Wikileaks video shows US military killing Reuters journalist Namir Noor-Eldeen
Wikileaks has released a video showing the needless killing of Reuters journalist Namir Noor-Eldeen, his driver, Saeed Chmagh and up to a dozen others by an Apache helicopter in Baghdad, 2007.
Channel 4 News Senior Programme Editor Ed Fraser has called for a “William Peers-type inquiry” into the killing and cover-up, referring to the Peers Commission investigation into the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
The video footage directly contradicts what Major Brent Cummings, executive officer of the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, said to the media after the incident: “No innocent civilians were killed on our part deliberately. We took great pains to prevent that.”
The video was leaked to Wikileaks by US military whistleblowers after a Reuters Freedom of Information request failed gain access to the video.
Read the full transcript at the special website on the killing of Namir Noor-Edleen and Saeed Chmagh set up by Wikileaks.
The events shown in the video
In the first attack the Apache kills approximately eight individuals, including Reuters journalist Namir Noor-Eldeen, who is clearly carrying a camera slung under his right arm.
Saeed Chmagh is injured by the first attack, and is seen limping away. The Apache gunner says over the radio that he is hoping Chmagh is carrying a weapon, so he can kill him.
A minibus, with several adults and two children inside appears on the scene. Several adults, clearly unarmed, leave the minibus and attempt to carry Chmagh away.
The Apache gunner then gains clearance to shoot, and hits the minibus repeatedly.
Later, a US military patrol arrives. A Humvee can been seen driving over the body of Namir Noor-Eldeen. Soldiers can be heard joking over the intercom about this.
The video also shows US soldiers on the ground carrying two wounded child from the destroyed minivan.
