On July 12, 2007, a series of air-to-ground attacks were conducted by a team of two U.S. AH-64 Apache helicopters in Al-Amin al-Thaniyah, New Baghdad, during the Iraqi insurgency which followed the invasion of Iraq. On April 5, 2010, the attacks received worldwide coverage and controversy following the release of 39 minutes of classified gunsight footage by WikiLeaks. The video, which WikiLeaks titled Collateral Murder, showed the crew firing on a group of people and killing several of them, including two Reuters journalists, and then laughing at some of the casualties, all of whom were civilians. An anonymous U.S. military official confirmed the authenticity of the footage, which provoked global discussion on the legality and morality of the attacks.
The biggest issue with that was the US denying involvement until the video was released. The actions of the helicopter crew make sense in context when watching the video.
There were RPGs and rifles in the group that was 100 yards from US ground forces that had been under attack by small arms fire and RPGs. The camera equipment appeared to be additional weaponry, and the reporters wore no identifying gear and had not informed the military of their location.
When a cameraman pointed his camera at US troops, the long telephoto lens appeared from the chopper to be an RPG, so the gunner fired on him and on the support van that drove up on scene.
When boots arrive at the scene, the soldiers find weapons and cameras, and immediately try to evacuate the wounded children. It should be noted that one of the journalists who died died at the hospital. If they were really trying to cover things up at that point they would have made sure he died at the scene.
The video proves that the US lied about what happened, but also very clearly demonstrates that there was zero intentional killing of journalists.
Don’t forget “Collateral Murder”:
What’s your point? “Collateral Murder” was the US military. Just whataboutism?
Both things are bad.
The biggest issue with that was the US denying involvement until the video was released. The actions of the helicopter crew make sense in context when watching the video.
There were RPGs and rifles in the group that was 100 yards from US ground forces that had been under attack by small arms fire and RPGs. The camera equipment appeared to be additional weaponry, and the reporters wore no identifying gear and had not informed the military of their location.
When a cameraman pointed his camera at US troops, the long telephoto lens appeared from the chopper to be an RPG, so the gunner fired on him and on the support van that drove up on scene.
When boots arrive at the scene, the soldiers find weapons and cameras, and immediately try to evacuate the wounded children. It should be noted that one of the journalists who died died at the hospital. If they were really trying to cover things up at that point they would have made sure he died at the scene.
The video proves that the US lied about what happened, but also very clearly demonstrates that there was zero intentional killing of journalists.
Thanks for the background info.