US soldier in WikiLeaks video apologizes to Iraqis

Two soldiers who are connected to the US Army company that shot and killed two Reuters employees and about a dozen other Iraqis in July 2007 have publicly apologized.

The WikiLeaks video was released on April 5, 2010.  It shows about a dozen Iraqi men casually walking around in some back streets of Baghdad.  A couple of the men MAY have been carrying AK 47s, but that has not been established.  The US troops in the gunship believed they saw RPGs, but what they actually saw was photographic equipment belonging to the Reuters employee.  The US gunship shot at and killed them all.

This WikiLeaks video was released anonymously by someone in the US military. 

A story about the video can be found here.

More background information on that incident is here.

But this blog post is not about the original incident, or the release of information about the incident. 

This is about two men who were members of the same company that participated in this attack, and have now made a public apology.  One of the men, Ethan McCord, actually carried the children who were injured in the attack to medical help.

They are writing a letter of responsibility and reconciliation to the Iraqi people:

Peace be with you. 

To all of those who were injured or lost loved ones during the July 2007 Baghdad shootings depicted in the "Collateral Murder" Wikileaks video: 


We write to you, your family, and your community with awareness that our words and actions can never restore your losses.

We are both soldiers who occupied your neighborhood for 14 months. Ethan McCord pulled your daughter and son from the van, and when doing so, saw the faces of his own children back home. Josh Stieber was in the same company but was not there that day, though he contributed to the your pain, and the pain of your community on many other occasions.

They go on to state that what was done cannot be undone.    But they also recognize that saying “this was wrong” and saying that they are sorry CAN help heal some wounds.  They also acknowledge what happened in this video was an everyday occurrence in Iraq, and they acknowledge that the Iraqi people have paid a hell of a price because of the US war to rid them of imaginary WMDs. 

We acknowledge our part in the deaths and injuries of your loved ones as we tell Americans what we were trained to do and carried out in the name of "god and country". The soldier in video said that your husband shouldn't have brought your children to battle, but we are acknowledging our responsibility for bringing the battle to your neighborhood, and to your family. We did unto you what we would not want done to us.

Yes, these people in the video who were killed, and the children who were injured (and still suffer today from these actions), did nothing to hurt Americans.  They did not attack us, and they did not threaten us, and they had no means to attack us in our homeland.  Of course, with all the pain and hurt we have visited on them, they may one day decide to extract some revenge.    It is unlikely they will get to the really guilty parties, that is our politicians who voted for and supported this war, but then all adult Americans have some responsibility in this massive war of aggression, the most evil of crimes.  The responsibility only minimally lies with the US Army – they were following the ROE and doing what they were told.  I wish they had made other choices, but the point of our military is to:

KILL OUR ENEMY AND BREAK THEIR SHIT

And to expect anything else out of our military is ridiculous.  It would be like expecting teachers not to teach or garbage collectors not to pick up garbage.  The problem with Iraq – and Afghanistan – and every other place our troops have been sent since 1950 is that we are attacking people WHO ARE NOT OUR ENEMY.

And therefore, we end up killing innocents.

The US soldiers finish with this:

With such pain, friendship might be too much to ask. Please accept our apology, our sorrow, our care, and our dedication to change from the inside out. We are doing what we can to speak out against the wars and military policies responsible for what happened to you and your loved ones. Our hearts are open to hearing how we can take any steps to support you through the pain that we have caused.
Solemnly and Sincerely,

Josh Stieber, former specialist, U.S. Army
Ethan McCord, former specialist, U.S. Army 

These two men, and the anonymous man or woman who released this video to WikiLeaks, have my deepest respect and admiration.

There is a petition you can sign if you agree with this letter and wish to apologize for the massive pain the US has inflicted on Iraq.

I signed it.  I signed it gladly.  I think we need more of this – our military sharing what has happened in Iraq and expressing their concerns.  What we need less of is glorifying dead combatants who have not expressed any remorse or regrets.  We need more of glorifying those military personnel who speak out and those who refuse the orders to occupy or attack those who are not our enemy.

The Iraqi people were never our enemy.  Neither are the Afghan people.

I have saved pictures of what the US invasion has done to the Iraqi people on my blog Faces of Grief.  If you scroll down to April 12, 2010, you will see pictures of a large crowd of Iraqis burning Obama, Biden and Gates in effigy. 

And I don’t blame them at all.

Here is the edited WikiLeaks video.