The list is getting painfully long.
Compulsively covering up “mishaps” and truth appears to be the regular MO for the US armed forces involved in combat operations in the two major wars going on at present. Abu Ghraib, Pat Tillman, Saving Jessica Lynch, the killing of entire families simply attending weddings or other private functions. I won’t even bother to dig out the links to the multitude of occasions when the military brass (and underlings, for that matter) attempt to weasel out of the truth of what really happened when things went wrong.
And today, two more horrific stories are breaking:
Wikileaks has obtained the video of a horrific shooting of civilians in Baghdad that happened in July of 2007.
WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded. For further information please visit the special project website www.collateralmurder.com.
Warning: The video posted below is graphic – it is an abbreviated version of the 18 minute video on the “Collateral Murder” web site linked in the above quote. The total video footage of the incident is 38 minutes and in Wikileaks possession.
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 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 has posted a video on its website which it claims shows the killing of civilians by the US military in Baghdad in 2007.
The website’s organisers say they were given the footage which they say comes from cameras on US Apache helicopters.
They say they decrypted it, but would not reveal who gave it to them.
The WikiLeaks site campaigns for freedom of information and posts leaked documents online. There has been no Pentagon response to the video so far.
[…]
Now, contrast what you read and see in the above links with the official press release from that fateful day almost three years ago:
FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq — Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers, with their Iraqi Security Force counterparts, killed nine insurgents and detained 13 more after coming under fire July 12 in the New Baghdad District of eastern Baghdad.
Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, and the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, both operating in eastern Baghdad under the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, along with their Iraqi counterparts from the 1st Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Division National Police, were conducting a coordinated raid as part of a planned operation when they were attacked by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Coalition Forces returned fire and called in attack aviation reinforcement.
Nine insurgents were killed in the ensuing firefight. One insurgent was wounded and two civilians were killed during the firefight.
The two civilians were reported as employees for the Reuters news service.
“There is no question that Coalition Forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force,” said Lt. Col Scott Bleichwehl, spokesperson and public affairs officer for MND-B.
The command’s thoughts are with the families of the civilians who were killed during the combat action.
The incident is under investigation.
Now, to Afghanistan:
Coverage by the Scotsman:
US troops dug out bullets in raid cover-up
US SPECIAL forces soldiers dug bullets out of their victims’ bodies in the bloody aftermath of a botched night raid, then washed the wounds with alcohol, before lying to their superiors about what happened, Afghan investigators have told The Scotsman.
The incendiary Afghan claims came as Nato admitted last night that it had launched a comprehensive investigation into the operation of 12 February, which was meant to kill insurgents.Two pregnant women, a teenage girl, a policeman and his brother were gunned down when US and Afghan special forces stormed their home in Khataba village in eastern Afghanistan.
Nato had insisted that allegations of a cover-up, first reported in this newspaper, were “categorically false”. It initially said that the women had been dead for several hours when the assault force discovered their bodies.
[…]
Yes, Nato insisted that there was no cover-up….
Fortunately, there are instances where the truth makes its way to the surface and Nato now has to eat its words.
Yesterday, the coalition conceded that all five people were, in fact, killed by the raiders. “Despite earlier reports, we have determined that the women were accidentally killed as a result of the joint force firing at the men,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Todd Breasseale, a Nato spokesman.
However, an official familiar with the case maintained that the subsequent legal investigation, which is ongoing, had found no evidence of wrongdoing. “To date, we have found nothing to corroborate any inappropriate conduct of our forces,” he said.
[…]
Right! Covering up the scene and removing own bullets to make it look as if others were responsible for the killings is simply par for the course – certainly not inappropriate conduct…
Will the MSM pick up on these stories? Somehow, I have my doubts.