[But] I was actually starting to get kind of better. Smith describes this reaction as inhuman. It's very disturbing. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. McCord: I doubt that they were a part of that firefight. There were some people taking pot shots, sniper shots, at us on the rooftop. [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. It happened because my content was bad. She said that she was "aghast" at Finkel's portrayal of the incident. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. [86], Ethan McCord, the soldier seen in the video carrying the injured boy, recalled in an interview on The Marc Steiner Show that on arrival at the scene, "The first thing I did was run up to the van". The editors asked to see the remaining footage so Reuters could check whether it had been edited or manipulated. BACKGROUND ON JOSH STIEBER: Branch of service: United States Army (USA) Unit: 1st ID Rank: Spc. The missile hits the building, and the man is caught in the explosion. Ethan McCord, a former US soldier, has shown great courage and integrity by exposing and condemning US war crimes in Iraq. [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". New details reveal that Beijing-backed hackers targeted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, adding to a string of attacks in the region. [Then] we were just told to move to this [other] location. I know the van, I know the faces of everybody that was there that day. It's very disturbing. This is his account of what he saw. You can hear the medic saying on the video, "There's nothing I can do here, she needs to be evac'd." To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. [56] U.S. forces spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Scott Bleichwehl later stated: "There is no question that coalition forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force". So I just sucked it up and tried to move on with everything. I hit 'em" and another member of the crew responds "Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards".[29]. Major Brent Cummings claimed they took great pains to prevent the loss of innocent civilian lives. He later sought help for psychological trauma, but was ridiculed by his NCO and told that if he were to go to the mental health officer, "there would be repercussions". And that in turn is what helped me and Josh write the letter, hoping that it would find its way to them to let them know that we're sorry. 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. Just over a year ago, WikiLeaks released footage from a gunsight camera of an Apache helicopter engaged in an attack that killed two journalists and eight ci. 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. It was pretty much a shock when we got there to see what had happened, the carnage and everything else. One of the first soldiers on the scene after the air attack, Ethan McCord, is now the subject of a short documentary, Incident in New Baghdad, which will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Ethan was on the ground at the scene of the shooting, and is seen on the video rushing one of the injured children to a U.S. [8] The video, which WikiLeaks titled Collateral Murder, showed the crew firing on a group of men and killing several of them, then laughing at some of the casualties, all of whom were civilians, including two Reuters journalists. I have a huge place in my heart for children, having some of my own. 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're like, oh yeah, we're the "collateral murder" company. He looked at me, then his eyes rolled back into this head. I think that the people could have been deterred from doing what they were doing in the van by simply firing a few warning shots versus completely obliterating the van and its occupants.[52][53]. An Apache maneuvered around a building to get a clear field of fire and shot all nine men, killing eight. McCord: There were approximately two to three other people who were moving who were still somewhat alive, and the medics were attending to them. 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. We're sorry for the system that we were involved in that took their father's life and injured them. Ad Choices, U.S. "Our forces were engaged in combat all that day with individuals that fit the description of the men in that video. The men become obscured behind a building as the Apache moves around the group. There is a period of 20 minutes not included on the leaked tape. Ethan Cord (Horsley) is still a man with a conscience, and kids, but he is also less reluctant to rely on his ability with a gun. [113], The report states that at least two members of the group which were first fired on were armed, that two RPGs and one AKM or AK-47 rifle could be seen in the helicopter video, and that these weapons were picked up by the follow-up U.S. ground troops. On the video, it is then seen that Army soldiers establish a perimeter around the site and extract the children from the burning van. I always questioned it in the back of my mind. [47] The Australian newspaper said the group was displaying "no obvious hostile action". In the first example maybe it's collateral exaggeration or incompetence when they strafe the initial gathering, this is recklessness bordering on murder, but you couldn't say for sure that was murder. In 2009, Stieber left the military as a conscientious objector and became a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Among the group were two Iraqi war correspondents working for Reuters, Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor-Eldeen. He added, "I think what this video shows is really a case that challenges whether the laws of war are strict enough. It has also ignored many veterans who have returned physically injured or mentally troubled by what they saw and did in your country. These people were operating in split second situations.". It could be that since he and Amelia (Sigrid Thornton) have quit. Ethan McCord describes the moment he realised Sajad Toman was alive In July 2007, 19 people were killed when an Apache helicopter opened fire on a group of Iraqis whom the pilots had identified. Josh . [19], The events between the attack on the van and the attack on the building (approximately 30 minutes) were not captured on the leaked video footage. That's why so many soldiers come back home and they're no longer in the situations where they have other things to think about or other people to joke about what happened and they explode. According to the U.S. Army investigation report released by the United States Central Command, the engagement started at 10:20 Iraqi local time and ended at 10:41. (quote begins at 5:15)", "Soldiers in 'Collateral Murder' video apologise", "Meet The New Public Face Of WikiLeaks: Kristinn Hrafnsson Forbes", "2 Iraqi Journalists Killed as U.S. [15] An anonymous U.S. military official confirmed the authenticity of the footage,[16] which provoked global discussion on the legality and morality of the attacks. I can accept their apology, because they saved my children, and if it were not for them, maybe my two little children would be dead. Both children were said to have been evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital via Forward Operating Base Loyalty, then transferred to an Iraqi medical facility the next day. The WikiLeaks edited video did not add arrows pointing to these men, or label them, as it did with the men carrying cameras. We acknowledge our part in the deaths and injuries of your loved ones as we tell Americans what we were trained to do and what we carried out in the name of "god and country". Oh well", and a minute later continued, "Well, it's their fault for bringing kids into a battle". Towards the end of the show, the star actor became an active member of the Screen Actors Guild and after he left "Adam-12." Colbert asked "So 'Collateral Murder' is to get political impact?" Wired.com: What did you understand that to mean? Wired.com: How much sniper fire were you getting? [28] Noor-Eldeen has a camera and Chmagh is talking on his mobile phone. Wired.com: Wikileaks presented the incident as though there was no engagement from insurgents. [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. Forces Clash With Militias", "Reuters seeks U.S. probe into killing of Iraqi staff", "Return to Ward 17: Making peace with lost comrades", "Bradley Manning's statements during his trial", "U.S. gunfire kills two Reuters employees in Baghdad", "WikiLeaks silent on how it broke encryption", "Twitter / WikiLeaks: Have encrypted videos of U", "WikiLeaks posts video of 'US military killings' in Iraq", "Collateral Murder? The footage was portrayed as classified,[7] but the individual who leaked it, U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning,[a] testified in 2013 that the video was not classified. Since then, McCord has been receiving threats to him and his family on a regular basis. [32], U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized WikiLeaks for releasing the video without providing any context. He condemned and reported the massacre as soon as it happened. Inside 'Adam-12' Star, Kent McCord caught the attention of TV lovers when he popularized the "Jim Reed" character in 1968's "Adam-12." McCord maintained the role for seven seasons till the show ended in 1975. I think that the bigger picture is what are we doing there? [58] Reuters subsequently asked the U.S. military to probe the deaths. On the same day as the NPR interview, Finkel was asked how he had seen the unedited video and whether WikiLeaks had shown it to him. He was kind of sitting on the floorboard of the van, but with his head laying on the bench seat in the front. [118][119], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}331849N 443043E / 33.3137N 44.512E / 33.3137; 44.512 (Airstrike of 2007-07-12). The company was charged with clearing their sector of any small armed forces, and had been under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). The Push to Ban TikTok in the US Isnt About Privacy. That's when I started screaming, "The boy's alive! The owner told him that three families were living in the building and seven residents had died, including his wife and daughter. [57], Reuters reported that it could locate no witnesses who had seen gunmen in the immediate area. He is seen swinging the weapon below his waist while standing next to the man holding the RPG". After the non-combatants were clear Crazyhorse 1/8 engaged the targets. The majority of us aren't. [20] According to a military review, soldiers in that company "had been under sporadic small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire since" the operationdescribed as "clearing their sector and looking for weapons caches"began. As Russia has accelerated its cyberattacks on its neighbor, it's barraged the country with an unprecedented volume of different data-destroying programs. He said that the debate should be re-framed, that it is more appropriate to ask "questions of the larger system" that teaches "doing these things is in the best interests of my own country". This is urban combat and we're taking the war to children and women and innocents. They were destroyed. Ethan McCord, who was one of the first soldiers on the scene in the 2007 attack, told Wired.com that he saw several weapons at the scene, including a rocket propelled grenade launcher. They also found two Canon EOS digital cameras with telephoto lenses. [87], McCord discussed his experience in the battle in an interview with the World Socialist Web Site on April 28, 2010, stating, "What happened then was not an isolated incident. WikiLeaks identified the leak's source as "a number of military whistleblowers". "The first thing I thought of was my children at home". The story was then overtaken by a more updated one out of Washington that incorporated reporting from the original piece. In refusing to recognize this, the US military fails both its own soldiers and their victims. Wired.com: But you had been in combat before. "When I did come up on the scene, there was an RPG as well as AK-47s there," he said. All rights reserved. She wrote that the co-pilot urged a dying, unarmed journalist to pick up a weapon as he tried to crawl to safety and that "the Apache crew open[ed] fire on civilians". [43], Assange responded to the investigation report released by the Army in an interview with Democracy Now!, stating that "the tone and language is all about trying to find an excuse for the activity. There's also some soldiers who joke about it [as a] coping mechanism. [32] The Apache crew alerted the ground troops of the van and requested permission to engage the vehicle before the ground troops arrived. It was sent back for more reporting in an effort to incorporate a wider range of experts. Ethan McCord was a member of the military unit in "Collateral Murder" - the Wikileaks video showing 12 Iraqis being killed from a US helicopter.He rescued the two children severely wounded in the attack and is now speaking out to corroborate the Collateral Murder video. 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