Classified U.S. military video shows deaths of Iraqi civilians and journalists

Posted by Trevor Scott Howell in Politics

Wikileaks, a non-profit whistleblower organization, has released a classified U.S. military video that shows American soldiers firing on a group of Iraqis from an Apache gunship. The black-and-white footage shows several civilians, including children and journalists, being wounded and killed in the military strike, which reportedly occurred on July 2007.

In the video, U.S. soldiers can be heard targeting the group they believed were armed insurgents and requesting permission to engage. The first group, which included Reuters staff photgrapher Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22 and his 40-year-old driver Saeed Chmagh, is fired on first. Both Noor-Eldenn and Chmagh were killed in the attack. The helicopter then circles, firing at people fleeing the scene, and later at a van and people trying to resuce the wounded. U.S. troops later evacuated two seriously wounded children from the van.

Since 2006, Wikileaks.org, which is run by volunteer human rights' campaigners, investigative journalists and members of the public, has published several incriminating government, corporate and military documents provided by anonymous sources. The group says it received several documents from military whistleblowers and witness accounts to back up what occurred in the video.

Warning: The video is graphic and disturbing.


more in News     |     posted Apr 5th, 2010 at 4:39pm     


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