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[Translated from Le Figaro (Paris)]
IRAQ: VIDEO BROADCAST OF AMERICAN MILITARY BLUNDER
By Marion Brunet
April 6, 2010
http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2010/04/06/01003-20100406ARTFIG00501-irak-une-bavure-de-l-armee-americaine-diffusee-en-video-.php
VIDEO -- Images made available Monday by the website Wikileaks.org enable one to see in a new light the shooting that killed several persons in 2007, including two Reuters journalists.
The matter was already well-known, but the images had never before been seen. The website Wikileaks.org published Monday video of the American army helicopter raid that three years ago caused the death of two Reuters employees and several others. The site, which specializes in making available sensitive material, has so far not revealed how it obtained the spectacular video, filmed in July 2007.
The images, filmed aboard an Apache helicopter, are accompanied with the sound track of conversations between pilots and air controllers on the ground. As they flew over Baghdad, the military identified men walking in the street as armed insurgents. Notable among the individuals seen in the video are two Reuters employees, Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. The Apache pilots seem to take the camera of one of the journalists to be an RPG launcher and say they have located "five or six people with AK-47s." So they ask for permission to "open fire." They are given authorization almost immediately. They will later be evacuated by American soldiers arriving on the scene of the blunder.
Warning: the following images may be shocking.
An American military official said Monday that the broadcast of the video "offers no new information, only images." "Since 2007, we have acknowledged everything that is in the video," he said, speaking anonymously. "We have acknowledged that the raid took place and two Reuters employees (that were killed)." He added: "We know that two children were wounded."
"The RPB launcher in the video is real," the official affirmed, however. "We had insurgents and reporters in a zone where American forces were going to be ambushed. At that time, we could not tell whether (the Reuters employees) were carrying cameras or weapons."
For her part, the head of the American organization Reporters Without Borders, Clothilde Le Coz, called on the Pentagon to show "more transparency" in this matter and asked the Obama administration to "show its respect for justice."
COMMENTS [Later to earlier]
Nicolas Le Chatelier: The Axis of Good looks just great...
Skanee: We've known since Clausewitz and even before that war is the continuation of politics by other means. -- So it's the leaders who are at the head of the military who we should blame and not the soldiers who execute their orders. -- Is that politically correct this time?
francais moi011: Mission Accomplished... they're still searching for the WMDs or they're bringing democracy, I can't remember which
Ithair: Don't forget that soldiers in action risk their lives every day and every minute, and it's logical that they protect themselves first of all... If reporters are on the ground, that's their choice and unfortunately to cover war zones implies risking death. Whose fault is it? Of neither: that's war
Nicolas Chatelier: Maybe those who started the war illegally?
marsa: War is a nasty business, everyone knows that. Westerners film their actions and that can be turned against them. On the other side they don't film, but do a lot worse. But we don't see it, so nothing can be said. I'm tired of the press always on the side of the "victims," forgetting what these same victims have done. As for journalists, they have accidents that are come from seeking images and sensational reporting. francais moi011: Uh... Who did the Iraqis attack, then? I'm fed up with half-wits who'll support anything...
tissio juliot: to try to excuse inexcusable acts is completely abject (some commentaries), does humanity still deserve to live...??? -- And madmen who are innocent are put away, when the real madmen are in certain militaries, this world seems more and more strange to me.
hadock: If CNN had covered the Second World War, the invasions of Europe, with all the crimes against civilians they caused, would have been stopped and soldiers like Bomber Harris would have been cashiered. Either you allow that war is necessarily dirty and send the journalists back into their hole where they ought to be; or else, in order not to trouble the sensitive, you just send the Salvation Army with the mission of converting the aggressor nonnviolently, as our CNN journalists seem to suggest we do.
kevin pelardy: Me I say you have to understand them because being over there must not be very easy and viewed from afar you have to see whether or not they're armed as they say then you don't see whether there are children or not me personally I say it's not a serious mistake especially in war and kamikazes are killed I don't know how many innocents on September 11. m g: "From afar"... that's just the problem! You think you're looking at a video game where people comfortably seated behind their screens are playing at war. Not to mention the insults that do show that these guys are caught up in the game and couldn't care less about human life.
Dominique COPIN: Horrible methods that are also applied in Afghanistan, with the uncounted blunders they cause. And after such example we're supposed to admire the American military and NATO? Shooting at people who are not threatening and who are civilians from the sky and several kilometers away, I call that cowardice myself.
Madoxxx: Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice, and the other neocons are still on the loose. We've convicted leaders of "minor" countreis for less than that: invading a sovereign country that wasn't threatening anyone, withou the U.N.'s approval, murder of civilians, etc., with the U.S. there's a double standard. Bush is still laughing about weapons of mass destruction, but not the families of victims, unfortunately.
héliosunbé: In the 1980s in Beirut, I photographed (as a soldier in intelligence) ambulances "disguised" as vehicles with car bombs that were parked in front of civilian buildings and "soldiers" dressed in civilian clothes with their back-up command post in schools... The Americans lost more than 200 soldiers and the French more than 60 paratroopers at a single swipe because of car bombs and then another time, the French again this time, one died and and seven were wounded because of an... booby-trapped ambulance... QED! -- deepo: Therefore, to sum up, we have to fire at every hospital, ambulance, car, school, and civilian... Might as well use an A- or H-bomb, that way, the problem is solved... and no more wounded on the "good" side... -- Skanee: No, you're just not on the same wavelength. Your question isn't the right one and doesn't have any relation to the problem this soldier is raising.
Frank Champagne: A murder is sentenced to prison for life and soldiers get medals... that leaves me confused because watching this video what I see is gratuitous murders there was no threat why fire on people? -- they should be tried and pronounced guilty of murder. -- No one has the right to decide whether another person lives or dies so why are they? -- Do these Americans have something more that makes them able to decide who lives and who dies?
aquarius22: war isn't nice, we already knew that... we have to add that with the Islamists messing everything up everywhere all over the world since September 11, that doesn't help things...
Fanch12: VIDEO -- Because it took them three years to broadcast this video? As images, it's neither very clear nor very convincing.
Gigi83: How cowardly these American weapons are! Yuck! Shame! -- What COURAGE! -- If I were America, I'd be ashamed!
lamadrad: there you see who the real terrorists are, who kill people -- frankly it's shameful
SNMP: The rules of engagement in urban settings is a bit lax for them. -- But after the population turns against them -- they won't need a super counter-insurgency theoritician.
J Qhert: We often forget that without the American army we wouldn't be here, calmly sitting behind our computers. -- Mad Vin: That's certainly not a reason to accept and justify the unjustifiable!! What happens in this video is a war crime!! -- herve51: I don't think these Iraqis will be calmly sitting in front of their TV. -- severus06: Without the red army we wouldn't be here either, we often forget that. -- Zelenka Radek: and the americans wouldn't be there if the French wern't there. -- we ought to stop forgetting that it's thanks to the french that they got their independence. -- deepo: what are you talking about!!! 2000 years ago, without the romans, we wouldn't be here. Without La Fayette, the americans wouldn't be there. Without the Soviets who enormously weakened the Germans in the east, we wouldn't be her either (that doesn't mean Stalinism is excusable), etc.... images and action have to place in context... -- Mad Vin: @severus +1.
hassen11: Before sending a Soldier to war he gets rigorous training especially for a power like the U.S.A. Let's admit that this is a mistake but in this case the safety of its soldiers was not in gander all the mor so in that those who were aboard the helicopter have a sort of superior intellectual level. -- This is a premeditated crime that deserves to be condemned by the international community.
ducdeguise: The war in Iraq was useless, we can see that clearly enough. It's been good for nothing. The Americans are always right: this this video is very cruel...
DARIUS47: Alas we are allied to a country whose army has behaved very badly. Sure, for nuclear bobms on civilian populations the orders came from higher up. -- Let's not forget either our 75,000 dead French caused by allied bombing. And we're still turning up bombs today often enough. -- Tellaux: The real ones responsible for those 75,000 victims aren't the Allies, who came to liberate us from an invader that we were incapable of repelling in 1939. In 1936 the Germans built tanks and planes, and we were taking paid vacations! We paid dearly for them! -- severus06: An important variable to take into account is the theory of tank use. Germany: massive use, supporting the infantry. French: dispersal of their tanks in every sector. It's that theory that made all the difference.
Brunolou: I love it! On all the medias I see "a blunder of the American army (those nice guys) broadcase in video" Why not use the word "massacre"? In short, all that is for oil... May god bless America.
Jacques R: Wikipedia is always (or almost) right. rocket-propelled grenade (also known as RPG or Rocket Launcher)
deuxfoixdix: americans on the hunt -- what will be the final count very very high I think and obviously no one's responsible -- in africa 10 times fewer dead and the leaders go to the tpi [world criminal court] -- double standard
Koui: I've seen the video, there's nothing very suspicious about the journalists (a zoom lens and a camera on a shoulder strap), nothing either for the group of 10 civilians executed with them, nothing either with the people trying to help someone wounded before being killed. It proves that the Americans shoot all the suspects without asking questions. Most aren't journalists and die without a video on the internet. The fact that you're helping someone wounded condemns you to death. Talking to someone with a long object deserves to be killed. I'm not even talking about the Iraqis who have weapons to defend themselves against thieves and militias. The U.S. military regrets having wounded children and his friend says that it's the fault of the Iraqis who brought their children into the fighting (= theory of the human shield). In reality, it was just a passer-by who was driving his kids and who tried to save a wounded man. In short, these soldiers blinded by propaganda think they're in a video game shooting zombies. We are all zombies.
raz26: a bulldozer to crush a fly, typical made in USA. trigger-happy shows a lack of training and a feeling of superiority very GI. the poor efficiency of their military compared to the gigantism of the means they have at their disposal should alert them but no, they suspect nothing. the collateral damage can be explained, blunders not too much.
Vincent OSCAR: This is war... This is not a blunder! The soldiers are firing on armed men, in the middle of which are two journalists. That's too bad but that's war. Very useful images for all the war enthusiasts eager to send our youth to Afghanistan. I don't see much of a blunder, some of the guys are armed. Obviously, they mixed up an RPG with a zoom lens, but from a distance that's understandable. Homage and respects to the two journalists who died doing their job. -- Pat 3117: I agree completely, I don't see a blunder either. The ground soldiers advancing in hostile territory supported by choppers. The choppers see a group of armed men, one starts crouching at a street corner... and the chopper destroys the target. That's what war is like. If they don't to that, the men on the ground are ambushed 9 times out of 10 and are killed. It's too easy to point fingers, they're just following procedure. It's really too bad for the journalists and their families, but given the place they were, they knew the risks of their job. Now the why and how of this war is another matter, but soldiers do what you tell them to.
mickdan: released three years later why?? to stir up a little more hatred on both sides!
MariusLetellier: Nothing surprising: the americans have committed hundreds of massacres in Iraq against civilian populations and journalists (Irak was the "world record" for journalists' deaths for several years: killed not by the Iraqi insurgents but by American soldiers ro mercenaries of "security" agencies like Blackwater, etc.) The goal is clear: spread terror wherever possible without witnesses.
FyeNemer Gérard: i have mixed feelings -- on the one hand we're shown a banality that has not other purpose but to make us believe that the bad guys, the barbarians are necessarily the americans -- the Iraqis spend their times making lovey-dovey (Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, etc.), everyone knows that... -- on the other hand with the arrival of God-on-earth-savior-of-the-USA-and-therefore-the-entire-world (alias OBAMA as seen by the Paris-centered media), you might expect this propaganda to be back-pedaled, even if the date of the events goes back to the reincarnation of the Beast (the ignoramus Bush), for this deatil will escape the viewers.
hassen11: Where are those Soldiers who risked their lives to protect the Civilians or else it was all for show and we are seeing their real nature -- if they had shown this video how many crimes take place quietly far away from cameras -- there are those valorous Marines fearless and blameless unless it could be the Tsahal that's training them.
iugrek: As tragic as these images may be and without in any way trying to excuse the possible mistakes of the American soldiers in question, we shouldn't forget that these are soldiers making war. The stress they're under at that moment when their lives could be objectively in danger can suffice to "explain." It's easy to judge coolly at rest in front of a computer! It's a lot more complicated when you're running a mortal risk and all you have for a screen is a little thing as big as a cigarette pack. -- mcjo79: I don't understand your reaction. So stress can excuse everything? On the video, I advise you to watch the complete video. All the people are in civilian clothes and are unarmed. It's people who should be professionals and are killing innocent civilians. And think even that they're using their children as human shields, when people had just come to lend aid to wounded people. I think it's you who are blind. These people, through their lack of lucidity, they're assassinating (there's no other term) civilians, they ought therefore to answer for their act. And the video clearly proves that the army evaded its responsibility in not convicting these soldiers. -- toxik: not armed? look at the sequence between 3:40 and 4:00; those are no longer the journalists you see (visible a little before 3:40), but two armed men. you can call that civilians...
Amelie Martin: What's regrettable is that this army does not condemn this kind of vengeance on the part of its soldiers. These shoot into groups of people a lot. These soldiers ought to behave as professionals, carrying out a military mission, and not take pleasure and party everytime they kill an Iraqi (soldier, civilian, child). Is that what a soldier is like?
carvals: Dear Marion, for your information the RPC is a rocket-launcher not a grenade-launcher. -- Avatar: RPG = Routchnoï Protivotankovyï Granatomiot = portable antitank grenade launcher, but the grenade is carried by a rocket, so both you and Marion are right. -- FydNemer Gérard: or even a larger charge (to pierce armor) -- rocket means projectile which is not guided by a "smart" unit to acquire a target, as opposed to "missile" -- grenade a charge that explodes in all directions (with nasty bits in addition), and that is launched with a gun or something else (even by hand) -- let's not fight over vocabulary -- ps: what's more there's interference between english and french (languages), hence confusion and mistakes -- Avatar: FydNemer, RPG is russian = (R)éactivnyï (P)rotivotankovyÎ (G)ranatomiot, otherwise the piolt would talk about SMAW, PZF-3, or something else. http://world.guns.ru/grenade/gl02-r.htm
Moudubulbe: We're doing the same thing in Afghanistan, where we have no business being
Strunz Carlota: Funny? USELESS? To prove what to us? It's voyeuristic? ?????? tsarkolit: That shows the weakness of the chain of command and the absence of responsibilization of these masters of war. But you prefer perhaps being shot like a rabbit because the operator needs to stretch his fingers or the thermic camera of the assault helicopter will not have been able to tell the difference between a just used rocket launcher and a child sleeping in your arms.
ellepleuremaplanete: USELESS for people who think, that's exactly right, beyond what the news wants to have us hear. USEFUL for those who believe in the honesty of every act declared by governments or "honest" newspapers and "for the good of." -- There will unfortunately always be two faces to a coin, one heads (THE USEFUL) and the other tails (THE USELESS), without the first the second would be nothing. and it's thanks to that (unfortunately for this scenario) that we can analyse and think.
copernic K: This looks like war.
ellepleuremaplanete: How many Blunders like this one have been committeed. -- I've watched the video, the requests from the chopper reveal only an enormous desire to kill Iraqis. -- Perhaps in the end they were happier, I'll say rather less unhappy, under Saddam's regime. -- These images are the reflections of warriors engaged in killing without being caught. -- I really hope that they are not too proud of themselves these assassins. -- When will Obama put an end to all this?
Christian Léon: USELESS! This video is absolutely useless! To prove what to us? Taht the resst of the time they fight man-to-man?
Gragol: It's funny, when someone on a luge kills himself in the trials at the Olympics in Vancouver, you can't show us the images, it's voyeuristic, the population is shocked blablabla. When 2 Iraqi Reuters employees and the team charged with evacuating them (including two children) are shot down by the American army, we can watch, that's not a problem. Can a journalist explain the difference to me? Thanks in advance :) -- salimi haddad: no need for a journalist, I can do it -- someone on a luge who kills himself in the Olympic trials is a tragic accident, it's sad and to show the images to satisfy an unhealthy curiosity is voyeurism. Moudubulbe: Everyone saw the pictures of the guy on the luge... -- alain marco: I'm not a journalist, but I see on the one hand a guy who took the risk of killing himself stupidly and who unfortunately did to, on the other, innocent people. And silliness on both sides. I see on the one side celebrity voyeurism, on the other, militantism. For what difference that makes... Can war be that normal in the eyes of the world? Doesn't it shock anyone? For those who are shocked, "à Dieu vat!" [A Breton expression = "in God's name"] -- Amelie Martin: In the case of the guy on the luge the death is an accident we're sure of it so it's useless to show the images, in the other it's perhaps an assassination of civilians therefore so everyone can form an opinion the journalist has to show the images -- toxik: there have to be martyrs, otherwise there's no more cause -- toxik: Ah well! if you had to show all the civilians killed on the 8:00 news, there wouldn't be many viewers for long... do you also show Chechen heads? it's a little as in some countries, to disgust you with car accidents the press publishes extremely tough pictures.
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