Transcripts For LINKTV Iraqs Secret War Files 20130730 : vim

LINKTV Iraqs Secret War Files July 30, 2013

Lead responsibility for the security of their country. After 7 years of fighting, u. S. Combat troops have left iraq. We won its over america we brought democracy to iraq but tonight, we tell the story of that war and occupation that the u. S. Military doesnt want you to know, the one they wrote themselves. Dispatches have been sifting through nearly 400,000 secret army documents to uncover the full and unreported horror of the conflict. Its the biggest leak of official documents in history. Tonight, we reveal reports that u. S. Troops were killing more civilians than insurgents at checkpoints, that they killed people who were trying to surrender, that even after the scandal of abu ghraib, u. S. Soldiers continue to abuse prisoners. And also, how the americans stand accused of turning a blind eye to the torture and murder of detainees by the Iraqi Security services. This is the cemetery of najaf, in southern iraq. It has existed for a thousand years and is the biggest in the world. Since the invasion by Coalition Forces to topple the dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, it has expanded by 40 . It now covers over 3 square miles. [speaking arabic] the United States and its Coalition Partners respect the people of iraq. We are taking unprecedented measures to spare the lives of innocent iraqi citizens. Theres often a difference between what political leaders say in public and what they may have known in private, as we discovered when we received access to data from wikileaks, the whistleblowers website. It contained nearly 400,000 secret reports, known as sigacts, thats short for significant activities. With the exception of a couple of months, they were all logged by the military in iraq between 2004 and 2009. This is almost military anthropology. This is a blowbyblow account of individual american soldiers and how they react. But it was raw data, so the bureau of Investigative Journalism in london built a Computer Program to analyze them. We used keywords to search specific subjects, look for patterns in the data, decoded hundreds of military acronyms, and read tens of thousands of reports. We have no way of knowing just how accurate or comprehensive these reports are, but they do show what the u. S. Army knew and when. The one person we asked to comment on them was dr. Toby dodge, who has advised both the u. K. And the u. S. Governments on iraq. One concern was that the documents named ordinary american troops and iraqi civilians. We have deleted those details. Much more problematic for the americans is the insight these leaks give into their modus operandi, how theyre functioning on the streets. The escalation of force, the killing of innocent iraqis, i think, it paints a damning picture of a of a culture of forced protection, to the exclusion of everything else. Weve got a shooter on the roof [gunshots] we will continue taking the greatest care to prevent harm to innocent civilians, yet we will not permit the spread of chaos and violence. Initially, the americans stated that they werent recording a body count or casualty figures and left it to others. Get out, get out but they were. In the files, we found just over 109,000 deaths. With our software, the location of every one can be mapped to reveal that, after 6 years of killing, barely a part of the country has escaped the bloodbath. Despite george bushs assurance, the majority of these, over 66,000, were civilians. Thats nearly 2 3. Also recorded among the sigacts, 176,000 wounded in total. In baghdad, iraqs capital, the secret reports expose, for the first time, what kind of place the u. S. And britain are leaving behind. Because we can identify the location of each incident, we can also show that hardly a single Street Corner has escaped a bomb, murder, or atrocity. Saddam husseins palace hit by a dozen bombs. Baghdad, over the fiercest bombardment yet. American and british troops have seen. The coalition hoped that the removal of Saddam Hussein would win them the hearts and minds of iraqis. Instead, they found themselves under attack from insurgents. [blasts] our analysis of the secret reports shows that, on average, over the 6 years they cover, improvised explosive devices, or ieds, were being detonated at a rate of 30 a day, many of which were carried by suicide bombers, and the reports contain some chilling examples. A 12 to 14yearold boy, wearing a backpack and on a bicycle, rode into the intersection, and the boy detonated his explosives. Intelligence assessment. Al qaeda, in iraq, is using mentally Handicapped Persons to target Coalition Forces. [crash] under these circumstances, troops manning checkpoints, or riding convoy, lived in constant fear. And some simply opened fire unnecessarily. [gunshots] one officer used civilians to lower the risk to his men. The platoon leader was in the habit of directing iraqi civilians to clear the road of trash and debris if he suspected that it may be an ied. Under rules of engagement, known as escalation of force, anyone approaching the military was warned to slow down and stop to be searched. Come on to my right got it if they didnt, warning shots would be fired. Our analysis reveals more than 800 people were killed when soldiers opened fire in escalation of force incidents. Of these, 80 , thats 681, were civilians. A further 2,200 were wounded. A cold analytical eye on this, i think, clearly indicates that far too many iraqi civilians are being killed for no reason. One shooting was caught on camera by a photographer embedded with the u. S. Army unit in tal afar, northwest iraq. A married couple, camille and hussein hassan, were driving home, hurrying to beat the curfew. The u. S. Secret report gives the american version of what happened next. A sedan sped toward the patrol and failed to stop after visual signals were given. A shot was fired at the front tire, but the vehicle did not stop. The patrol engaged the vehicle, killing two civilians. Camille and hussein were shot dead, but they werent alone in the car. There were 6 children in the back seat. All were unharmed. The hassans 14yearold daughter, jilan, was heard to yell out, why did they shoot us . We were just going home. And now we know the filed report was inaccurate. Not all the children were unharmed. A bullet pierced the spine of 11yearold rakan, who was rendered a paraplegic. The u. S. Army offered compensation to the family of 7,500 dollars, calculated as 2,500 for each life taken, and 2,500 for the car. Very often soldiers find themselves looking at a vehicle that seems suspicious, and they get jumpy, and then they open fire on it. And of course, there are cases where soldiers have lost comrades, and theyre angry, and they then are more inclined to look for the the insurgents in the next vehicle coming, or the next convoy that comes down the road. When iraqi civilians looked into the faces of our service men and women, they saw strength and kindness and goodwill. Our analysis of the files shows that only 13 Coalition Troops were killed during those escalation of force incidents. But firing shots near ordinary people at checkpoints was often fatal. We found 30 children killed. One round ricocheted off the concrete, hitting a 6yearold. Sometimes, little allowance was made for the fact that there may be a reason for a driver to be in a hurry. Doctor was transporting a pregnant woman to the hospital, and was shot by Coalition Forces. Soldiers killed a pedestrian, who they suspected was carrying something suspicious, when what he had in his possession turned out to be innocuous. The soldiers approached cautiously to look into the satchel, to discover it contained. Books. I think the data shows a lot of iraqi civilians were killed because they posed a minor threat. They were killed there was almost a cavalier use of force against iraqi civilians in the name of forced protection. Civilians were from a different culture, and they interpret things differently. So, if there are warning shots fired, civilians might speed up rather than slow down, because they just heard a shot. And if they see people waving at them, they may think theyre being waved away. The fact is, you can never second guess what civilians in a Different Society are going to do. According to a former iraqi police chief, u. S. Army behavior changed over time. [speaking arabic] we went to iraq to find some of those who appeared in the escalation of force reports, to see how the americans account compared with theirs. Hussam and kareem abbas are survivors of one such incident, which happened on this street in baghdad. Kareems father, wahid, was driving him to his restaurant, where they all worked. Theyd only got 100 meters from their house when they found themselves surrounded by u. S. Military humvees. [speaking arabic] we crosschecked their account with the official report in the secret files. It acknowledges the death of a civilian, and it claims that escalation of force procedures were followed. Signals with a laser and vehicle mounted spotlight, continues to shout and use visual signals to stop the car. Fires warning shots with smallest caliber weapon. Firing an m2 machine gun into the ground in front of the vehicle, and firing m4 into the engine block, disabling the vehicle. We told hussam and karim what the army had said in the significant activity report. [speaking arabic] after the soldiers killed wahid, the young men alleged that they were assaulted. [speaking arabic] the classified report gives a different version of events. Respectfully transported the vehicle and the deceased to the familys house in order to allow them to begin funeral preparations, and conducted consequence management. Coalition forces will be preparing a condolence packet. In two other reports of escalation of force we examined, u. S. Troops claimed that they followed procedures before opening fire. But in each case, when we crosschecked, the iraqis involved told a different story. What you can tell is the soldiers word appears to be always taken, theres very little questioning, and the death of innocent civilians seems to be written off time after time, because of the protection, the minimithe minimization of risk to american soldiers beyond everything else. Iraqi civilians were even more vulnerable to american attack from the air, something the coalition didnt like admitting. We looked at the reports of one aerial operation called steel curtain, an attack on insurgents crossing into iraq, and found they did record Collateral Damage. In 2006, American Television interviewed Lieutenant Colonel john harris of the u. S. Air force, who was involved in the operation. Do you think that civilians were killed in any of those incidents . I dont know of any any friendly fire. I cant say that they were or they werent. We do our absolute best to make sure that Collateral Damage is minimized in every case. Coronel harris didnt appear to be aware of what was contained in the significant activity reports on steel curtain the deaths of 30 civilians, including a dozen children. Steel curtain reported finding civilian bodies buried in 3 separate locations. [gunshots] [screaming in arabic] the u. S. Military caused so many casualties, that they undoubtedly pushed more and more of the iraqis they had hoped to win over into insurgency. By 2007, 4 years after the invasion, the country had descended into anarchy. [explosion] two bodies down the situation in iraq is unacceptable to the american people, and it is unacceptable to me. Our troops in iraq have fought bravely. They have done everything we have asked them to do. Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me. The president dispatched a new commander, general david petraeus, who announced a change in tactics on the ground to protect civilians and better target the insurgents. It was called the surge. It involved the increasing use of airpower. The usefulness of airpower in counterinsurgency is as a monitor. You use it to see whats going on, to listen, to collect intelligence. But using it either for bombing, or for attacking or strafing a building on the ground or somewhere where you think insurgents are hiding is very dangerous indeed. Come on, fire [machine gun fire] i roger. [machine gun fire] this video, filmed from the cockpit of an apache helicopter, put on the internet by wikileaks, proves the point. [machine gun fire] [explosion] two reuters journalists were killed, and two children were wounded, after the helicopter opened fire. Hey, uh, i need to get the ramps, the draw ramps. I got a wounded girl we need to take to rustamiyah. The helicopter video also shows a hellfire missile being fired into a building, after the pilot claimed 6 insurgents were hiding in it. If youd like, uh, crazyhorse 18 to put up, its on that building. But in the military record of this incident, theres no mention of the pedestrian walking past when the missile was fired. Target hit. It was a missile. Weve discovered from the raw data that 80 of hellfire missiles, thats over 1,300, were fired after the start of petraeus surge. We traveled to a remote rural location, 3 hours from baghdad, to find the survivors of one of the most shocking attacks. [speaking arabic] according to the secret record, u. S. Forces, who were conducting surveillance, thought an improvised explosive device, or ied, was being planted. 5 ied emplacers who were trying to blend in with a sheep herd. [speaking arabic] the significant activity report shows that two apache attack helicopters, using the call sign carnage 27, let off 50 rounds from their machine guns, and launched a hellfire missile at the emplacers. They were an antiarmor helicopter designed for the cold war to confront columns of warsaw pact tanks. A hellfire missile is a battlefield missile. Its pretty powerful. And it is designed to be used against Armored Vehicles or concentrations of troops. The crew had made a horrifying mistake. They hadnt blown up insurgents. There were 6 children digging for roots to use as firewood. After the 13yearold boy was killed, the other children ran out of fear. [speaking arabic] our analysis of the reports shows that the military acknowledged only 103 civilians killed as a result of air strikes in 6 years. The figure 103 is is ludicrously too low. Airpower is a very blunt weapon. By using airpower regularly, and in fact increasing the use of airpower as the occupation goes on, youre undoubtedly killing a great deal more civilians than the u. S. own internal assessments suggests. And buried away in the files on air strikes we discovered was another reference to the call sign crazyhorse 18. The hotel 26, crazyhorse 18. Look at those dead bastards. Its one of the most grotesque incidents we found and involved their treatment of insurgents who wanted to surrender. Crazyhorse 18 reports antiiraqi forces got into a dump truck headed north, engaged, and then they came out wanting to surrender. The helicopter crew radioed base seeking advice. Crazyhorse 18 cleared to engage dump truck. Lawyer states they cannot surrender to aircraft and are still valid targets. Moments later, the two men were killed with a hellfire missile. Yet we discovered 4 reports where insurgents were allowed to surrender to a helicopter. But this video, leaked by liveleaks, shows that others were gunned down with their hands in the air. The number of deaths caused by the americans in iraq, now revealed in the secret files, is shocking. But we have also discovered reports that u. S. Forces were abusing prisoners long after the scandal of abu ghraib, and for the first time the records reveal what the americans knew about the barbaric practices of the Iraqi Security services. Weve been given access to the largest leak of military documents in history. Secret American Army reports logged during the war and occupation of iraq. In all, they amount to 38 million words. Weve had to build a Computer Program to help analyze the content. One of the most disturbing stories weve uncovered involves the americans treatment of prisoners after they had been exposed in the abu ghraib scandal. Good evening. The creeping nightmare of americas involvement in iraq took a new and darker turn today, with claims of torture by u. S. Forces. An American Television network. Following international outrage, changes were promised by the u. S. Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Its my obligation to evaluate what happened, to make sure that those who have committed wrongdoing are brought to justice, and to make changes as needed to see that it doesnt happen again. But weve unearthed 300 allegations of abuse meted out by American Forces on iraqi prisoners after abu ghraib. Detainee reports that he was abused during his capture. Detainee is missing his right eye and has scars on his right forearm. Detainee alleged that American Forces, one, punched him and hit him with weapons; two, threw urine on him; and 3, applied electric shocks to his body. Two marines allegedly videotaped themselves holding a knife to a detainees throat and a m9 to the detainees head. Over a 6year period, the data records the imprisonment of 180,000 iraqis. Thats one in 50 of the adult male population. A lot of innocent people, large numbers of innocent people, were being hoovered up in these military operations, and then sent into a prison system that clearly couldnt cope with them. That is exacerbating, the problems the americans had on the ground in iraq alienating the population, making them seem, at best, like an indiscriminate deployer of force and incarceration of innocent people. One of the main reasons given by political leaders to justify the invasion of iraq was to put an end to the oppression and appalling human rights abuses of Saddam Husseins regime. They would offer the iraqi people protection. We will tear down the apparatus of terror and we will help you to build a new iraq that is prosperous and free. In a free iraq, there will be no more torture chambers. The tyrant will soon be gone. The day of your liberation is near. But this was another hollow promise. Weve also detected more than 1,300 individual cases of the torture and abuse of iraqi prisoners by iraqis, in their police stations and army bases, witnessed or reported on by Coalition Troops. Subjected to torture by members of the iraqi a

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