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Iraq War documents leak

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Iraq War documents leak
File:US soldier Nemesis troop Iraq.jpg
A United States soldier conceals himself through a smoke screen after one of his regiments' vehicles was hit with an improvised explosive device.
Date22 October 2010
Also known asIraq war logs
First reporterWikiLeaks
ChargesNone as of 16:05, Monday, December 16, 2024 (UTC)
ConvictionsNone as of 16:05, Monday, December 16, 2024 (UTC)

The Iraq War documents leak (also called the Iraq War Logs) is a collection of 391,832 United States Army field reports of the Iraq War from 2004 to 2009, leaked by WikiLeaks to several international media organizations, which was published on 22 October 2010.[1][2][3] The files record 66,081 civilian deaths out of a total recorded death toll of 109,000.[2][3][4][5][6] It is the biggest leak in military history of the United States,[1][7] surpassing the Afghan War documents leak that was released on 25 July 2010.[8] According to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the material appears to contain clear evidence of war crimes committed by the United States.[9]

Contents

The logs contain numerous reports of previously unknown or unconfirmed events that took place during the war.

  • According to the Iraq Body Count project, the logs show there have been around 15,000 more civilian deaths than was previously admitted by the US government. 66,000 civilians were reported dead in the logs, out of 109,000 deaths in total.[7][10] However, due to omissions, the figure cannot be relied upon as a complete record of Iraqi deaths. In contrast, a widely quoted report by The Lancet says that there were 650,000 "excess deaths".[2]
  • According to The Guardian, the logs "detail torture [by Iraqi police], summary executions and war crimes", US officials "ignored torture" and "the coalition has a formal policy of ignoring such allegations". Sometimes US troops classified civilian deaths as enemy casualties. For example, in the 2007 notorious event where a US helicopter gunship killed two Reuters journalists along with other civilians, they were all listed as "enemy killed in action".[2]
  • According to Wired Magazine, abuse of prisoners by Iraqi troops under US training was more widespread than formerly known.[7] Even after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse incident came to light in 2004, abuse of prisoners or detainees by Iraqi security forces was common and rarely acted upon; in one recorded case, US troops wrote "no investigation is necessary" in response to prisoners' claims of abuse.[7]
  • According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, one report shows that "the US military cleared an Apache helicopter gunship to open fire on Iraqi insurgents who were trying to surrender".[11]
  • According to Wired Magazine, "WikiLeaks may have just bolstered one of the Bush administration’s most controversial claims about the Iraq war: that Iran supplied many of the Iraq insurgency’s deadliest weapons and worked hand-in-glove with some of its most lethal militias. The documents indicate that Iran was a major combatant in the Iraq war, as its elite Quds Force trained Iraqi Shiite insurgents and imported deadly weapons like the shape-charged Explosively Formed Projectile bombs into Iraq for use against civilians, Sunni militants and U.S. troops."[7]
  • According to the Boston Globe, US military documents show Iraqi operatives being trained by Hezbollah in precision military style kidnappings. Reports also include incidents of US surveillance aircraft lost deep in Iranian territory.[12][13]
  • According to Al-Jazeera, the documents show that US troops killed almost 700 civilians for coming too close to checkpoints, including pregnant women and the mentally ill. At least a half-dozen incidents involved Iraqi men transporting their pregnant wives or family members to hospitals.[14]

Reactions

The UN's chief investigator on torture Manfred Nowak has reacted to the documents by calling the Obama administration for a full investigation on the tortures and killing of innocents:

(..)if the files released through WikiLeaks pointed to clear violations of the UN Convention Against Torture the Obama administration had an obligation to investigate them.[15]

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO's secretary-general, stated that the release could cause "a very unfortunate situation", and that "such leaks ... may have a very negative security impact for people involved." US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also condemned the leak, saying that it "puts the lives of United States and its partners' service members and civilians at risk."[16] Wikileaks dismissed these concerns.[9]

In preparation for the leak, the Pentagon created an Information Review Task Force, comprising 120 people led by the Defense Intelligence Agency.[16]

Commentary

Amnesty International said that the actions taken by American troops in turning over prisoners from American to Iraqi custody when it was known that the prisoners were likely to be tortured may have broken international law.[17] An Amnesty official said that the organization had "concern[s] that the U.S. authorities committed a serious breach of international law when they summarily handed over thousands of detainees to Iraqi security forces who they knew were continuing to torture and abuse detainees on a truly shocking scale."[17]

The Iraq Body Count project, commenting on the additional 15,000 civilian casualties revealed by the logs, said that "[i]t is totally unacceptable that for so many years the US government has withheld from the public these essential details about civilian casualties in Iraq."[18]

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said that the logs were released in an attempt to show "intimate details" about the Iraq War.[19] Referencing the adage that "the first casualty of war is truth" (attributed to Aeschylus), he said that the organization "hope[d] to correct some of the attack on the truth that occurred before the war, during the war and which has continued on since the war officially concluded."[19]

A spokesperson for the Pentagon said the reports were considered to be simple observations and reports by military personnel, but nevertheless called their release a "tragedy," and the US Department of Defense requested the return of the documents.[19] Wikileaks founder Assange dismissed the Pentagon's concerns that the publication of the documents could endanger US troops and Iraqi civilians, asserting that the Pentagon "cannot find a single person that has been harmed" due to WikiLeaks’ previous release of documents related to the US-led war in Afghanistan.[9]

See also

Wikinews has related news:

References

  1. ^ a b "The WikiLeaks Iraq War Logs: Greatest Data Leak in US Military History". Der Spiegel. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d Davies, Nick; Steele, Jonathan; Leigh, David (22 October 2010). "Iraq war logs: secret files show how US ignored torture". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  3. ^ a b Carlstrom, Gregg (22 October 2010). "WikiLeaks releases secret Iraq file". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  4. ^ "WikiLeaks website publishes classified military documents from Iraq". CNN. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  5. ^ "Enthüllung von US-Geheimdokumenten: Die Irak-Protokolle". Der Spiegel (in German). 22 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  6. ^ "Nya dokument avslöjas från Irak-kriget" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  7. ^ a b c d e Ackerman, Spencer; Shachtman, Noah (22 October 2010). "Chemical Weapons, Iranian Agents and Massive Death Tolls Exposed in WikiLeaks' Iraq Docs". Wired. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  8. ^ Stewart, Phil (23 October 2010). "WikiLeaks data shows U.S. failed to probe Iraqi abuse cases". Reuters. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  9. ^ a b c "Evidence of war crimes in Iraq: WikiLeaks". Khaleej Times. 23 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  10. ^ "Iraq War Logs: What the numbers reveal". Iraq Body Count project. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  11. ^ Stickler, Angus (22 October 2010). "US Apache guns down surrendering insurgents". iraqwarlogs.com. Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  12. ^ http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2010/10/23/leaks_shine_light_on_irans_role_as_backer_of_iraqs_shiite_militias/ Leaks shine light on Iran’s role as backer of Iraq’s Shi’ite militias
  13. ^ http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=192465 'Hizbullah trained Iraqis how to kidnap soldiers'
  14. ^ http://english.aljazeera.net/secretiraqfiles/2010/10/2010102216241633174.html
  15. ^ Batty, David; Doward, Jamie (23 October 2010). "Iraq war logs: UN calls on Obama to investigate human rights abuses". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  16. ^ a b Fallon, Amy (22 October 2010). "Iraq war logs: disclosure condemned by Hillary Clinton and Nato". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 October 2010. I can't comment on the details of the exact impact on security, but in general I can tell you that such leaks ... may have a very negative security impact for people involved
  17. ^ a b Cloud, David S.; Parker, Ned (23 October 2010). "WikiLeaks documents indicate U.S. forces failed to stop prisoner abuse by Iraqis". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  18. ^ "US soldiers killed unarmed civilians, WikiLeaks claim". Financial Times. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  19. ^ a b c "Wikileaks: Iraq war logs 'reveal truth about conflict'". BBC News. 23 October 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.

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