The Web site WikiLeaks.org released a video of a 2007 helicopter shooting of Reuter’s photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen as well as his driver Saeed Chmagh. The video takes place in Baghdad in July of that year. A senior American military official confirmed that the video was authentic.
On the day of the attack, helicopters had been called to aid infantry on the ground whom were being shelled by small arms fire 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 spokesman for the multinational forces in Baghdad, said then. But the video does not show hostile action. Instead, it begins with a group of people milling around on a street, among them, according to WikiLeaks, Mr. Noor-Eldeen and Mr. Chmagh. The pilots believe them to be insurgents, and mistake Mr. Noor-Eldeen’s camera for a weapon. They aim and fire at the group, then revel in their kills.
A few minutes later a van shows up to claim the dead and the helicopter opens fire on the van injuring two small children inside. Later, an American armored vehicle arrives and rolls over one of the bodies.
The United States Central Command, in response to the video, released a new report about the incident claiming that neither of the two victims made the helicopter aware they were journalists. Their proximity to insurgents and weapons in the area made them appear as hostile.
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