"Collateral Murder", 10 years later...

05 April 2010, WikiLeaks released a video titled “Collateral Murder”. It reveals airstrikes in Baghdad, on July 12, 2007. It showed that the crew of two U.S. AH-64 Apache helicopters fired on a group of men and laughed at some of the casualties, some of whom were civilians and reporters. The footage which provoked global discussion on the legality and morality of the attacks, and depicted the war in Irak like never seen before, from the inside of the cockpit of one such killing machines…

https://collateralmurder.wikileaks.org/

“5th April 2010 10:44 EST WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff.

Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-sight, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded…” (read the rest on the initial release website)

WARNING: the video depicts acts of gruesome brutality and contempt for human life :/

https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Collateral_Murder,_5_Apr_2010

Anotated, short version: http://file.wikileaks.org/file/collateralmurder/crazyhorse-15-wrapped-in.mp4

Raw footage, full version: http://file.wikileaks.org/file/collateralmurder/crazyhorse-38-wrapped-in.mp4

It is the 12th July 2007. US Army occupied Iraq since 2003, after the iraq war. Some US troops are doing knocking searches. Two US AH-64 Apache helicopters are providing overview flights in Al-Amin al-Thaniyah, New Baghdad on this day. during the iraqi insurency which Then they see a group of people and identify a camera and a tripod as weapons (AK47 + RPG). It happen, what has never had to happend. They requested a permission to engage. They started to shoot on these innocent group of civilians. What followed is a massacre. It seems so sureal, when one hears the soldiers talking and behaving like in a videogame, congratulating each other for good shots or laughing about the killed persons. Example: The lead helicopter, using the moniker Crazyhorse, opens fire. “Hahaha. I hit 'em,” shouts one of the American crew. Another responds a little later: “Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards.”

Iraqui civilians, some of the killed perspns were journalists that were simply doing their Jobs.

Reuters News Agency employees: the photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen (22) and his driver and assistent Saeed Chmagh (40).

Salah Mutashar is the father of the kids in the van, who only wanted to help a wounded Person. His Kids got seriously injured by th US airstrikes.

Salah Mutashar, was on the way with his Kids, Duaa and Sajad. He wanted to bring them to School, when he saw the scenario of dead persons and one wounded Person trying to crawl. He immediatelly stopped to help when another person came to help also. Together they wanted bring Reuters employee Saeed into the van. In this moment the airstike started again. Mutashar, Saeed and the other helper died.

Ethan Gideon Sean McCord is one of the soldiers who were arround and arrived shortly after his troop heard shots of the Apache helicopters. They found a massacre battlefield and injured kids in a van sourrounded by dead bodies. McCord immediately decided to help the kids. He was the only one. For his decision he got blamed and threathened by his comrades and commanding officers. The reacion of his commanding officer was: „quit beeing a pussy and get the sand out of your vagina.“

On this day over a dozen poeple got killed including two Reuters news employees. US Army denied any access to Reuters to get informations how the Reuters staff got killed.

McCord is telling his experience as an eyewitness here. Through his effort the kids are still alive. Furtherway he is commited with support for suicidal veterans and is holding speeches at schools convincing young students to to enlist.

Chelsea Elizabeth Manning, a former army analyst in Bagdad got these files in her hands. She leaked classified diplomatic and military documents, the Iraq and Afghan Warlogs, including the „Collateral Murder“ helicopter gunsight video to WikiLeaks in 2010.

Manning was imprisoned in 2010 (seven years) and again in 2019. Federal District Court Judge Anthony J. Trenga in Victoria/ Virginia ordered the immediate release of Chelsea just recently on 13th March 2020. Only through her decission to blow the whistle on this cables, we are able to see this material of inhumanity. She became one of the most important whistleblower of our times. Further informations about her case you can get here.

Till this day, the war criminals are free. The commanders and the shooters. Julian Assange, who published the war crimes via WikiLeaks is confinement in UK prison, facing extradition to the US.

The Guardian Wikileaks reveals video showing US air crew shooting down Iraqi civilians

Huffpost WikiLeaks VIDEO Exposes 2007 ‘Collateral Murder’ In Iraq

Al Jazeera English Witness - Video of US attack in Iraq 'genuine'

RT WikiLeaks editor on Apache combat video: No excuse for US killing civilians

Here you can see a Video of Salah Mutashars Family, three years after the US Army airstrike attack.