“Incident in New Baghdad” has opposition
Doc Bailey, who you all know was in 2-16 Infantry on that day that the “Collateral Murder” film was shot from a helicopter’s gun cameras, writes to tell us that Ethan McCord, the IVAW member who was also there, is in a documentary titled “Incident in Baghadad“;
U.S. Army Specialist Ethan McCord bore witness to the devastating carnage, found and rescued the two children caught in the crossfire, and soon turned against the war that he had enthusiastically joined only months before.
Almost 90 former members of the unit who were also there that day have formed a Facebook group to oppose McCord. And they want your support to get their word out that McCord is being less than truthful in this documentary.
McCord was brought to IVAW and the Collateral Murder hysteria by Josh Steiber, who was also in the unit, but was being punished that day and restricted to the company area for some sort of malfeasance.
Category: Iraq Veterans Against the War
I wonder if the documentary notes that even McCord admitted that they found weapons at the site. What happened to those kids was unfortunate, but I think there’s a valuable lesson to be learned here that when you are driving your kids home from school through an active firefight, don’t stop to pick up strangers.
Stieber was in the rear because he had refused to do his job (11B anymore) and was seeking CO status. He was seen as unreliable (given the time we were in) and thus had permanent CQ duty back on FOB Rustamayah.
Thank you John, for the assist.
Bailey came to me with this issue when the movie was being made and i have some guilt to not standing up before due to my ignorance on the issue. i did not have the foggiest of ideas that anyone could even consider this movie. i just couldnt fathom a person actually believing the story because there were only TWO people covered in the film. I was the Senior Medic in Bravo Company from July until the end of the deployment and I validate everything Bailey has to say. The Senior Medic before me can also support what Bailey is saying. This nonsense needs to stop.
Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing former U.S. Army Specialist Ethan McCord, the next senator from Massachusetts.
Just followed the link to their website. It describes the group as “mostly unarmed.”
“mostly unarmed”, someone should tell them it only takes one AK to fuck up your day.
@4: good christ I hope not.
as for being Unarmed, I have pictures of an RPG, and two AKs.
Not to be forgotten, that area had been controlled by radicals loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr.
Al-Sadr has fans in the so-called “peace” movement, as seen in one of the pictures here:
http://pjmedia.com/blog/live-from-dnc-its-zombietime-day-1/
Did the peaceniks ask their friends to keep civilians and children out of the fight? Nope.
Half the protesters are motivated only by anti-Americanism, and they didn’t care at all about those kids who were injured. The other half are simply against the Bush administration.”
mostly unarmed?! smh. we were gettin dropped on all day son. even before we sp’d. this is total bullshit. people actually think soldiers just run up and start shooting innocent people? pretty sure anytime we got in a fire fight or had to engage it was always questioned and looked into. the general public doesnt have any idea how difficult it is to be a soldier in combat, and this film doesnt do anything but make it worse.
Did anyone notice that it is up for an Academy Award? Plus, notice the film festival medal it has already won as a “documentary”. All I can say to that is; Algore and Mikey Moore won Academy Awards for their “documentaries”, too, and we know what steaming piles those were. Which leads me to conclude that this one is no better.
BTW: Who created this “documentary” to begin with? Who directed/poroduced/financed, etc.?
#10 Not sure if that comment is directed at me but if it is, my original comment was meant to be sarcastic, I don’t buy the shit they’re selling. I’ve been trying to join the army for over a year and have read some things written by service members who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a cousin who served in both places. I won’t say I know how difficult it is to have served in either place (because I don’t) but I’d like to think I have a general appreciation of the things you faced. You sir, as well as all other visitors on this site who have served, have my gratitude.
#12 James Spione directed and on the films website there’s a directors statement in which he says :however I soon realized there’s much more to the story and am working to develop a much more in depth documentary with more of the people involved on the ground.
So basically he made a film that fits his viewpoints without doing all his homework. Oops.
“have formed a Facebook group to oppose McCord. And they want your support”
they need to open up their group! no one can join unless they approve…somone needs to change their group so that it can take some “likes” and “shares” to get the ball rolling and send it viral…..
someone needs to let those guys know!
Understood, will advise
I had a lengthy e-mail exchange with the director, as I was in the aviation unit that was there that day and told him that he didn’t have all his facts straight. It was quite a frustrating experience as for every point I attempted to make about the situation in Baghdad then and our rules of engagement were he countered with straw-men and what-ifs that people in combat don’t have the time or luxury of think about. He pressed me to put him in contact with the pilots that were there that day…but understandably they to a man refused the invitation. I feel Mr. Spione is well meaning but quite naive about the reality of war and what we were actually doing over there.
This incident is typical of the screw-ups that happen when
air crews — Army, Navy, or Air Force — are free to open fire without confirmation of their targets from the ground. They aren’t cruel or evil, but neither are they capable of identifying the people and understanding the events they are watching from above. Friendly fire & collateral damage casualties are frequently the results.
The bitter attacks on Sgt McCord for telling his story are a discredit to the armed forces.
I wonder if anyone here has actually seen the film or are simply reacting to their dislike of mccord. I’ve seen it and I’ve deployed several times. I didn’t see anything in it that was unfair to anyone. It’s a short and by definition it can’t go into every detail. Nor can full length films or books for that matter. That’s why directors and writers use symbolism, metaphor, and dramatic sequence. It’s so they can depict the spirit of the experience. Hell, a decade ago joes were complaining that no one ever paid attention to what they go through. Now they’re complaining and sharpshooting something they’ve never seen when someone thinks enough about what they’ve been through to try and tell a morsel of their story…
A lot of angry folks on this site. Not trying to be a troll so I’m out. Said most of what I needed to say. I will leave you guys with this though and I hope you’ll take it from someone who’s been where you’re at but with a few years of distance from it all.
Getting out and coming home sucks. Hard to fit back in and if you’re not careful you’ll stay pissed off for years. Some guys never stop being angry. Some make shit up so they can stay angry or hate themselves. Sites like this only make it worse though. They keep it going. They feed off your anger. You think no one else gets it, that they haven’t been where you’re at. You’re wrong if you believe that. Don’t stay angry too long brothers. That shit’ll eat you up and spit you out again and again til you’re all alone in this world.