Iraq: Wikileaks video of US military killing journalists

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Update: A senior U.S. official is confirming authenticity of this video. See this subsequent Boing Boing post for additional background materials related to the attack.

Wikileaks claims to have obtained and decrypted video that shows US occupying forces in an Apache helicopter intentionally firing on a dozen civilians in Baghdad, including journalists working for the Reuters news organization: 22-year-old Reuters photographer, Namir Noor-Eldeen, and his driver, Saeed Chmagh, 40.

The video is accompanied by audio of the pilots' radio dialogue. No Pentagon response yet. Reuters has been attempting to obtain the video under Freedom of Information Act requests since the incident occurred in July, 2007, but the Pentagon blocked all requests. Reuters news editor-in-chief David Schlesinger says the video is "graphic evidence of the dangers involved in war journalism and the tragedies that can result". Wikileaks director Julian Assange said Wikileaks had to break military encryption on the file to view it, and will not reveal how or from whom the file was obtained. The transcript (and audio) seem to show the air crew lying about encountering a firefight. When they finish shooting, they laugh at the dead.

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Transcript, and related information at Wikileaks site Collateralmurder.com.

Video, and an interview with Wikileaks director Julien Assange, embedded after the jump. A footnote: CNN's homepage right now, vs. Al Jazeera's.

Related coverage: Al Jazeera, BBC. UK Guardian, New York Times.

No single piece of video has made me more ashamed to be supporting this stupid, morally bankrupt, endless war with my tax dollars. No wonder my government (and others) wants Wikileaks shut down.

Video: Collateral Murder (YouTube/sunshinepress). Also available as a torrent: (short) (full)

Al-Jazeera interview with Wikileaks director Julien Assange, below.