Justice, please

The Web site Wikileaks.org has just decrypted a classified U.S. Department of Defense video showing the graphic killing of innocent American and Iraqi civilians, including two employees of the news agency Reuters, by an American Apache helicopter in 2007 in Baghdad. Two children were also wounded.

It is not entirely clear whether any of the people were carrying weapons, but it appears as though two of the people might have been holding guns.

The decision to open fire came after the pilots misidentified the two Reuters journalists’ cameras as rocket propelled grenades.

After Reuters demanded that an investigation be launched, a DOD spokesperson said the pilots were engaging hostile insurgents. This classified video recovered by Wikileaks lends significant proof that the DOD statement was false.

The video exhibits a shocking disregard for human life on the part of the soldiers engaged in the botched operation. After the killings, one pilot can be heard saying, “Look at those dead bastards.” Another pilot responds, “Nice.”

Additionally, according to a video interview by Al Jazeera, the families of the victims who were unjustly killed in the incident revealed that the families had not received any compensation for the mistaken killing.

Nor had they received help in providing medical care to the injured children, as is the DOD practice when innocent civilians are killed or injured in battle.

It also appears as though the proper rules of engagement might have been disregarded when the soldiers decided to open fire (although, as the rules of engagement are always kept classified, there is no way of knowing for sure).

Two classified DOD investigations into the incident indicated that the soldiers responsible for the attack had not intentionally done anything wrong, but their overzealous behavior on the battlefield — which resulted in the unjust deaths of 12 innocent people — should not be excused.

The bereaved families of the innocent dead deserve some form of justice in compensation for this attack. At the very least, this should include the standard payouts from the DOD and compensation for the medical costs of those who were injured.

Additionally, the DOD should open a public investigation into the killings to determine if the soldiers responsible for the attack were justified in believing they were viewing men with weapons.

These very basic steps must be taken to atone for these unwarranted killings.