Twelve weeks ago the Bureau of Investigative Journalism was given access to the biggest leak of military documents in history.
These documents formed a database of nearly 400,000 military logs recorded over six years of the Iraq war and covering the years 2004 to 2009.
There are over 37 million words used to recount military significant actions that took place across the entire country. This material provides an unrivalled portrait of one of the most controversial wars of the modern age.
For the first time the files reveal just how much the American military detailed the escalating violence in Iraq, and how this contrasts markedly to what the politicians said in public. This is the story behind the pronouncements – the uncensored detail Washington did not want us to know.
Key findings
The data reveals how hundreds of civilians were killed by coalition forces in unreported events.
There are numerous claims of prisoner abuse by coalition forces even after the Abu Ghraib scandal. The files also paint a disturbing portrait of widespread torture in Iraqi detention facilities.
As the war progresses the documents record a descent into chaos and horror as the occupation sparked civil war. In case after case, the logs record thousands of bodies, many brutally tortured, dumped on the streets of Iraq.
Through these reports we see, in military snapshots, the full impact the war had on Iraqis – men, women and children. The sheer scale of the deaths, detentions and violence is laid bare for the first time.
About the logs
The files were each recorded by soldiers operating on the ground and detail significant events. They are known as “SIGACTS”.
At the time each report was classified as “Secret” but the information contained is no longer militarily sensitive. In order to protect people mentioned in the reports the Bureau has removed all names and detailed grid references from the documents published on this site.
The files, leaked to the whistleblowers’ website Wikileaks, were made available to a select group of media outlets, including the Bureau, the Guardian, the New York Times, the German weekly Der Spiegel and French newspaper Le Monde.
Iraq Body Count, the agency that has been collating evidence of Iraq’s casualty numbers for many years, was also given access to the data.
Others involved include Sweden’s SVT and public interest lawyers.
The Bureau has made documentaries based on our findings for Dispatches and Al Jazeera English and Arabic.
Official response
We offered the United States Department of Defense the right to reply to our findings. They issued a statement which can be read here.
U.S. Marines Pull Down Saddam Statue/Getty
October 23rd, 2010at 8:23 am(#)
[...] http://www.iraqwarlogs.com/2010/10/21/the-leaked-us-files-and-what-they-mean/ [...]
October 23rd, 2010at 12:19 pm(#)
[...] Jazeera, Der Spiegel, New York Times, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the Guardian, Channel 4, the Iraq Body Count, le monde, CNN, BBC all broke the news with other [...]
October 23rd, 2010at 12:34 pm(#)
shame
October 23rd, 2010at 2:01 pm(#)
I am sickened by humanity. I hope you all remember that silence is a deadly weapon of complicity and that there is no excuse for what is going on in your name. We must stand up against this perverted, depraved evil that has infested Western so called ‘civilised’ governments.There will never be a convenient time. So the time is now. Be heard. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, appreciation of that freedom, and a responsibility to hound out of office those who jeopardise that precious freedom. The war hawks and ruthless profiteers are making this world unsafe and unfit to live in. The planet is perfect. There are enough resources – but we need to address the problem of this snake in our midst who would hoard riches for themselves and wreak havoc everywhere they go to deliberately disable or eliminate entire nations in the name of ‘democracy’. They are beneath contempt and should be behind bars. They are in no position to moralise about the rights and wrongs of releasing documents. But will the ordinary citizens of the world have the courage to say with one voice: “enough”?
October 23rd, 2010at 3:54 pm(#)
I’m not quite sure what “Agent Smith” is trying to say, if he is condemning Wikileaks or the “War hawks and Ruthless profiteers” or even both. Either way you sound pompous and full of ****. The planet isn’t perfect, for you to say that it is just shows how naive you are.
Either way this needed to be shown to the world, especially if it means the impact of this means troops will be pulled out of the war quicker, however I doubt that. Atleast now the various Governments around the world and different Military Organizations have been shown in a new light. It’s one thing to fight a war and kill insurgents, it is another to murder thousands of innocent civilians but obviously the stupidity of these military organizations and the pentagon is unquestionable, especially in this modern age.
This was inevitable, theres only so long people will turn a blind eye to such horrible atrocities. As stated in an article already, good luck fighting a nation that doesn’t exist. This is only the start, this will continue and beat you into submission. Get ready.
October 23rd, 2010at 7:19 pm(#)
[...] by: Rachel Oldroyd | The Bureau of Investigative Journalism | Report [...]
October 24th, 2010at 12:04 am(#)
ROBUST.
But what about Geneva Convention ? U N’s role regarding war criminals like George W. Bush , Tony Blair etc. ,etc.
October 24th, 2010at 2:41 am(#)
Isn’t it time for a Congressional investigation into the war crimes? To apply one standard of morality to ourselves and a different one to our enemies would be the ultimate hypocrisy. What part did Cheney play in these crimes? What part did Bush play? Our good name will be soiled until we bring the criminals to justice, no matter how high and mighty they may be.
October 24th, 2010at 7:01 am(#)
This is sickening, and beyond depraved. How can anyone justify these wars?
October 24th, 2010at 9:44 am(#)
Hold on a minute here. I am very greatful that these documents have been published as they probably show a big part of the truth of what has been going on in Iraq and still is going on. BUT, I must strongly critisize The Bureau of investigative journalism for saying that they dont angle or spinn the story when they only list CF happenings in their “KEY FINDINGS”? I found rather, after reading every bit of material on this site, that there were more terrifying stories, for example, about how Al- Qaeda try to employ and lure in kids and mentally handicapped into attack CF or turn them into unknowing suicidebombers? That truly shows what monsters CF is fighting! Or how Blackwater has attacked several more innocent civilians?
Or even more important: That we are handeling over control to a government that still houses absolut brutal forms of torture to carry out “interrogations”. THAT is the TRUE key finding here I belive.
October 24th, 2010at 10:45 am(#)
Dear Sir/Mam
I am a documentary filmmaker, I am working on a documentary about the Iraqi oil smuggling and the new wave of contracts signed by the Iraqi oil ministry, I am seeking your help in obtaining documents that sheds the light on a possible awareness or involvement by Mr. Maliki in the smuggling scheme. I would greatly appreciate your assistant in this mater
October 24th, 2010at 1:34 pm(#)
My initial response is horrifying that this could take place, but after some reflection, I realized much of this was known and reported on by the non DoD tainted media. The MSM’s (Main Stream Media) glorified war reports often ran side by side with reports of genocide in Africa, however the two activities seemed not to be viewed or connected as similar actions.
Wondering how our US military could be a party to genocide in Iraq points out one of the primary objectives of military training – dehumanize the peoples of the enemy nation – gooks, rag heads, fanatics, terrorists, etc. Once this belief is drummed into the heads of young people with Weapons of Human Destruction, the outcome is never in doubt.
I also see this as a prime or at least a contributing factor to PTSD. When a “soldier” realizes their killings of the “dehumanized civilian” could actually be classified as murder, an internal struggle ensues between their understanding of “right and wrong”. The result can often be a breakdown of their morality and the inability to function emotionally. The end result is a segment of our population (returning “heroes”) who have been taught to kill because it is the “right” thing to do, but discover after the fact it does not agree with their religious and humanistic beliefs.
One final thought. These events are the result of applying an archaic military approach to a tactic known as “terrorism”. A primary tactic to fight terrorism is a hand shake, an embrace, a sharing of ideas, and at the national level assistance and diplomacy. Fewer people are killed and/or wounded physically and psychologically.
Thank you for reading
October 24th, 2010at 5:08 pm(#)
As a citizen of the United States, I am ashamed at, and
saddened by, man’s inhumanity to man. This includes women.
When travelling, I have gone back to saying, when asked,
“I’m from C_ _ _ _ _”.
Isn’t this sad ?
October 24th, 2010at 5:59 pm(#)
WHAT A SHAME ON AMERICA!!
October 24th, 2010at 9:44 pm(#)
If America still is a democracy, and I have my doubts, there is no way a real Patriot can stand for this horror. I am ashamed of my government and what it has done in all our names. We need and must demand a Nuremberg styled trial, if we do not oblige International Laws, this will continue to happen. Its happening in Afganistan as well, and we all know it. So why is this President allowing these generals who slaughered and destroyed Iraq to continue their brutual occupation of Afganistan? I believe there either is a military coup against our President occuring now, or Obama was TOLD you better not investigate these crimes, after all you have added another 30,000 soldiers to Afganistan. Obama told those generals to find a way out of Afganistan. Instead, McCrystal and the war hawks in the Pentagon went around the President by going public. There is only one commander in chief, Barack Obama. We the people must stand with him to end these wars and put these Generals under investigation. We must have the truth. I thank Wikileaks for its courage to deliver the truth to the world. If you hear any journalist call Wikileaks bad names, remember these same journalists kept the truth from you and got paid millions in salary to keep the american public from the truth. This is the problem with embedding journalists among the truth, they lie, they deceive. The truth will be hard to swallow for those who believed the lies and deceptions, but we must if our democracy, our rule of law continues.
October 24th, 2010at 10:35 pm(#)
[...] http://www.iraqwarlogs.com/2010/10/21/the-leaked-us-files-and-what-they-mean/ [...]
October 24th, 2010at 11:21 pm(#)
[...] de lo que se reveló ayer ya se sabía en parte, o por lo menos había mucha evidencia que lo indicaba. La importancia de los 400,000 documentos [...]
October 24th, 2010at 11:22 pm(#)
I agree with Dennis. The phrase ‘war on terror’ is meaningless, and is used to enable any kind of atrocity and explain it to the supposedly stupid Americans by calling it necessary to ‘stop terror’. Like terror is going to stop because we blow up an Iraqi school full of innocent children and turn the whole country into a tremendous mess. Like ‘terror’ is going to come down the street in anytown USA and somehow victimize people all across America. Or like invading Iraq and murdering hundreds of thousands of innocent people will somehow discourage a small band of international terrorists from pulling some maniacal stunt. One can only look upon these activities and marvel at how no one has succeeded in getting people to wake up and take a reality check.
So far, in this daily fantasy we experience, thanks to a lap dog media obscuring the facts and a complacent citizenry believing everything they’re told, this illusion remains somewhat intact. One hopes that this leak will reach enough people with functioning brains to create a tipping point so that we can finally demand justice and imprison and/or execute the big money war criminals that got us into this absurd and ridiculous ‘war on terror’ in the first place.
October 30th, 2010at 12:44 pm(#)
It is of utmost importance that you become a bit more pedagogical relating to the way you present your information to the large public. Your work as such is of great importance, but the way it is been presented is a bit too academic for our standards. Please, try to make clear what had been published by the media before the War Logs and what is the reality presented by those logs. In this way we will be able to judge how from one is from another and consequently be able to act accordingly.
February 20th, 2011at 8:49 pm(#)
Thank You Julian Assange et al,and Bradley Manning,if in fact he was the source of the raw info. You are all heroic in shiining a light on the criminal foreign policy of the United States. Do not forget Bradley Manning, who still needs money for his defense, as well as support to get him out of solitary confinement. Thank you all. “America was never America to me… but it will be” Langston Hughes. I hope one day the US will be the country it has always wanted us to believe it is.
February 27th, 2011at 1:24 pm(#)
The time has come for citizens of so-called western democracies to realise that it is the huge Transnational Corporations that rule our world.CIA;MI6,ASIO etel supported by the military are for all intents and purposes the Legal Mafia.They do their work through the banks and ruling elite families.The U.S.A. IS government by the corporation for the corporation and of the corporation.So for Americans it doesn’t matter if you vote or don’t vote.Republican or Democrat–they’re just the same.They work for the same Power Elite.See C.Wright Mills’ book “The
Power Elite”.We to,as in Egypt and Libya need a people’s revolution.
March 26th, 2011at 3:30 pm(#)
I may not agree with everything that happens in war, but thats exactly what it is WAR! You people take this infomation and spin it to make America look bad in the eyes of the world. Yes, Bad things happen in war time. But, the soldier who leaked these papers classifed as secret is guilty of treson, and should be dealt with for turning his back on his fellow soldier who hes put in harms way with leaking the information. And for turning his back on his country, no matter how screwed up we may be as a nation with all our imperfections, that like turning your back on a family member.
May 24th, 2011at 11:00 am(#)
Why America does not leave people to live freely