees arrive in the courtyard.
Apaches reported this group as a second position where combatants were using to attack the Humvee. Both Chmagh and Tomal, the two men assisting in the rescue effort, were killed in the second strike, resulting in severe injuries to two of Tomal’s children.
The co-pilot encouraged a dying, unarmed journalist to grab a weapon as the journalist attempted to crawl to safety, and the “Apache crew opened fire on civilians.”
Upon learning that a child had been harmed by their attack, one crew member initially responded with, “Ah damn. Oh well,” and a minute later added, “Well, it’s their fault for bringing kids into a battle.”
Smith deems this reaction as inhumane, drawing parallels with soldiers who experienced post-traumatic stress disorder in earlier conflicts.
She further states that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are causing significant psychological harm to combatants. By failing to acknowledge this, the US military neglects the well-being of both its own soldiers and their victims. Smith concludes that effective command structures must be in place to identify “combatants with serious psychological problems.”
Our ten page investigation into the death of Reuters camera crew in Iraq.
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
