Video of Slain Journalists Released by 'Leak' Group

(April 5) -- A classified video taken from a U.S. military Apache helicopter gunship showing the killing of two Iraqi employees of Reuters was released in its entirely today by an organization dedicated to uncovering secrets.

The edited video, released by the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks, shows the Apache firing on a group of men in Baghdad believed to be insurgents; then striking a vehicle that stops to help one of the wounded; and then, later, firing Hellfire missiles into a building.

The video was released at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., ending weeks of speculation during which time WikiLeaks dropped hints, but no concrete details, about the video. Despite speculation that the video was of a controversial May 2009 air strike in Afghanistan, the video ended up being of the 2007 Iraqi strike that killed Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, a Reuters photographer, and Saeed Chmagh, 40, a Reuters driver, and other people.

Depending on how you view it, it's either a dramatic indictment of U.S. rules of engagement that dictate when troops can unleash deadly force, or it's a testament to the fog of war and its often tragic consequences for civilians. But perhaps more clearly, it shows that WikiLeaks' approach to transparency is brutally effective.

Reuters had requested the same video through the Freedom of Information Act, but it was never officially released.

"The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers," WikiLeaks said in a description accompanying the video. The organization added subtitles and edited down the 38-minute video for the news conference, although it also released the full video on a separate Web site dedicated to the incident.

The Associated Press quoted an anonymous Pentagon official saying the video was authentic.

According to a New York Times account published shortly after the events, the strikes were ordered after U.S. troops operating in the vicinity were attacked by insurgents equipped with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. "There is no question that coalition forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force," Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a U.S. military spokesman, told the newspaper at the time.

A U.S. military press release at the time states that the air strike killed nine insurgents and two civilians, the Reuters employees.

The video, however, seems to show a much less clear-cut view of the situation. The two Reuters employees appear to be walking calmly with a group of men, at least one of whom may have been armed; the Reuters photographer's equipment is mistaken for an AK-47 by the gunship pilot, who requests permission to shoot.

After the Apache fires on the group of men with its 30 mm cannons, a man that WikiLeaks identified as the Reuters driver is seen crawling away, apparently wounded, and a black van stops to help him. The Apache fires again, killing the driver and several passengers in the van.

The attack also wounded two children in the van, who were then transported to a hospital by U.S. troops. "Well, it's their fault for bringing kids to the battle," says one of the voices on the tape, after U.S. ground troops reach the area and remove two injured children from the minivan.

The two children were ordered to be turned over to Iraqi police and taken to a hospital. They survived, according to WikiLeaks, which worked with journalists from Iceland to track down people who were involved in the incident, but they appear to be still suffering from related injuries.

Beyond the rules of engagement, reaction to the video's release, and its emotional impact, may depend on how people interpret the actions of the pilots.

"The behavior of the pilots is like they're playing a video game," said Julian Assange, WikiLeaks' editor. He added that he believed the pilots were acting as if they were shooting to get "higher scores."

At no time, however, do the pilots speaking on the tape indicate that they believe they were shooting at anything other than insurgents, and in each case, they await permission before shooting. Whether the killings were lawful depends on whether they were in accordance with the rules of engagement.

"There is nothing in that video that is inconsistent with the military's report," military blogger Bill Roggio, writes at the Weekly Standard. "What you see is the air weapons team engaging armed men."

However, the video clearly stands in contrast to videos of air strikes released by the military, which typically show pilots taking great precautions to avoid civilian casualties. In this case, the video released by WikiLeaks shows the helicopter pilot firing a Hellfire missile at a building, despite a passer-by walking nearby immediately before the strike.

WikiLeaks has also released the military's rules of engagement, which are classified, for the years surrounding the 2007 incident.

"I believe if these killings are lawful, then the rules of engagement are wrong," Assange said.