WikiLeaks: Video of the murder of Reuters journalists by the US Military

From http://www.collateralmurder.com/

full video

Some of things I found most disturbing from this footage:

1) Airmen mis-Iding Reuters journalists carrying cameras and tripods as combatants with Ak-47s and RPG launchers.

2) Gunman talking to himself wishing that the cameraman who's legs he shot off with high caliber rounds would "pick up a weapon" so that he could shoot him.

3) Ground patrol IDing an injured child, the gunman saying with no feeling, "oh well" and the ground patrol consoling him saying "well, it's their fault for bringing their kid into a battle." -- Excuse me? But this "battle" is where they fucking LIVE.

4) Ground Patrol laughing while talking about driving over bodies of the recently deceased.

5) After getting a questionable ID on a person carrying a "weapon" into a building, an air gunman positing that they launch a missile into the building.

6) They fire a 1,000lb missile into a building with unarmed people walking around on the sidewalk in front.

7) After the first missile goes off, and bystanders try to help injured people out of the rubble, they fire a second missile. Comments from gunman are "aw sweet! look at that bitch go! Patoosh!"

8) They engage with a third missile and destroy the building.



From http://www.collateralmurder.com/

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.

WikiLeaks has released both the original 38 minutes video and a shorter version with an initial analysis. Subtitles have been added to both versions from the radio transmissions.

WikiLeaks obtained this video as well as supporting documents from a number of military whistleblowers. WikiLeaks goes to great lengths to verify the authenticity of the information it receives. We have analyzed the information about this incident from a variety of source material. We have spoken to witnesses and journalists directly involved in the incident.

WikiLeaks wants to ensure that all the leaked information it receives gets the attention it deserves. In this particular case, some of the people killed were journalists that were simply doing their jobs: putting their lives at risk in order to report on war. Iraq is a very dangerous place for journalists: from 2003- 2009, 139 journalists were killed while doing their work.