The list is getting painfully long.
Compulsively covering up “mishaps” and truth appears to be the regular MO for the US armed forces involved in combat operations in the two major wars going on at present. Abu Ghraib, Pat Tillman, Saving Jessica Lynch, the killing of entire families simply attending weddings or other private functions. I won’t even bother to dig out the links to the multitude of occasions when the military brass (and underlings, for that matter) attempt to weasel out of the truth of what really happened when things went wrong.
And today, two more horrific stories are breaking:
Wikileaks has obtained the video of a horrific shooting of civilians in Baghdad that happened in July of 2007.
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-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded. For further information please visit the special project website www.collateralmurder.com.
Warning: The video posted below is graphic – it is an abbreviated version of the 18 minute video on the “Collateral Murder” web site linked in the above quote. The total video footage of the incident is 38 minutes and in Wikileaks possession.
The military did not reveal how the Reuters staff were killed, and stated that they did not know how the children were injured.
After demands by Reuters, the incident was investigated and the U.S. military concluded that the actions of the soldiers were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own “Rules of Engagement”.
Consequently, WikiLeaks has released the classified Rules of Engagement for 2006, 2007 and 2008, revealing these rules before, during, and after the killings.
[…]
WikiLeaks obtained this video as well as supporting documents from a number of military whistleblowers. WikiLeaks goes to great lengths to verify the authenticity of the information it receives. We have analyzed the information about this incident from a variety of source material. We have spoken to witnesses and journalists directly involved in the incident.
WikiLeaks has posted a video on its website which it claims shows the killing of civilians by the US military in Baghdad in 2007.
The website’s organisers say they were given the footage which they say comes from cameras on US Apache helicopters.
They say they decrypted it, but would not reveal who gave it to them.
The WikiLeaks site campaigns for freedom of information and posts leaked documents online. There has been no Pentagon response to the video so far.
[…]
Now, contrast what you read and see in the above links with the official press release from that fateful day almost three years ago:
FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq — Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers, with their Iraqi Security Force counterparts, killed nine insurgents and detained 13 more after coming under fire July 12 in the New Baghdad District of eastern Baghdad.
Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, and the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, both operating in eastern Baghdad under the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, along with their Iraqi counterparts from the 1st Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Division National Police, were conducting a coordinated raid as part of a planned operation when they were attacked by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Coalition Forces returned fire and called in attack aviation reinforcement.
Nine insurgents were killed in the ensuing firefight. One insurgent was wounded and two civilians were killed during the firefight.
The two civilians were reported as employees for the Reuters news service.
“There is no question that Coalition Forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force,” said Lt. Col Scott Bleichwehl, spokesperson and public affairs officer for MND-B.
The command’s thoughts are with the families of the civilians who were killed during the combat action.
The incident is under investigation.
Now, to Afghanistan:
Coverage by the Scotsman:
US troops dug out bullets in raid cover-up
US SPECIAL forces soldiers dug bullets out of their victims’ bodies in the bloody aftermath of a botched night raid, then washed the wounds with alcohol, before lying to their superiors about what happened, Afghan investigators have told The Scotsman.
The incendiary Afghan claims came as Nato admitted last night that it had launched a comprehensive investigation into the operation of 12 February, which was meant to kill insurgents.Two pregnant women, a teenage girl, a policeman and his brother were gunned down when US and Afghan special forces stormed their home in Khataba village in eastern Afghanistan.
Nato had insisted that allegations of a cover-up, first reported in this newspaper, were “categorically false”. It initially said that the women had been dead for several hours when the assault force discovered their bodies.
[…]
Yes, Nato insisted that there was no cover-up….
Fortunately, there are instances where the truth makes its way to the surface and Nato now has to eat its words.
Yesterday, the coalition conceded that all five people were, in fact, killed by the raiders. “Despite earlier reports, we have determined that the women were accidentally killed as a result of the joint force firing at the men,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Todd Breasseale, a Nato spokesman.
However, an official familiar with the case maintained that the subsequent legal investigation, which is ongoing, had found no evidence of wrongdoing. “To date, we have found nothing to corroborate any inappropriate conduct of our forces,” he said.
[…]
Right! Covering up the scene and removing own bullets to make it look as if others were responsible for the killings is simply par for the course – certainly not inappropriate conduct…
Will the MSM pick up on these stories? Somehow, I have my doubts.
.
(The Guardian) – The footage of the July 2007 attack was made public in a move that will further anger the Pentagon, which has drawn up a report identifying the whistleblower website as a threat to national security. The US defence department was embarrassed when that confidential report appeared on the Wikileaks site last month alongside a slew of military documents.
The Pentagon has been seeking ways to prevent classified material appearing on Wikileaks, including through “criminal sanctions”. Wikileaks has made public classified US army reports on weapons, military units and battle strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Namir Noor-Eldeen, Reuters photographer killed in the Baghdad. (Khalid Mohammed/AP)
Salwann, the son of Reuters driver Saeed Chmagh, 40, cries
during the funeral procession in Baghdad (Mohammed Ameen/Reuters)
Eulogy: Namir Noor-Eldeen with his assistant and driver Saeed Chmagh
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
Digging the bullets out of the bodies is a subtle clue that there was consciousness of guilt.
The more we hear about shit like this, the more I’m thinking, maybe souvenirs?
.
(Salon.com) – On February 11, a U.S.-led NATO force visited a house near the village of Khatabeh in Paktia Province, Afghanistan to investigate possible Taliban or militant activity. The next day, NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Public Affairs Office released a statement saying that the force had “found the bound and gagged bodies of two women and dead bodies of two men in a compound during an operation last night.”
Rod Nordland wrote a brief about this for The New York Times that day, too, including an interview with the Paktia Province police chief …
Yesterday, the ISAF released a statement claiming oops, they were wrong, no one was dead when they got there — they did that:
A thorough joint investigation into the events that occurred in the Gardez district of Paktiya Province Feb. 12, has determined that international forces were responsible for the deaths of three women who were in the same compound where two men were killed by the joint Afghan-international patrol searching for a Taliban insurgent.
[The two men were brothers, one was an Afghan policeman who was shot on sight by the military invading their compound. – Oui]
“We deeply regret the outcome of this operation, accept responsibility for our actions that night, and know that this loss will be felt forever by the families … We now understand that the men killed were only trying to protect their families.”
Brig Gen. Eric Tremblay, ISAF Spokesperson
(Washington Post) Feb. 12, 2010 – “Last night, a Talib by the name of Mohammad Omar wore a border police uniform, entered the base and blew himself up,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told the Associated Press by telephone. A spokesman for the provincial government said the attack occurred after sundown in a barracks on the base in Dand aw Patan district about 35 miles each of Gardez, the capital of Paktia province.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
.
I’m in Washington DC right now where I just assisted WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange put on a press conference. Before today I was in Iceland for almost two weeks, yet again without properly seeing it. Apart from that one day at the volcano I haven’t gotten out much. That is to say: I have literally spent all the other days in “the bunker”, locked away behind closed curtains in rented apartments in Reykjavik, working to get things ready for today. At least I can now tell you all what I have been helping WikiLeaks with.
In researching this, Wikileaks has partnered with RUV, the Icelandic state television. Two of their reporters were supposed to leave for Baghdad, couldn’t get visas and then got some kind of last-minute emergency visas after all. So while we were scrambling to deal with yet another changed plan, the first pictures and emotional back-stories started emerging in bits and pieces from Baghdad. (Kristinn, Ingi, you guys rock!) More of that will appear over the next few days as the material is readied. Suffice it to say we all cried from time to time.
The very courageous anonymous source (yay!), the regular Wikileaks staffers, journalists in warzones, they all deserve much more praise than I do. Still, I’m hell of proud to have been part of the extraordniary team that helped get this video out. The supporting documents as well as various other bits of the story are on http://www.collateralmurder.com. Please check them out.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
.
(Washington Post) – BAGHDAD — The Iraqi Journalists’ Union called on the Iraqi government to investigate the apparent killing of two Reuters employees by U.S. Apache helicopters after a Web site posted classified American military video footage of the shooting.
The July 12, 2007, incident has been reported before, but the graphic video reignited anger over the U.S. killing of civilians at the height of violence in Iraq.
“This is another crime added to the crimes of the U.S. forces against Iraqi journalists and civilians,” the head of the journalists’ union Mouyyad al-Lami said. “I call upon the government to take a firm stance against the criminals who killed the journalists.”
… But the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said the video shows a deeper investigation is needed.
”The gruesome qualities of the video are plain to see.”
BAGHDAD Feb. 27, 2007: U.S.-led raid on HQ Iraqi Journalists’ Union
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
AP source confirms video of Baghdad firefight
.
Between 3:13 and 3:30 it is quite clear to me, as both a former infantry sergeant and a photographer, that the two men central to the gun-camera’s frame are carrying photographic equipment. This much is noted by WikiLeaks, and misidentified by the crew of Crazyhorse 18. At 3:39, the men central to the frame are armed, the one on the far left with some AK variant, and the one in the center with an RPG. The RPG is crystal clear even in the downsized, very low-resolution, video between 3:40 and 3:45 when the man carrying it turns counter-clockwise and then back to the direction of the Apache. This all goes by without any mention whatsoever from WikiLeaks, and that is unacceptable.
At 4:08 to 4:18 another misidentification is made by Crazyhorse 18, where what appears to clearly be a man with a telephoto lens (edit to add: one of the Canon EF 70-200mm offerings) on an SLR is identified as wielding an RPG. The actual case is not threatening at all, though the misidentified case presents a major perceived threat to the aircraft and any coalition forces in the direction of its orientation. This moment is when the decision to engage is made, in error.
I have made the call to engage targets from the sky several times, and know (especially during the surge) that such calls are not taken lightly. Had I been personally involved with this mission, and had access to real-time footage, I would have recommended against granting permission. Any of the officers with whom I served are well aware that I would continue voicing that recommendation until ordered to do otherwise. A few of them threatened me with action under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for doing so. Better officers than they, fortunately, were always ready to go to bat for me and keep that from happening. That said, if either of the clearly visible weapons been oriented towards aircraft, vehicles, troops, or civilians I would have cleared Crazyhorse 18 hot in a heartbeat and defended my actions to the battle staff if needed.
The point at which I cannot support the actions of Crazyhorse 18, at all, comes when the van arrives somewhere around 9:45 and is engaged. Unless someone had jumped out with an RPG ready to fire on the aircraft, there was no threat warranting a hail of 30mm from above. Might it have been prudent to follow the vehicle (perhaps with a UAV), or at least put out a BOLO (Be On the Look Out) for the vehicle? Absolutely without question. Was this portion of the engagement even remotely understandable, to me? No, it was not.
Source: Leaked video signifies growing power of independent Web journalism
[I lost contact with the site, but he clearly identified men in the group with an AKM rifle and an RPG – Oui]
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
Laying the groudwork for a continued cover-up?
Military can’t find its copy of Iraq killing video
Right, there was no reason to hold on to the video since there was nothing controversial about what happened… /sn
Never ending since Vietnam.
Bet on it.
50 years of “coverups.”
50 years of government by the Intelligence estabishment.
Nothing new here.
Coverups in SE Asia.
Coverups in Central/ South/Caribbean America.
Coverups in the Islamic oil countries.
Coverups at home.
Coverups of fucking coverups!
The United States of Omertica.
Bet on it.
Right on up to the top.
Commander in Chief?
Cover-upper in Chief.
“Cover up or die” is the message given to incoming executive branch folks if they arrive from somewhere that is somewhat out of the coverup loop.
Bet on it.
The message may be tacit or…it may drop right out on the rug in the Oval Office.
But it’s there.
“Cover up or die.”
Ya kin smell it!!!
Yup.
AG
.
Wikileaks.org, a publicly accessible Internet Web site, represents a potential force protection, counterintelligence, operational security (OPSEC), and information security (INFOSEC) threat to the US Army.
Same Apache helicopter an ½ hour later in Baghdad war crime
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
Great follow-up diary, Oui.
Thanks. Everyone should check it out.