Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Collateral Murder Series

 I will blog a series of posts about the largest intelligence breach in U.S. history, the "Collateral Murder" series . I will try to cover the story from different aspects. I will share with you the full version of the leaked video, the whole 38 minutes . Subtitles have been added by Wikileaks from the radio transmissions.
I will also post a video accompanied by what seemed to me a fair analysis by a News network.
You will also have the opportunity to watch a video of the testimonies of an eyewitness of the crime and the story behind this leak .
Collateral Murder :
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.

According to Wikileaks : " 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. 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. "


Please share with us what you think, your opinion matters .

13 comments:

  1. "They don't know" ... They don't know anything. Like blind hungry cattle in a barn. Thanks for posting these stories, let the world know.

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  2. Thanks alot my friend for your continuous support...
    I want the American people to be aware of what their government is really doing in Iraq.. And if they do know about their government' actions in our country and keep silent about it, then they are accomplices in the crimes against Iraqis ..

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  3. We want Americans to have a clear attitude towards these actions, towards the war in Iraq, and towards all the crimes committed due to the unjust US invasion to Iraq, only condemning is of no use anymore!

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  4. With respect to the military video Julian Assange calls Collateral Murder, contrary to popular belief, the pilots in those Apache helicopters did not murder anyone.

    If you took the time to analyze the long version properly - not the short version Assange edited, added propaganda and called Collateral Murder - your conclusions would be quite different.

    A proper analysis would include the cockpit video, the pilots view showing the entire battlefield, and not limited to the recording from the camera mounted on the gun site. There is of course no such video but we can simulate it using Google earth.

    Fact 1: The pilot (Crazyhorse 1/8) did not mistake the camera or telephoto lens for an RPG. He mistook a long dark shadow cast on the ground by the telephoto lens for an RPG.

    Fact 2: From the onset the camera was mistaken for an AK 47. When the Reuters employee’s walked across the street joined by several other men - one carrying an RPG, one an AK variant and one holding an additional RPG round - the pilot asked for and was granted permission to engage.

    Fact 3: The van did not just happen by. The pilot (Crazyhorse 1/8) had seen this van - a 1994 two-toned Hyundai Grace Grand Salon H100 minibus - approaching that threatening position 100 meters east of the humvee where the soldiers had been under fire from RPG’s and AK 47’s.

    That’s right, the pilot saw the van traveling south at the beginning of the video on the same road where the Reuters employees were simultaneously walking north.

    He knew it’s driver carefully avoided the intersection where a group of men were standing, to include the photographer kneeling down to photograph that humvee. He saw it return a few minutes later traveling north on the same road.

    Lastly: Crucial to understanding what really happened that day is the humvee and it’s location. This is the vehicle photographed three times by the Reuters photographer (Namir) which never appears in the video. Soon after Assange realized the importance of it, he removed the posted photograph of the humvee from the Collateral Murder website.

    Bill Cromer

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  5. Mr.Bill Cromer:

    In facts 1 and 2 you do admit that there was a mistake.

    In fact 3 you did not disapprove on the fact that the American pilot did kill innocent people collaterally. Yet, most importantly, if you're trying to analize or justify the incident, you did not mention anything about denying the permission to transfer the wounded children to Rustamiyah to get instant medical help.

    Instead, the wounded children who were shot by the American pilot in the first place, had to wait for the IP's to come and take them to a local hospital.

    We do not need Google Earth, I will post a testimony of an eyewitness soldier of this Collateral Murder,I think he would be the best judge of it. He has criminalized the "Rules of Engagement" and the whole American presence in Iraq.

    Finally, if you're not convinced by this particular incident, there are many other crimes that you can refer to that graphically shows the cruilty of the American Army personell.The best example is the Abu Ghuraib Prison crime photographs that were used as screen savers in the American Army Head Quarters computers in Baghdad !

    And many other crimes that are not covered by the media which happen on a daily basis as declared by some of the American soldiers,after they return back to their reason and humanity ..

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  6. War, all war, is a nasty deplorable endeavor. People die in war. Oftentimes innocent people. What is seen in the Collateral Murder video that doesn’t pale to hundreds of thousands of innocent people dieing when America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

    Don’t misunderstand! I do not think U.S. forces should be in Iraq - never did. The military video showing Apache helicopters killing people is the most horrific incident I’ve ever scene. No human beings should have to undergo this type of treatment regardless if they were civilians or insurgents.

    Have no problem with Assange publishing the video. But to edit, add propaganda, and present his lies as truth is as disgusting as men being subjected to the wrath of those helicopters. Regardless, the U.S. soldiers were doing their job and doing it quite well ... not “murdering” people!

    God (Allah) arranged for U.S forces to be in Iraq, else they would not be there! The real question is why you haven’t taken advantage of that fact. You make war with an enemy you can’t possibly defeat? Your hate has blinded you to how easy it would be to use the Americans to your advantage. Without the hate you would see clearly how to use, manipulate, and cause them to serve you.

    Want Americans to leave Iraq? Stop what your doing to keep them there. Make piece not war! If you don’t want to make piece ... fake it!

    Bill Cromer

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  7. Bill Cromer
    I think you are contradicting yourself. While you don't accept the War on Iraq and the American presence in Iraq,you're asking us Iraqis to accept it, make peace with it and take advantage of it! How could this possibly be? And how can we "Make Advantage" of an occupier who started a war against us based on false allegations? The whole war is about OIL , full stop!! It's all about stealing our fortunes, oil and everything else and any occupation cannot do that unless they destroy and kill and terrorize the people first.

    Although I think that God's (Allah) Will to be used as a justification for the American invasion of Iraq is very weak ,I'm not surprised that you think that, because your superior George Bush Jr. himself said that this is a holy crusade in the name of God. Having said that, I totally agree with you that it's Allah's Will for America to pay the price for the stupid mistake i.e the invasion of Iraq with its Economy and the thousands of lives of the American "crusaders" that perform countless similar acts as the one the video showed.

    I don't care about Assange or his Wikileaks, all I care about is that the video and a lot of information is out, and if you don't perceive this as Murder and you consider it as a "military job" then there's something significantly wrong with the American perception of what a "Military Job" is .

    Nobody is capable of providing mass propaganda and charades like "Uncle Sam". Uncle Sam was granted a green light to invade Iraq based on propaganda and false allegations which shortly afterwards was proved to be either non existing as the (Weapons of Mass Destruction) or false (and I don't care to enumerate)!
    So nobody is trying to falsely disfigure the image of the US troops nor the US government because Actions speak louder than Words !

    Regarding what you said about us being "blinded by hate", 1st of all we are civilized and we know the difference between the American citizens, your government and the troops in Iraq. Secondly, Bush himself said that he would be a "Freedom Fighter" if his country was occupied ! I guess this phrase should be more than enough for us to keep resisting the occupation.

    And lastly, what if you see Iraqi helicopters and tanks shooting at your front yard and murdering your wife, daughter and son and destroying everything that you love. I don't think you would try to take advantage of and make( peace) not (piece) with an enemy you can't possibly defeat . I believe that you would be a "Freedom Fighter" and resist this enemy. If this point is still not clear to you, do yourself a favor, close your eyes and imagine your loved ones swimming in their blood ..

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  8. Bill Cromer,
    US Zerocracy said it ALL, I can't even argue with such level of prostration! Thanks Allah US Zerocracy is here, your words just make me feel sick!
    If you think human dignity is cheap, that's just yours, not Iraqis', period!

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  9. Quite true! America started a war in Iraq based on false allegations. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq like the ones Iraq (Saddam Hussein) used against Iranian soldiers and innocent civilians. Iraq had only a few problems before the U. S. got involved like Ali Hessian al-Majid killing approximately 182,000 Kurdish civilians, and attacks launched against approximately 3000 to 4000 Kurdish villages in areas of northern Iraq. Not to mention the most infamous chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabia.

    The oil thing you mention is some type of propaganda you’ve been exposed to from another source. Proof someone does it better than Uncle Sam. There's not enough oil in Iraq to interest America. The American army is no doubt intimidating but if you think it’s all about stealing your fortunes, oil and everything else, and occupying to destroy, kill and terrorize, you have a misconception. If we liken your thinking here to those pilots in the Collateral Murder video, in the words of Julian Assange, “you have become debased in your thinking.”

    You mentioned George Bush Jr. as my superior. That’s totally ridiculous! I have absolutely no use whatsoever for this hell-bound Southern Baptist who promotes ridiculous Christian doctrines like “Eternal Security.” There is no doubt in my mind that he became God’s enemy when he was Governor of Texas and refused to spare the life of a woman named Carla Faye Tucker by commuting her death sentence to life in prison. He is not my superior and suggest that you disregard anything he said about “a holy crusade in the name of God.”

    While on the subject of that military video. I have analyzed it quite thoroughly and regardless of what I’m told by the military investigators or Julian Assange, there is no doubt that the pilots were doing their job and attacking enemy insurgents - not murdering innocent civilians! The Reuters employees, unfortunately, were imbedded with those insurgents. Take away the cameras - thought to be weapons - and the actual weapons some of the men were walking around with and the attack would not have occurred. Hell, here in my own country I cannot walk around with or approach a law enforcement officer (police) while carrying an AK 47 (assault weapon) without being shot and killed.

    The van driver was either providing reconnaissance for the insurgents, transportation for the Reuters employees, or both. Either way he was involved and the pilots knew it. They were convinced it was part of insurgent activity and had no way of knowing there were children in the vehicle. Like the three fellows who walked to the intersection 100 meters away from that American humvee who were actually carrying weapons, the van driver made a mistake that day.

    continued:

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  10. Bye the way, there are lots of other military video’s on the internet where insurgents, when they know they are being watched by Apache helicopter pilots, hide or lay down their weapons nearby and walk around pretending to be innocent civilians. Case in point:
    http://splodetv.com/video/apache-insurgent-attack

    Let me clear up another misconception which seems to be prevalent in the remarks posted on US Zerocracy in Iraq. I have absolutely no control whatsoever over what the United States government does. In fact I speak out against it quite often. But let me assure you, they don't care about such things! They have an agenda and neither you nor I have any control over what they do. In fact, noting the greed and corruption in your story entitled “A New Scandal: “Current” Affairs, in that respect we could exchange governments and find very little difference in them.

    Lastly, restructuring the electric grid is a good example of how Iraqis failed to allow the U. N. (U.S.) to serve them. All you have to do, if Muslims could unite like African Americans did in the 60’s, is to stop or postpone all hostilities. An endeavor responsible for an African American being in the White House today.

    All you have to do is just call for a 30 day piece and during that time not kill or attack any coalition forces. In exchange ask the U. N. to fix the electrical system in your country. That means to sit back and do absolutely nothing while they bring in the necessary means to build the appropriate system. Hell, you can always go back to what you are doing now if it doesn’t work out. [An Iraqi with a Kalashnikov is of little consequence to anyone but when armed with deliberate peaceful means he becomes a threat to the entire world.]

    Bill Cromer

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  11. Bill Cromer

    Politicians are schizophrenic, add delusion, you will get American politicians. I'm sorry to say that your very lengthy 2 previous comments are a very vivid example of that. Yet again you contradict yourself by saying that America went to war with Iraq under false allegations by the command of George Bush Jr.who is also an American "politician", then you say that the American army of the US government is saving Iraq and the actions of the US military are completely justifiable. Now what I didn't understand how come a government and an army wrongly go to war under false allegations that you admitted to, yet they serve the country they occupy! It's like building a castle on sand " A Holywood Specialty" !

    Regarding HalabCHa that you talk of, it happened in the 1988 which begun as an internal Iraqi affair until Iran interfered and chemically bombed these innocent Iraq civilians,the chemical used was cyanogene chloride which was manifactured and used in Iran. Plus you have to be honest with numbers and figures because we're talking about people's lives! You doubled the real number more than 35 times!
    At that time America was still under the cast of the Soviet Union shadow "We had no beef with you" !! So it's very Post Dated for America "The Policemen of The World" to come and punish Iraqis for something that they didn't do after 20+ years!

    Iraq has the largest Oil reserve in the world and it floats on a sea of Red Mercury which if you don't know its value Google would do the job for you. In addition to our other natural resources as Gas, Sulfur, Phosphate ... etc..
    The only condition that the American government and agenda would have no interest in Iraqi fortunes is that if they have tripped and fell from heaven which I won't be surprised if you believe in that . It's animal instinct to posses what you need to survive with aggression and God (Allah) knows that your government and army are full of those.

    Any more irrelevant points you want to involve/fabricate to justify the actions of your government that you denounce in one comment and embrace in the other?

    One thing I want to point out is that we have all sorts of religions in Iraq not only "Muslims" !
    And I can assure you that the Muslims that you do not know are very well united provided that the "Good Samaritan" keeps its nose out of their buisness, which you are already doing by retreating from Iraq after an Enormous Loss in the Lives and Economy of the American people, which was declared by the "African American in the White House" as a failure of the US in Iraq, in other words it's a second Vietnam or worse! And even if you sit back and relax and let the UN handle the American Crisis they're still wouldn't be able to help you.

    This proves that a Few Iraqi Kalashnikovs have conquered the American Abrahams and burned the "unstoppable agenda" that you talk of .

    P.S If you want you can go further back in history beyond the 1980's, you still won't find a justification that you can pitch to the world.

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  12. Better still, lets go forward.

    Good news according to MSNBC:

    “IRAQ-KUWAIT BORDER — The last U.S. combat troops crossed the border into Kuwait on Thursday morning, bringing to a close the active combat phase of a 7½-year war that overthrew the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein, forever defined the presidency of and left more than 4,400 American service members and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead. ”

    “...In a statement, Obama called the troops’ withdrawal a “milestone in the Iraq war” and said, “I hope you’ll join me in thanking them, and all of our troops and military families, for their service.”

    “..At one point, the United States had blanketed the country with nearly a quarter-million-strong combat force; by the end of the month, Obama said, about 50,000 U.S. troops will remain in the country, in a non-combat role providing support and training for the Iraqi military.”

    Congratulations ... it’s over!

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  13. Again you keep on digging into many different subjects trying to justify the unjustifiable! Your government lied, period. This is the typical American strategy of manipulation and brain washing..

    Your Obama has won the elections with his promise of "Change" and a very fundamental part of this promise is the full withdrawal from Iraq. The last statements of Obama that you're proud of prove how manipulative and untruthful your polititians are. This is a living example of schizophrenia +delusions +lies+propaganda .

    Instead of being proud of these statements you should question your president about lying to you.

    I don't know why you're tieressly defending such an abnormal situation of war and an occupation, I believe that this makes you an accomplice. For this I congratulate you for being desensitized and ruthless,now you can successfully join the US military in Iraq, and may be "Help" us with some more of the American Depleted Uranium !!!

    You're free and more than welcome to believe your politicians lies and think it's over, but it's never over from our side untill we expell and get rid of the last member of your troops and regain full independence of our country. We will keep resisting and always proudly be "Freedom Fighters" .

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