Saeed Chmagh

{{Short description|Iraqi Reuters employee killed by U.S. forces (1967-2007)}} {{Infobox person | name = Saeed Chmagh | image = Journalist_Saeed_Chmagh.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Saeed Chmagh, killed by a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, July 2007 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1967|01|01}} | birth_place = Iraq | death_date = {{death date|2007|07|12}} (aged 40) | death_place = Baghdad, Iraq | death_cause = 30 mm armor-piercing shell | employer = Reuters | occupation = Driver and camera assistant | children = 4 }} '''Saeed Chmagh''' ({{langx|ar|سعيد شماغ}}) (January 1, 1967 – July 12, 2007)<ref name="baron"/> was an Iraqi employed by Reuters news agency as a driver and camera assistant.<ref name="baron"/><ref name="booth0406"/> He was killed,<ref name="bjp"/> along with his colleague Namir Noor-Eldeen,<ref name="Tyson0915"/> by American military forces in the New Baghdad district of Baghdad, Iraq, during an airstrike on July 12, 2007.<ref name="baron">{{cite news|url=http://www.thebaron.info/namirnooreldeenandsaeedchmagh.html|title=Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh|work=The Baron|accessdate=2010-04-06|archive-date=2010-04-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409010305/http://www.thebaron.info/namirnooreldeenandsaeedchmagh.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="bjp">{{Cite news |work=British Journal of Photography |title=Photographer killed in Iraq |date=July 18, 2007}}</ref><ref name="Tyson0915">{{Cite news |last=Tyson |first=Ann Scott |title=Military's Killing of 2 Journalists in Iraq Detailed in New book |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=September 15, 2009 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/14/AR2009091403262.html |accessdate=April 5, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Kiss0712">{{Cite news |last=Kiss |first=Jemima |title=Reuters staff killed in Iraq |work=The Guardian |date=July 12, 2007 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/jul/12/reuters.pressandpublishing |accessdate=April 5, 2010}}</ref><ref name="rubin">{{Cite news |last=Rubin |first=Alissa J. |authorlink= Alissa J. Rubin |work=The New York Times |title=2 Iraqi Journalists Killed as U.S. Forces Clash With Militias |date=July 13, 2007 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/13/world/middleeast/13iraq.html?ref=middleeast |accessdate=April 5, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Bumiller0405">{{Cite news |last=Bumiller |first=Elisabeth |author-link=Elisabeth Bumiller |title=Video Shows American Killing of Photographer |work=The New York Times |date=April 5, 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/world/middleeast/06baghdad.html?hp |accessdate=April 5, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Franke-Ruta |first=Garance |title=Web site releases video of Baghdad attack that killed 2 journalists |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 5, 2010 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/05/AR2010040503778.html?hpid=moreheadlines |accessdate=April 5, 2010}}</ref>

==Life and career== Chmagh was born January 1, 1967, in Iraq.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/profiles-iraq-journalists-killed-by-us-gunships-6rfqzrlnl99 |title=Profiles: Iraq journalists killed by US gunships |first=Jenny |last=Booth |date=6 April 2010 |access-date=13 April 2019 |newspaper=The Times |publisher=Times Newspapers Limited}}</ref> He joined Reuters before the United States-led invasion in 2003. With 4 children of his own,<ref name="baron"/> he financially supported his family and another three through his work.<ref name="booth0406"/> Chmagh also supported his sister's family after insurgents killed her husband.<ref name="booth0406"/>

Chris Helgren, then Reuters' chief photographer in the region, launched a plan to employ and train Iraqis, with more local knowledge and access to areas now perilous for Westerners.<ref name="booth0406" /> Helgren said: "There are few 'good news' stories to be had in this war and wars by definition are tales of violence. And to get there, drivers like Saeed Chmagh are indispensable." "Saeed had a reputation of being fiercely loyal and appeared fearless to me. If you ever needed to get quickly to a dangerous area, passing chicanes of barbed wire and boobytraps, Saeed was your man. But he also had a very quiet, loving side and spoke often of his kids."<ref name="booth0406">{{cite news | first=Jenny | last=Booth|title=Profiles: Iraq journalists killed by US gunships| date=2010-04-06 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article7088819.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529163826/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article7088819.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093 |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 29, 2010 | work =Times Online | accessdate = 2010-04-06}}</ref>

==Airstrike and death== {{Main|July 12, 2007, Baghdad airstrike}} On July 12, 2007, after several skirmishes in the area, two American AH-64 Apache helicopters observed a group of people milling around on a street in Baghdad. Believing the group to be the armed Iraqi insurgents who earlier engaged U.S. soldiers nearby, the Apache fired on them.<ref name="Tyson0915"/><ref name="Bumiller0405"/><ref name="McGreal0405">{{Cite news |last=McGreal |first=Chris |author-link=Chris McGreal |date=April 5, 2010 |work=The Guardian |title=Wikileaks reveals video showing US air crew shooting down Iraqi civilians |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/05/wikileaks-us-army-iraq-attack |accessdate=April 5, 2010}}</ref> About 5 minutes later an unmarked black van arrived, owned by a man who was taking his son to school. Two other men arrived and assisted the severely-injured Chmagh (who was at that moment engaged in dragging himself over the ground in order to reach cover) and carried him to the van. The observing helicopter crews requested and received permission to engage, before they opened fire on the van and its occupants. Two young children in the van were severely wounded by the shooting.<ref name="Goodman">{{cite web|title=Massacre Caught on Tape: US Military Confirms Authenticity of Their Own Chilling Video Showing Killing of Journalists|work=Democracy Now|first=Amy|last=Goodman |url=http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/6/massacre_caught_on_tape_us_military|date=2010-04-06|accessdate=2010-04-07}}</ref> Chmagh, and Reuters photojournalist, his long-time friend Namir Noor-Eldeen,<ref name="booth0406"/><ref name="rubin"/> were among those killed in the attacks.<ref name="Bumiller0405"/> Chmagh was 40 years old at the time of his death.<ref name="Kiss0712"/> Chmagh and Noor-Eldeen were the fifth and sixth Reuters employees killed in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion began.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Iraqi doctor working for Danish NGO killed |work=The Peninsula |date=July 13, 2007}}</ref> The Army's report includes pictures of various weapons found near the bodies at the scene.<ref name="Bumiller0405"/>

After their deaths, Reuters screened a photographic tribute to Noor-Eldeen and Chmagh in New York City's Times Square and London's Canary Wharf.<ref name="Kiss0712"/> The shootings and their deaths are detailed in a 2009 non-fiction book by David Finkel, titled ''The Good Soldiers''.<ref name="Tyson0915" />

==Video release== {{See also|July 12, 2007, Baghdad airstrike#Leaked video footage}} For more than three years after the shooting, Reuters and other organizations sought probes into the deaths of Noor-Eldeen and other journalists killed in Iraq, but the U.S. military withheld key information on the grounds that it was classified. The military also refused to release a video taken from one of the gunships that captured the complete sequence and radio communication during the shootings. On April 5, 2010, the video was released on the website WikiLeaks, which said it acquired the video from military whistle-blowers and viewed it after breaking the encryption code.<ref name="Bumiller0405" />

==References== {{clear}} {{reflist|2}}

==External links== * [http://www.collateralmurder.com/ Collateral Murder] – WikiLeaks-owned alternate site, includes full footage of the video as originally released * {{Wikinews-inline|Wikileaks releases classified 2007 video showing killing of civilians by U.S. helicopter in Iraq}} * [http://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/6/massacre_caught_on_tape_us_military Massacre Caught on Tape: US Military Confirms Authenticity] – video report by ''Democracy Now!'' {{Wikisource|July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike transcript|has=a complete transcript of|nocat=yes}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chmagh, Saeed}} Category:1967 births Category:2007 deaths Category:2000s in mass media Category:2010s in mass media Category:People of the Iraq War Category:Journalists killed while covering the Iraq War Category:Reuters people Category:Photojournalism controversies Category:Filmed killings in Asia Category:Civilian deaths by American airstrikes