Wars are never fought entirely cleanly or easily, and this is especially true in the modern era of conflict in urban areas with disguised combatants and a constant media presence. A video taken in Baghdad in 2007 that was recently leaked illegally by WikiLeaks, a Web site that works to publish classified information from governments around the world, has created controversy due to its graphic illustration of how chaotic war can become in such an environment. The video shows the pilots of two U.S. Army helicopters monitoring a group of men — some of whom were armed — standing in a square, shooting them down from the helicopter and then opening fire on a van that came to rescue survivors.
According to the footage, no shots were ever fired at the helicopter by the men on the ground. Much of the controversy surrounding the incident derives from the fact that two of those killed in the firefight were Reuters journalists embedded with insurgent forces, and that the van that attempted to rescue the injured contained children. (The children survived the attack.)
According to the Army's statements regarding the content of the video as reported in The New York Times, the pilots apparently obeyed protocol — they observed the situation, asked and received permission from their commanders to engage the targets and did not fire on an injured target until they thought they perceived that he was reaching for a weapon. Military officials claim that the pilots were not in the wrong for firing on the journalists, as they believed that the Reuters employees were insurgents reaching for their weapons and claimed that the journalists did nothing to indicate their credentials.
The video, however, gives a strong indication that the pilots were not hesitant to fire on the group; at one point, they expressed impatience at not being able to shoot at unarmed men who were picking up the wounded. Later, after wounding the children, one of the pilots said, "Well, it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle." This casual attitude about harming civilians who did not display violence toward the pilots is extremely alarming. The American military in Iraq investigated the situation, but has of yet decided not to pursue any disciplinary action.
Perhaps the most troubling issue regarding the video stems from how the Army has handled the issue. Reuters' Freedom of Information Act appeals to make the video public were denied, and the Army attempted to suppress efforts to publicize its contents. A military spokesperson even went as far as to lie about the engagement, stating in 2007 that the U.S. combatants were responding to hostile action, even though the video reveals they were never fired upon.
This lack of an interest in making the information public as well as a failure to respond appropriately to the incident on the part of the military is disturbing. If the Army suppressed this video — one which shows irresponsible action by its members and casts doubt on the words of one of its spokespeople — the question of whether it takes similar steps to conceal from the public additional information that casts military action in a negative light must be raised. Confusion and deadly mistakes are, tragically, inevitable in war, but if they occur, there should not be an attempt to cover them up, and appropriate action against the perpetrators should be taken.
