statism watch

It should not be a surprise to anyone anymore that this goes on, but as an additional angle, Wired Magazine highlights what a coup this is for the burgeoning alternative media movement, writing that the story “…is significant in another respect: It shows how a website dedicated to anonymous leaks has become a venue for a more traditional model of investigative reporting. “In terms of journalism efficiency, I think we discovered a lot with a small amount of resources,” Assange said. Combining leaked material and sending reporters into the field, he added, was a “powerful combination.”” It’s good work like this, for breaking stories that escape the controlled mainstream media system, that got Wikileaks placed on a Pentagon enemies list.

Flashback: 1 in 3 Killed by U.S. Drone Attacks In Pakistan Are Civilians | Afghan ministers voice anger as civilians killed in Nato air strike | Five civilians killed in Nato rocket attack in Afghanistan | Suspected US drone ‘kills 12′ in Pakistan | U.S. Military Joins CIA’s Drone War in Pakistan | US Air Force confirms new ‘Beast of Kandahar’ drone | German army chief resigns over Afghanistan air strike | Clinton confronted by Pakistanis over attacks by aerial drones | UN: Drone attacks may violate international law | US drone ’shot down over Somalia’ | NATO pledges probe of deadly Afghan air strike; civilians killed | Pakistan remains silent as U.S. air attack kills 80 | Afghan Airstrike Video Goes Down the Memory Hole | Homing chips are CIA’s latest weapon against ‘al-Qaida’ targets hiding in Pakistan’s tribal belt | CIA: Our Drones are Killing Terrorists. Promise | US air strikes kill dozens of Afghan civilians | NATO denies air strike killed Afghan civilians | Don’t-ask-don’t-tell Policy: Pakistan and U.S. Have Tacit Deal On Airstrikes | Death toll climbs after U.S. air strike in Pakistan

Meghan Housley, The National Post
April 5, 2010

Namir Noor-Eldeen, the photographer killed in the Baghdad air strike. Photograph: Khalid Mohammed/AP

Video footage that allegedly shows a U.S. attack in Baghdad in July, 2007, in which two Iraqi journalists were killed, has been released online after a public screening at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

WikiLeaks, a non-profit organization that publishes sensitive material anonymously, got hold of the footage, apparently shot from American helicopters. Representatives from the website told reporters in Washington that the material in the video contradicts the official government account of the events of July 12. The group is hosting the video at Collateralmurder.com.

The 18-minute video appears to be shot from the point of view of Apache helicopter pilots surveying a Baghdad neighbourhood and showed attacks that caused the deaths of 12 to 15 Iraqis, including two Reuters staff members, and the injury of two small children.

The video narration describes what was seen and requests permission to open fire. From the narration, it would seem as though their actions were, as the military claimed, justified – the voices claim that the Iraqis had assault rifles and anti-tank rockets. Read the transcript

At 3:50 into the video, one pilot requests permission to engage, telling his commanding officer that there are “5-6 individuals with AK47s.” One man appears to have had a gun, but Saeed Chmagh and Namir Noor Eldeed of Reuters were carrying camera equipment. Contrary to what the narration says at 4:21 – that there is a man shooting – all the Iraqi civilians seem to be walking or standing around calmly.

[Ed. Note: Youtube has put this on some sort of mature/restricted list, so you may have to right-click on the video, pick 'Watch on Youtube', and log in to view it.]

The Huffington Post’s Dan Froomkin notes that Wikileaks determined that a van, which was targeted by the helicopter in the video, was carrying children.

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.

“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 told The New York Times in 2007. Agence France-Presse photographer Ahmad Sahib told the newspaper a different story:

“(The journalists) had arrived, got out of the car and started taking pictures, and people gathered,” Mr. Sahib said. “It looked like the American helicopters were firing against any gathering in the area, because when I got out of my car and started taking pictures, people gathered and an American helicopter fired a few rounds, but they hit the houses nearby and we ran for cover.”

Wikileaks also pointed out that a Washington Post journalist David Finkel was also in the area and had written about the event in his book the Good Soldiers.

The video has been cause for controversy for some time. In July, 2007, U.S. military officers showed what seemed to be the same footage to Reuters editors in an off-the-record briefing, who then requested a copy that same day under the Freedom of Information Act.

One year later, in July, 2008, Reuters was still trying to track down what happened.

From Reuters in 2008:

It has now been approximately one year since our original request was submitted and we still have not received a formal response or written initial determination in accordance with FOIA’s statutory requirements,” Reuters News Chief Counsel Thomas Kim wrote in a letter to the U.S. Central Command. “Reuters wants all the materials to be able to study closely what happened. Access to the video could also help improve Reuters’ safety policies in Iraq, the world’s most dangerous country for journalists.”

New York Times journalist Jennifer 8. Lee tweeted the event at the Press Club. On her Twitter stream, she posted that Wikileaks said:

“The behavior of the pilots is like they are playing a computer game. Their desire is to get high scores in a computer game.”

Ms. Lee said the video also offered “unusual view of casual banter of attack pilots when killing people. “Sweet,” “look at that bitch go,” “nice missile,” the pilots can be heard saying on the video.

Like Reuters, WikiLeaks said that the video is useful for understanding how such incidents occur. Ms. Lee said their goal of releasing video of Baghdad attack is to illuminate the culture of modern air warfare, and question it.

Ms. Lee reported that when one reporter asked if the video was to serve as a warning to pilots that they are being recorded on camera, Wikileaks editors Julian Assange responded saying that releasing the video sends a message that there are good people within the U.S. military who do not like what is going on in the military.

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