The former Reuters Baghdad bureau chief joins the WikiLeaks editor-in-chief, an Assange lawyer and an Iraqi academic to discuss new details about the “Collateral Murder” release.
Wikileaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnnson & Julian Assange lawyer Jennifer Robinson respond to two Guardian articles this week that delivered significant context to Wikileaks‘ 2010 “Collateral Murder” video release: In this video by Don’t Extradite Assange, Hrafnnson and Robinson are joined by former Reuters’ Baghdad bureau chief Dale Yates and Sami Ramadani, an Iraqi lecturer and writer.
Yates, subject of one of The Guardian articles, held the Baghdad post in 2007 when an Apache helicopter airstrike killed two of his staff members, Saeed Chmagh and Noor-Eldeen. Yates wasn’t allowed to report on what two U.S. Generals had shown Reuters at the time.
What we learn now is what Reuters wasn’t able to report, in particular how the death of one Reuters employee strongly appears to be a war crime. Yates reels at the deception and says Reuters was cheated by the U.S. brass.
Sami Ramadani speaks of the Iraqi reaction to the ‘Collateral Murder’ release and the evidence WikiLeaks published of torture at Abu Ghraib prison. The second Guardian article points out that in Assange’s indictment there is no mention of the Baghdad air strike footage, even though 40 of the 175 years in prison Assange faces relates to “Collateral Murder.”
Robinson explains that the charges are in fact about the publication of the Rules of Engagement, which Manning leaked to show that the Baghdad air strike had violated them.
Watch the replay of Saturday night’s program here, courtesy of Don’t Extradite Assange:
someday someone should revisit the time the American sniper “accidently ‘ killed the Italian hostage negotiator Nicola Calipari
Being British, I think the question one must ask is these actions were carried out directly by British troops, would one’s attitude change at all?
I presume many people would have the misplaced belief like me that your own country would not do such things but who can believe that?
Either the truth will be understood by many, or it will die with the rest of us.
Place your bets.
But, one bet is a sure loser.
Think about it.
Give me Liberty or give me Death!
The losing bet is the one that bets it will “die with the rest of us”. Cause then we will all be dead. Right?
Ken death would be far too good for some of our countrymen, those who should have known better and didn’t. Those who have directed us down this road of perdition.
Vietnam, then Reagan and then Reagan and his nationalism, 41 and Iraq. I’m thinking 911 was CIA destroying it.s criminal past.
As it turns out “PAY BACK TIME” is going to be a living hell. Much deserved by so many.
I am betting on man-kind to rise to the occasion. The truth dies only when those of us who live off truth’s energy die. This is why the truth must be preserved and passed to the masses of youth.
I could not agree with you more, with one exception so far the human has managed to survive for quite some time. We find ourselves in a very dismal time, but time marches forward.
I was with the Virginia Army National Guard in Mosul in 2004. It was a strange war. We had the internet. I was one of several operations sergeants in an engineer company that was deployed to two different locations. I was a “Fobit-” someone whose duty kept him on base the whole time. If I wasn’t tracking soldiers and material, or delivering the US mail, I was on the internet. I was also posted near a radio tower. So like everyone else there I was a mortar target. On Youtube the mercenaries employed by the US would proudly post their “snuff” videos— evidence of them shooting people randomly while driving around. On the classified net there was a video showing how a US helicopter unit could kill people at will at night. I said to myself that I hope this never gets out. Less than ten years later I saw THAT one on Youtube. I am not suprised at all the “blowback” from that war. I wasn’t surprised when I heard about the mass shooting at Virginia Tech. I could just go on and on about this. The world sees us for what we have become.
Please write your remembrances down. Individual memories are very important and are part of the mosaic of history and reality. We need to hear from both the destroyed and those acting on behalf of the destroyers so that eventually we can pinpoint those destroyers themselves – the bankers, the creators of weapons of mass destruction – and hopefully destroy them before they spin this earth flaming into the black hole of oblivion.
Apache M230 chain gun has a maximum effective range of (2.5 mi).
muzzle velocity 786 m/s (2,580 ft/s)
If you watch the video from the time you hear the sound of the machine gun fire to when the bullets hit its target it’s about 2.5 seconds translates to about a distance of a mile and a half distance from target.
They never saw or heard it coming .
Not fair to say the least!