American Voice

The video on the left, "Collateral Damage", is an almost 18 minute recording that was originally posted on the website of WikiLeaks. This video shows a group of Iraqi civilians that were killed by U.S. soldiers.



WikiLeaks, presented the video on their website and has said that they will be posting another video soon showing more civilian casualties.

The video which was recorded in July 2007, contains actual conversation in which one of the U.S. troops falsely claim to have encountered a firefight. In fact the group that they are seeing includes two journalists, both holding cameras, which the soldiers incorrectly state are weapons.

The Iraqi group seems to be unperturbed by the U.S. Apache helicopter flying above them, and seem to be conversing amongst each other. This is when the firing from the helicopter begins.

The second portion of the video is even more disturbing. There is a minivan that approaches after the one sided firefight and its occupants climb out and begin to recover the dead and wounded. The U.S. soldiers in the Apache chopper open fire on these unarmed occupant, severely wounding two children in the van and killing the father of the two children.  Now, the Rules of Engagement clearly state "do not target or strike anyone who has surrendered or is out of combat due to sickness or wounds". Obviously, the actions by these U.S. soldiers shows complete disregard for any type of laws that are set in place, specifically for situations such as these.

Below are pictures of the minivan that was hit by U.S. soldiers, and two of the van's wounded occupants, a five year old girl and ten year old boy.

To play Devil's advocate, there is no way that myself nor anyone reading this piece would have any idea how difficult and harsh the situation is while on the battlefield. We sit in air conditioned homes and read from our laptops about what is happening in war ravaged areas.
And for the first portion of the video, it does appear as if some of the other men in the group who did not have cameras actually did have AK-47's. When in war, there is no way a sensible person would wait until the enemy began fighting before responding. If you did that, you would be dead before your feet could even hit the ground. Sometimes, it can be difficult to think rationally when under certain situations, especially when you have seen plenty of death already and it is all that you can do to stay sane. These soldiers could have lost fellow comrades to Iraqi insurgents.

However, it is obvious to any reasonable person viewing the video that the group of Iraqi men on the ground could care less about the Apache helicopter circling above. Also, it is even more obvious that the minivan that pulled up was definitely not a threat. This shooting of the minivan occupants is malicious at best, as the soldiers actually laughed during and after the shooting.

We hope that this is a few isolated incidents of actions of bad soldiers. Remember, we owe many of these soldiers a great deal of gratitude, as they put their lives on the line daily.