This video of a helicopter attack on a group of men in Iraq has been obtained by wikileaks. Two reporters for Reuters were killed in the attack, and two children were wounded. The video explains much of what happened. The U.S. helicopter thought that this was a group of insurgents, and mistook the camera equipment of the two journalists for AK-47s. There are actually two different shooting incidents, a few minutes after the initial shootings a van stops to pick up a wounded man. The helicopter then opens fire on the good samaritans, and this is when the children were wounded. According to the military, everything was done according to the rules of engagement.
The most disturbing part of the video is how eager the U.S. troops appear to engage the insurgents. At one point, a Bradley runs over a body and the soldiers laugh about it. They also say that it’s the parent’s fault for bringing children to a firefight.
Here is the New York Times on the video:
“There had been reports of clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents in the area but there was no fighting on the streets in which Namir was moving about with a group of men,” Reuters wrote in 2008. “It is believed two or three of these men may have been carrying weapons, although witnesses said none were assuming a hostile posture at the time.”
The American military in Baghdad investigated the episode and concluded that the forces involved had no reason to know that there were Reuters employees in the group. No disciplinary action was taken.
Late Monday, the United States Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, released the redacted report on the case, which provided some more detail.
The report showed pictures of what it said were machine guns and grenades found near the bodies of those killed. It also stated that the Reuters employees “made no effort to visibly display their status as press or media representatives and their familiar behavior with, and close proximity to, the armed insurgents and their furtive attempts to photograph the coalition ground forces made them appear as hostile combatants to the Apaches that engaged them.”