With No Accountability For Atrocities Iraqi Civilians Killed with Joy As If In VideoGame - WikiLeaks

Calling it a case of "collateral murder," the WikiLeaks Web site released harrowing video of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter in Baghdad in 2007 repeatedly opening fire on a group of men that included a Reuters photographer and his driver -- and then on a van that stopped to rescue the wounded men.
None of the members of the group were taking hostile action, contrary to the Pentagon's initial cover story; they were milling about on a street corner.
Reporters working for WikiLeaks determined that the driver of the van was a good Samaritan on his way to take his small children to a tutoring session. He was killed and his two children were badly injured.
In the video, which Reuters has been asking to see since 2007, crew members can be heard celebrating their kills.
"Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards," says one crewman after multiple rounds of 30mm cannon fire left nearly a dozen bodies littering the street.
A crewman begs for permission to open fire on the van and its occupants, even though it has done nothing but stop to help the wounded: "Come on, let us shoot!"
Two crewmen share a laugh when a Bradley fighting vehicle runs over one of the corpses.
And after soldiers on the ground find two small children shot and bleeding in the van, one crewman can be heard saying: "Well, it's their fault bringing their kids to a battle."
The shooting, which killed Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and driver Saeed Chmagh, 40, took place on July 12, 2007, in a southeastern neighborhood of Baghdad.
The next day, the New York Times, reported the military's official cover story:
The American military said in a statement late Thursday that 11 people had been killed: nine insurgents and two civilians. According to the statement, American troops were conducting a raid when they were hit by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. The American troops called in reinforcements and attack helicopters. In the ensuing fight, the statement said, the two Reuters employees and nine insurgents were killed.

"There is no question that coalition forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force," said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a spokesman for the multinational forces in Baghdad.
The video shows otherwise.
Washington Post reporter David Finkel described the incident -- and the video -- in great detail in his September 2009 book, "The Good Soldiers".
Finkel also described a review session after Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, commander of the Army's 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment and his soldiers returned to base, which "concluded that everyone had acted appropriately." (Kauzlarich was also involved in the Army's Pat Tillman cover-up, and later told ESPN that the reluctance of Tillman's parents to accept the military's story that he was killed by enemy action, rather than friendly fire, was the unfortunate result of their lack of Christian faith.)

WikiLeaks, a small, independent Web site that invites people to post information and documents that powerful interests would prefer to keep secret, says it received the video and supporting documents from military whistleblowers.
Julian Assange, the editor of the site, said the killings either violated the the army's rules of engagement, or those rules of engagement "are very, deeply wrong."
Unveiling the video at the National Press Club on Monday morning, Assange said the helicopter crew approached its job as if it were a video game, not something involving human lives. Their desire was simply to kill," he said. "Their desire was to get high scores on that computer game."
Just this morning, the New York Times confirmed a gruesome cover-up by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Officials who had repeatedly denied reports by Jerome Starkey in the Times of London have now confirmed that American Special Operations soldiers slaughtered three women in a nighttime raid in February -- and actually dug bullets out of the bodies of the women as part of a cover-up. Starkey says U.S. and NATO forces are rarely held to account for the atrocities they commit.
///
NATO admits guilt in Afghan slayings
06 April, 2010,

NATO spokesmen have admitted culpability in the Feb. 12 deaths of five members of a family, including two pregnant women and a respected law enforcement official.

NATO officials have admitted that there was a cover-up in the death of three women and two Afghan law-enforcement personnel in Khataba, Afghanistan on Feb. 12. Troops initially claimed that the victims died before the raid. A spokesman from Gen. Stanley McChrystals headquarters said that the women were found tied up, gagged and already dead. However, on April 5, NATO Spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Todd Breasseale said that the women died as a result of troops firing at the men.
The investigation into the incident shows that in addition to killing the women, soldiers attempted to cover up the deaths by digging bullets out of the bodies and washing them with alcohol.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• collateral
• murder
• WikiLeaks
• U.S.
• and
• NATO
• forces
• Army
• Apache
• helicopter
• With
• No
• Accountability
• For
• Atrocities
• atrocities
• cover-up
• New
• York
• Times
• Iraq
• Afghanistan
• National
• Press
• Club
• military
• whistleblowers
• Julian
• Assange
• Pat
• Tillman
• Washington
• Post
• Reuters
• photographer
• Pentagon
• Gen.
• Stanley
• McChrystal

[megatroll]

Americans are pitiful beings.

They blindly swallow all the lies and propaganda of their masters.

They get brainwashed into hyper religious nationalists who don't think.

They killed over 900.000 people over the last 10 years... all for their masters' profit driven war machinery. The attacks on 911... staged. The supposed death of Bin Laden... staged. Yet they refuse to accept the truth and serve their masters.

The USA are nothing but a fascist military terror regime.

[kevjumbaboo]

@cheron60 You are disgusting and just the most vile, horrible person. No innocent person deserves to die. You think this war is for your freedom and rights but its for the corporations and governments using this to attain resources which they don't have a high abundance of. If it was you being shot at, with no regard for human life how would you feel.

[2pacster1]

target practice

[harparkrat1]

@balcortaj1 True, they are animals and like to kill people without any discrimination.

[harparkrat1]

@brainboob trade center was a legitimate target as a center of comand and control.

[balcortaj1]

@brainboob It was a mistake in the sense that they got caught.

[jonyboy1131]

@megatroll bite me

[jonyboy1131]

@Vunduva tears came to mine too, the gunner had to walk his rounds in, he couldn't hit first shot, so sad!!

[Vunduva]

When i saw this for the first time, tears came to my eyes and you call us the "terrorists"

[koolkidde]

How dare soldiers find a way to cope with incredibly stressful environments. Bunch of monsters!

[brainboob]

@mnoble2288

lol right, anything that shows the cock suckers for what they really are is bullshit, stupid conditioned puppet!

[brainboob]

@JustMyHonestOpinion

murder isn't a 'mistake' it's a premeditated act! How the fuck would you like it if people of other countries called the murder of everyone in the trade center a 'mistake'? wake up....