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Leaked video of U.S. Military killing civilians and Reuters journalists.

Why aren't any of the big US news sites reporting the Wikileaks release?

CNN: http://i.imgur.com/LQqdI.png
Fox News: http://i.imgur.com/f7UQL.png
MSNBC: http://i.imgur.com/H6sqz.png
New York Times: http://i.imgur.com/SL3rX.png

I guess Tiger Woods and the iPad is more important.

For the organizations you quote... Yes, yes they are. Those organizations exist to make money, they tell the stories that people want to hear. After 9 years of continuous warfare, which include nearly continuous reports of dead civilians, no one cares.

This event happened 2 years ago, it was reported at the time. It is one of hundreds of such events. Stick soldiers with no attachment to the civilian population in a situation with insurgent forces, lots of innocent people are going to die. This event is not particularly egregious or remarkable in that respect. Crowd of people, some of them obviously armed, convoy approaching...Well, you can see the video and reach your own conclusions.

Mistake? Surely. Callous? Of course, it is war. Any different than what has happened in dozens of countries since the end of WW2? No. News? I suppose, but no new news.
 
The deaths of the news crew and wounding of the child are tragic but the video only shows one aspect of what went on.

U.S. forces had earlier come under fire from insurgents in that area.

The Reuters crew should never have allowed themselves to be grouped with insurgents. Especially with Apache's overhead. They in fact put themselves in harms way.

The Apache's misidentified a camera battery bag as a weapon. However one of the insurgents there did have a RPG-7. I am very familiar with the RPG-7 and have fired it myself. One of the ground soldiers also identified a RPG round under one of the bodies.

As far as firing around houses it is called urban warfare. As long as insurgents use an urban area to fight in. There are going to be firefights around houses. it happens in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. And as a result innocent civilians will get caught in the crossfire. That is one of the horrible aspects of war. in Iraq there have been around 139 reporters that have died since 2003.
 
they are animals. just hear what they speak like, innocent people are dead because of them and they sound like its nothing
 
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The deaths of the news crew and wounding of the child are tragic but the video only shows one aspect of what went on.

U.S. forces had earlier come under fire from insurgents in that area.

The Reuters crew should never have allowed themselves to be grouped with insurgents. Especially with Apache's overhead. They in fact put themselves in harms way.

The Apache's misidentified a camera battery bag as a weapon. However one of the insurgents there did have a RPG-7. I am very familiar with the RPG-7 and have fired it myself. One of the ground soldiers also identified a RPG round under one of the bodies.

As far as firing around houses it is called urban warfare. As long as insurgents use an urban area to fight in. There are going to be firefights around houses. it happens in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. And as a result innocent civilians will get caught in the crossfire. That is one of the horrible aspects of war. in Iraq there have been around 139 reporters that have died since 2003.
This reminds me of My Lai Massacre when the US occupation forces in Vietnam tried to cover up the war crimes behind the similar arguments which later proved nothing but shameless lies.

On March 16, 1968, a unit of the US occupation forces in South Vietnam mass murdered at least 347 (other sources mentioned 504) unarmed citizens, a majority of whom were women, children, babies and elderly people. Many of the victims were brutally tortured and sexually abused and later shot dead.

He fired at it (the baby) with a .45. He missed. We all laughed. He got up three or four feet closer and missed again. We laughed. Then he got up right on top and plugged him.... Eyewitness testimony, Peers Inquiry.

I would say that most people in our company didn't consider the Vietnamese human.... Dennis Bunning

Soldiers went berserk, gunning down unarmed men, women, children and babies. Families which huddled together for safety in huts or bunkers were shown no mercy. Those who emerged with hands held high were murdered. ... Elsewhere in the village, other atrocities were in progress. Women were gang raped; Vietnamese who had bowed to greet the Americans were beaten with fists and tortured, clubbed with rifle ***** and stabbed with bayonets. Some victims were mutilated with the signature "C Company" carved into the chest. By late morning word had got back to higher authorities and a cease-fire was ordered. My Lai was in a state of carnage. Bodies were strewn through the village.... BBC News

My_Lai_massacre.jpg


Cover-up and investigations

The first reports claimed that "128 Viet Cong and 22 civilians" were killed in the village during a "fierce fire fight". General William C. Westmoreland, MACV commander, congratulated the unit on the "outstanding job". As related at the time by the Army's Stars and Stripes magazine, "U.S. infantrymen had killed 128 Communists in a bloody day-long battle."

Initial investigations of the My Lai operation were undertaken by the 11th Light Infantry Brigade's commanding officer, Colonel Henderson, under orders from the Americal Division's executive officer, Brigadier General George H. Young. Henderson interviewed several soldiers involved in the incident, then issued a written report in late April claiming that some 20 civilians were inadvertently killed during the operation. The army at this time was still describing the events at My Lai as a military victory that had resulted in the deaths of 128 enemy combatants.

Six months later, Tom Glen, a 21-year-old soldier of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, wrote a letter to General Creighton Abrams, the new overall commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, accusing the Americal Division (and other entire units of the U.S. military) of routine and pervasive brutality against Vietnamese civilians. The letter was detailed and its contents echoed complaints received from other soldiers.

Colin Powell, then a 31-year-old Army Major, was charged with investigating the letter, which did not specifically reference My Lai (Glen had limited knowledge of the events there). In his report Powell wrote: "In direct refutation of this portrayal is the fact that relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent." Powell's handling of the assignment was later characterized by some observers as "whitewashing" the atrocities of My Lai. In May 2004, Powell, then United States Secretary of State, told CNN's Larry King, "I mean, I was in a unit that was responsible for My Lai. I got there after My Lai happened. So, in war, these sorts of horrible things happen every now and again, but they are still to be deplored."

The carnage at My Lai might have gone unknown to history if not for another soldier, Ron Ridenhour, a former member of Charlie Company, who, independently of Glen, sent a letter detailing the events at My Lai to President Richard M. Nixon, the Pentagon, the State Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and numerous members of Congress. The copies of this letter were sent in March 1969, a full year after the event. Most recipients of Ridenhour's letter ignored it, with the notable exception of Congressman Morris Udall (D-Arizona). Ridenhour learned about the events at My Lai secondhand, by talking to members of Charlie Company while he was still enlisted.

Eventually, Calley was charged with several counts of premeditated murder in September 1969, and 25 other officers and enlisted men were later charged with related crimes. It was another two months before the American public learned about the massacre and trials.

Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, after extensive conversations with Calley, broke the My Lai story on November 12, 1969; on November 20, Time, Life and Newsweek magazines all covered the story, and CBS televised an interview with Paul Meadlo. The Cleveland Plain Dealer published explicit photographs of dead villagers killed at My Lai.

In November 1969, General William R. Peers was appointed to conduct a thorough investigation into the My Lai incident and its subsequent cover-up. Peers' final report, published in March 1970, was highly critical of top officers for participation in a cover-up and the Charlie Company officers for their actions at My Lai 4. According to Peers's findings:

[The 1st Battalion] members had killed at least 175–200 Vietnamese men, women, and children. The evidence indicates that only 3 or 4 were confirmed as Viet Cong although there were undoubtedly several unarmed VC (men, women, and children) among them and many more active supporters and sympathizers. One man from the company was reported as wounded from the accidental discharge of his weapon.

However, critics of the Peers Commission pointed out that it sought to place the real blame on four officers who were already dead, foremost among them being the CO of TF Barker, LTC Frank Barker, who was killed in a mid air collision on June 13, 1968.

Haeberlewounded.jpg


Covering up war crimes: PFC Mauro, PFC Carter, and SP4 Widmer (Carter shot himself in the foot with a .45 pistol during the My Lai Massacre).

Source: My Lai Massacre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
^^same thing potrayed in "platoon"?
I do not know because I choose not to watch Hollywood's propaganda movies depicting American soldiers as some kind of super humans, which of course they are not.
 
well we cant just blame US i mean whenever there is a war, doesn't matter if its against terrorist or another country, all this kind of things happens.....
thats why everyone/every country should avoid war....because innocent civilians has to pay the price with their own blood!!!
 
AP source confirms video of Baghdad firefight

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer Anne Flaherty, Associated Press Writer – 23 mins ago

WASHINGTON – A gritty war video circulating on the Internet that shows U.S. troops firing repeatedly on a group of men — some of whom were unarmed — walking down a Baghdad street is authentic, a senior U.S. military official confirmed Monday.

The official said the video posted at Wikileaks.org was of a July 12, 2007, firefight involving Army helicopters in the New Baghdad District of eastern Baghdad.

Among those believed to have been killed in that attack was Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and his driver Saeed Chmagh, 40. Two children also were wounded.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the video, said the military could not confirm the identities of the Reuters employees in the film.

The Pentagon would not confirm the video's authenticity on the record, despite repeated requests from The Associated Press.

"At this time, we are working to verify the source of the video, its veracity, and when or where it was recorded," a statement from U.S. military headquarters in Iraq said late Monday.

The military also provided redacted copies of portions of its inquiry into the July 2007 incident, again without confirming that the incident described in those documents is the same one posted by Wikileaks.

According to a July 19 summary of the investigation, U.S. troops acted appropriately. Reuters employees were likely "intermixed among the insurgents" and difficult to distinguish because of their equipment, the document states.

"It is worth noting the fact that insurgent groups often video and photograph friendly activity and insurgent attacks against friendly forces for use in training videos and for use as propaganda to exploit or highlight their capabilities," the document concludes.

The incident has been reported before, but the video had not been released.

The video provides a rare, disturbing close-up of modern urban warfare at a time when violence was near its peak in Baghdad and the U.S. death toll was mounting.

In this incident, soldiers flying attack helicopters were called in to assist ground troops who had been pinned down by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

According to U.S. officials, the pilots arrived at the scene to find a group of men approaching the fight with what looked to be AK-47s slung over their shoulders and at least one rocket-propelled grenade.

A military investigation later concluded that what was thought to be an RPG was really a long-range photography lens; likewise, the camera looked like an AK-47.

Wikileaks.org posts video and documents passed along by anonymous sources. They posted the video of the July 2007 firefight at "collateralmurder.com."

The shooters can be heard asking for permission to engage, and one says "Light 'em up!"

Some men drop immediately, while at least one can be seen scrambling to get away.

"Ah, yeah, look at those dead bastards. Nice," one shooter says.

The helicopters later destroy a vehicle that arrived on the scene to help a wounded man. When ground forces arrive, the video shows what looks to be a child being carried from the vehicle and U.S. troops saying the child should be sent to a local Iraqi hospital.

"Well, it's their fault bringing their kids into the battle," a cockpit voice can be heard saying.

Navy Capt. Jake Hanzlik, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said U.S. forces in Iraq recognize many of the images in the video posted at Wikileaks.org and have no reason to believe it is a fake. However, he said, they were still comparing the video and audio to see if it matched their own.

Headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., Central Command is responsible for U.S. military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Reuters said it couldn't verify that the video was of its employees dying, even though it looks like one of the men killed had a camera slung over his shoulder.

The video is "graphic evidence of the dangers involved in war journalism and the tragedies that can result," said David Schlesinger, editor-in-chief of Reuters news.

AP source confirms video of Baghdad firefight - Yahoo! News
 
The deaths of the news crew and wounding of the child are tragic but the video only shows one aspect of what went on.

U.S. forces had earlier come under fire from insurgents in that area.

The Reuters crew should never have allowed themselves to be grouped with insurgents. Especially with Apache's overhead. They in fact put themselves in harms way.

The Apache's misidentified a camera battery bag as a weapon. However one of the insurgents there did have a RPG-7. I am very familiar with the RPG-7 and have fired it myself. One of the ground soldiers also identified a RPG round under one of the bodies.

As far as firing around houses it is called urban warfare. As long as insurgents use an urban area to fight in. There are going to be firefights around houses. it happens in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. And as a result innocent civilians will get caught in the crossfire. That is one of the horrible aspects of war. in Iraq there have been around 139 reporters that have died since 2003.

Please then explain why they shot the rescuers from the van?

Were those from the van bearing any weapon or weapon like equipment?

Was there any shooting coming from the van?

Weren’t the soldiers knowing those coming out from van were only meant to rescue the wounded?

If the first action had a reason, the second seems like a blatant murder, a heartless butchering.

Somebody must be court martialed...
 

Looking at that flag upside down reminds me a Lebanese pizza delivery guy was arrested by police/FBI because he day the sticker flag upside down on his car in Chicago. This is just after the attack on Iraq.
 
5e349a707fcc.gif


An animated gif of an RPG guy. in same video. those men carrying AK's and RPG's
 
rpg3.jpg


Guy with AK47, far left. If you watch the clip you can even see the shoulder strap.

ak471m.jpg
 
Please then explain why they shot the rescuers from the van?

Were those from the van bearing any weapon or weapon like equipment?

Was there any shooting coming from the van?

Weren’t the soldiers knowing those coming out from van were only meant to rescue the wounded?

If the first action had a reason, the second seems like a blatant murder, a heartless butchering.

Somebody must be court martialed...

The van was the same one that parked about a block away at the mosque. They knew it was still a hot fire zone from the Apache's circling. People who live in war zones know you just don't go rushing up to a situation like that. Most likely they knew some of the insurgents or were part of the it.
 


---------- Post added at 02:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:41 AM ----------

 
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