what happened to ethan mccordbyron morris obituary

The review was not released in full until 2010, after the video of the incident had been released by WikiLeaks. The editors asked to see the remaining footage so Reuters could check whether it had been edited or manipulated. That classified video created its own firestorm when the whistleblower site Wikileaks posted it April 5 on a website titled "Collateral Murder" and asserted that the attack was unprovoked. US Soldiers from Wikileaks Collateral Murder Video Apologize. When Bravo Company arrived at the scene, they reported finding two RPGs and an AK-47 or AKM. [43] It concluded that an investigating officer would want to know how the armed men were identified as combatants from the earlier engagement; would question the nature of the collateral-damage estimate carried out by the crew before the missiles were launched; and would wish to determine whether a missile attack was a proportionate response to the threat. There is a period of 20 minutes not included on the leaked tape. We are both soldiers who occupied your neighborhood for 14 months. We were probably there on the roof for another four to five hours. The soldier, Ethan McCord, has since been discharged from the military and has been an outspoken voice against the Iraq War. Home: Wichita, Kansas, AN OPEN LETTER OF RECONCILIATION & RESPONSIBILITY TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE From Current and Former Members of the U.S. Military. The boy's alive!" [32] The legal review carried out by the U.S. Army stated that the two children were evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital via Forward Operating Base Loyalty, then transferred to an Iraqi medical facility the next day. [65][66] And where the soldier said [in the video], "Well, you shouldn't take your kids to battle." He's no longer in the Army. The men become obscured behind a building as the Apache moves around the group. Michael Bailey a medic who treated some of. In the first strike, the crews of two Apaches directed 30mm cannon fire at a group of ten Iraqi men, including some armed,[17][18][19] standing less than 100 meters away from U.S. ground troops at a location where insurgents earlier that day had attacked an American Humvee with small arms fire. McCord: My platoon sergeant knew that I was having a hard time with it and that same night he came into the room and he told me, hey, just so you know, both of the children survived, so you can suck it up now. McCord, who served seven years in the military before leaving in the summer of 2009 due to injuries, recently posted an apologetic letter online with fellow soldier Josh Steiber supporting the release of the video and asking the family's forgiveness. [61], Washington Post reporter David Finkel, who at the time was embedded with Bravo Company 216 Infantry, later covered the incidents of the day in his book, The Good Soldiers. When we were on that roof, we were still taking fire. Smoked is basically like you're doing pushups a lot, you're doing sit-ups crunches and flutter kicks. The Apache crew then alerted the ground troops that they believed that they could see an injured child moving around inside the destroyed van. McCord admits that she was sad to go because she had been there for a decade and a half, but that "it wasn't the end of the world" and that she wasn't worried for "a nanosecond" that . Soldier on 2007 Apache Attack: What I Saw, Ethan McCord had just returned from dropping his children at school earlier this month, when he turned on the TV news to see grainy black-and-white video footage of a soldier running from a bombed-out van with a child in his arms. Soldier Ethan McCord's Eyewitness Story, "Shadowed, Clamoring, Blurry. Daniel Ellsberg, a former United States military analyst who was known for having leaked the Pentagon Papers to the media, said of the airstrike: It would be interesting to have someone speculate or tell us exactly what context would lead to justifying the killing that we see on the screen. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. They did have weapons there. Vehicle; "When I saw those kids, all I could picture was my kids back home". I'm guilty of it, too, myself. When a congressman tried to jail him for his actions that day he . How is this guy supposed to [decide] should I stop and pick them up, or is the military going to shoot me? In a third strike, Apache pilots watched people, including some armed men, run into a building and engaged that building with several AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. [30], Assange stated that some of the press had not reported on the third airstrike, in which three Hellfire missiles were fired onto an apartment complex, which only appears in the longer unedited version of the two videos.[31]. More and more Americans are taking responsibility for what was done in our name. [116] The military did not include the attack on the building in their report. The film received an Oscar nomination in January. One second later he screams, "He's got an RPG!" WikiLeaks stated that "some of the men appear to have been armed [although] the behavior of nearly everyone was relaxed" in the introductory text of the shorter video. McCord: I've spoken with one of the medics who was there. [38] The children, a girl and boy, suffered injuries. The soldier in the video said that your husband shouldn't have brought your children to battle, but we are acknowledging our responsibility for bringing the battle to your neighborhood, and to your family. Tasked to conduct escort, armed reconnaissance patrols, and counter-IED and counter-mortar operations, the two helicopters left Camp Taji at 9:24a.m. Ethan McCord, a former US soldier, has shown great courage and integrity by exposing and condemning US war crimes in Iraq. In addition to five[98][99] or six[100][101][102] espionage counts, she was also found guilty of five theft specifications, two computer fraud specifications and multiple military infractions. [88], McCord requested mental health assistance following his experiences on July 12, but was told by his superior officers to "get the sand out of [his] vagina" and to "suck it up and be a soldier". He runs the girl to the Bradley. Ethan was on the ground at the scene of the shooting, and is seen on the video rushing one of the injured children to a U.S. It's obviously a hard thing to see. [84], Finkel had reported the day in his book The Good Soldiers,[62] including conversations which closely matched the subsequently leaked video footage. I hit 'em" and another member of the crew responds "Oh yeah, look at those dead bastards".[29]. The video makes plain that in this incident, as in almost all military encounters in both Iraq and Afghanistan, our soldiers are up against forces that do not wear uniformsa violation of international law precisely because it places innocent civilians in jeopardy. WikiLeaks identified the leak's source as "a number of military whistleblowers". McCord: I doubt that they were a part of that firefight. [17] Politifact stated: "When Assange points out in the context of justifying the title 'Collateral Murder' that the word 'RPG' was not used until after permission to engage was given, he leaves the impression that the soldiers were given the okay to open fire on a group of unarmed men, or men believed to be unarmed. There's also some soldiers who joke about it [as a] coping mechanism. [21], The Air Weapons Team (AWT) of two Apache AH-64s from the 1st Cavalry Division had been requested by the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment (216), 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Kauzlarich, before July 12 to support Operation Ilaaj. WikiLeaks stated that the footage shows the "murder of Iraqi civilians and two Reuters journalists". A passing van then stopped and attempted to load a wounded man. He is seen swinging the weapon below his waist while standing next to the man holding the RPG. He was kind of sitting on the floorboard of the van, but with his head laying on the bench seat in the front. [57], Reuters reported that it could locate no witnesses who had seen gunmen in the immediate area. You joke about the situations and what's happened to push away your true feelings of the matter. "[76], Captain Jack Hanzlik, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command stated that the airstrike video "gives you a limited perspective, [it] only tells you a portion of the activity that was happening that day. It claimed reporters' "furtive attempts to photograph the Coalition Ground Forces made them appear as hostile combatants". These people were operating in split second situations.". [8] The video, which WikiLeaks titled Collateral Murder, showed the crew firing on a group of men and killing several of them, then laughing at some of the casualties, all of whom were civilians, including two Reuters journalists. He later sought help for psychological trauma, but was ridiculed by his NCO and told that if he were to go to the mental health officer, "there would be repercussions". Our hearts are open to hearing how we can take any steps to support you through the pain that we have caused. The crew for Crazyhorse 1/8 then located multiple individuals with weapons about 400 meters east of coalition forces and was given clearance to engage the targets. And then the father, who I'm assuming was the father, in the driver's seat slumped over on his side. Josh . She said that she was "aghast" at Finkel's portrayal of the incident. And I picked him up and started running with him over to the Bradley. Ethan McCord pulled your daughter and son from the van, and when doing so, saw the faces of his own children back home. [20] According to a military review, soldiers in that company "had been under sporadic small arms and rocket propelled grenade fire since" the operationdescribed as "clearing their sector and looking for weapons caches"began. There were plenty of times in the past where other insurgents would come by and pick up the bodies, and then we'd have no evidence or anything to what happened, so in looking at it from the Apache's point of view, they were thinking that [someone was] picking up the weapons and bodies; when, in hindsight, clearly they were picking up the wounded man. [18][25][31] Chmagh was killed[18][25][31] along with three other men, while two children, not known to be in the van to the U.S. forces, were injured. Wired.com: Civilians are supposed to know that they're not supposed to pick up a wounded person crawling in the road? In refusing to recognize this, the US military fails both its own soldiers and their victims. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C 107. Both of these men, Chmagh and Tomal, were killed in the second strike, and two of Tomal's children were badly wounded. Bradley Manning acquitted of aiding the enemy, convicted of six counts of espionage", "Bradley Manning acquitted of aiding the enemy for giving secrets to WikiLeaks", "BBC News Bradley Manning guilty of espionage in Wikileaks case", "Manning Gets 35 years for wikileaks disclosures", "Bradley Manning Sentenced To 35 Years In Prison For WikiLeaks Disclosures", "Bradley Manning sentenced to 35 years in prison live updates", "Judge sentences Bradley Manning to 35 years", "Obama commutes Chelsea Manning's prison sentence", "Obama's final press conference: Chelsea Manning commutation is 'appropriate', "The WikiLeaks Video and the Rules of Engagement", "Exclusive: Reuters Chief Spikes Story on Killing of His Own Staffers In Baghdad", "US 'reviewing' Iraq killing video posted on WikiLeaks", "Ingi Ingason Ragnar and Kristinn Hrafnsson awarded International Journalism and Human Rights Award at Barcelona Human Rights Film Festival", "Verleihung des Whistleblower-Preises 2011", Whistleblower-Preis 2011 geht an Kernforscher, Collateral Murder: U.S. [78] Gates stated: "They're in a combat situation. [59] Reuters requested a copy of the full video under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) on the same day. That's a violation of the laws of war and of course what the mainstream media have omitted from their stories is this context. With such pain, friendship might be too much to ask. Minutes after the first engagement ended, the van returned traveling in an opposite direction (north) once again on this same road. As Russia has accelerated its cyberattacks on its neighbor, it's barraged the country with an unprecedented volume of different data-destroying programs. "[111] An article at Gawker stated that Reuters reporter Luke Baker had written an article claiming that the airstrikes may have been war crimes, but Reuters refused to run the story. Soldier Ethan McCord speaking about the civilian massacre documented in WikiLeaks's April 2010 vid. Instead, the Apaches decided to completely obliterate everybody in the van. Ethan McCord had just returned from dropping his children at school earlier this month, when he turned on the TV news to see grainy black-and-white video footage of a soldier running from a bombed-out van with a child in his arms. Highlighted in the 17-minute version of the video are Noor-Eldeen with a camera and Chmagh talking on his mobile phone. We acknowledge our part in the deaths and injuries of your loved ones as we tell Americans what we were trained to do and what we carried out in the name of "god and country". It's very disturbing. The Apache crew saw unarmed[25] men exit the vehicle and move to Chmagh. I was told to go pull security on a rooftop. Wired.com: Do you support Wikileaks in releasing this video? But for Army veteran Ethan McCord, it was just another day on duty. Those guys could have just been protecting their area". I didn't know if he was telling me that just to get me to shut up and to do my job or if he really found something out. [Then] we were just told to move to this [other] location. McCord states he was yelled at for not "pulling security". That's not leaking, that's a pure editorial." [45][114], "Cameramen and armed insurgents" (all captions from the Army report), "Cameraman peering around corner of wall", "Pictures taken by ground forces after reaching the site". McCord: It was random sporadic spurts. The Wikileaks videos also do not reveal the hundreds upon hundreds of cases in which American forces refrain from attacking targets precisely because civilians are in harm's way.[80]. Ethan and Josh claim that though their unit was following the Rules of Engagement that day, they are taking responsibility for their role in the incident and initiating a dialogue around it; "Though we have acted with cold hearts far too many times, we have not forgotten our actions towards you. The co-pilot/gunner for Crazyhorse 1/9 spotted three individuals near this building get into a red SUV and drive away to the west. "The helicopters were approximately a mile and a half away and they were zooming in on these guys . WIRED is where tomorrow is realized. [49], On Democracy Now!, Josh Stieber, who was at the time assigned to Bravo Company 216, said that although it's natural to "judge or criticize the soldiers", in fact "this is how [they] were trained to act". On 19 April 2010, Ethan McCord, who appears on the ground in the video, and Josh Steiber, a member of the same company who was not present on the day, wrote an open Letter of Reconciliation & Responsibility to the Iraqi People apologising for the events in the video. A unit from Bravo Company 216 was within 100 meters of the individuals that were fired upon with 30mm AH-64 Apache cannons. The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our livesfrom culture to business, science to design. [29], A crew member requests authorization to engage after seeing five or six of the men moving in the direction of U.S. Our heavy hearts still hold hope that we can restore inside our country the acknowledgment of your humanity, that we were taught to deny. Ethan McCord pulled your daughter and son from the van, and when doing so, saw the faces of his own children back home. It was a scene that had played repeatedly in his mind the last three years, and he knew exactly who the soldier was. The promise we make to our sources is that not only will we defend them through every means that we have available technologically, legally and politically but we will try and get the maximum possible political impact for the material that they give to us. I was also told that there would be repercussions if I was to go to mental health. McCord, together with another former member of the company, Josh Stieber, have addressed an open "Letter of Reconciliation" to the Iraqi people taking responsibility for their role in this. It's very disturbing. Some of them [say] I don't care what anybody says they're not there. There's no easy way to kill somebody. It was nominated as a Documentary Short Subject for the 84th Academy Awards. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Please accept our apology, our sorrow, our care, and our dedication to change from the inside out. After the incident, we went back to the FOB [forward operating base] and that's when I was in my room. [32] The Apache crew alerted the ground troops of the van and requested permission to engage the vehicle before the ground troops arrived. Gabriel Schoenfeld, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, said of the airstrike: It is precisely the presence of weapons, including RPGs, that goes a long distance toward explaining why cameramen for Reuterspointing television cameras around corners in a battle zonewere readily mistaken by our gunships for insurgents. That's why so many soldiers come back home and they're no longer in the situations where they have other things to think about or other people to joke about what happened and they explode. We heard the gunships open up. The Web site does not slow down the video to show that at least one man in that group was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a clearly visible weapon that runs nearly two-thirds the length of his body. Two men were identified by Crazyhorse 1/8 as carrying an RPG launcher and an AKM or AK-47. She was crying. [64] The footage was released during an April 5 press conference at the US National Press Club, and subsequently on a designated website titled Collateral Murder. Ethan and Josh are available for interviews. After attending to the girl's wounds and handing her to a medic, McCord was ordered to take position on the roof but he returned to the van to find the boy moving his hand. Men were identified by Crazyhorse 1/8 as carrying an RPG launcher and an AK-47 or AKM obliterate everybody the. There would be repercussions if I was also told that there would be repercussions if I was told move... An RPG launcher and an AK-47 or AKM top of the van returned traveling in an direction! Requested a copy of the incident I picked him up and started running with him over to the.. Who was there video are Noor-Eldeen with a camera and Chmagh talking on his mobile phone what happened to ethan mccord. Scene that had played repeatedly in his mind the last three years and. 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