Alexander Blackman shoots wounded Taliban fighter – transcript
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Version 0 of 1. This is a transcript of audio taken from two video clips that record the incident in which Alexander Blackman shot dead a wounded Taliban fighter. The Royal Marines dragged the unidentified prisoner to the edge of a field after he had been hit by cannon fire from an Apache attack helicopter. They allegedly waited until the helicopter had left the area before Blackman, the commander of the patrol, shot the man in the chest. The incident was recorded with a head-camera worn by another of the marines. The marines are referred to in the transcript as Marine A [Blackman], Marine B, Marine C, Marine D and simply M, where the speaker is unidentified. Marines B and C were cleared of murder. D was not put on trial. Key to the transcripts: Square brackets [ ] are the speech analyst’s marks. Round brackets ( ) signify that the analyst has a lower confidence in the words recorded. Three dots … denote unintelligible speech. ?Marine B – question mark denotes lower confidence in attribution. Sometimes alternative possibilities are given (Yes/no). The { } brackets indicate that this is the Guardian’s explanation of what is allegedly happening. First clip The transcript of one clip begins with unintelligible speech and coughing before a man said to be Marine B begins to talk. The figures record the elapsed time from the beginning of the recording. At the start of the clip the prisoner is being dragged across a field. His shirt and trousers are blood-stained. Towards the end of the clip he is thrown to the ground. The Apache helicopter that legitimately opened fire on the man, wounding him, is still in the area. 00:00:03 ?Marine B: Rear man, take east. M: ... Marine B: Come out towards you. M: ... 00:00:09 M: ... M : ... fucking ... M: ... 00:00:11 Marine A ... get his arse over there. M: [coughs] Marine B: Fucking cunt. 00:00:18 M: Fucking bastard. M: [coughs] 00:00:19 M: Why couldn’t (you/he) just be fucking dead? M: Good effort lads. 00:00:24 M: Swap (hands). Marine B: Yeah, I took ... M: ... 00:00:29 Marine D: You’re fucking browners, fella {brown bread: dead}. [Grunting from soldiers] Marine B: Don’t give a fuck about you, son. 00:00:37 M: ... [Vocalisations probably from insurgent] 00:00:40 M: Does anyone recognise him? M: Stop fucking whingeing. M: ... 00:00:43 M: ... going ... way. M: Yeah. Marine B: Fucking prick. 00:00:45 Marine A: Right, get him closer in so PGSS {British observation balloon} can’t see what we’re doing to him. M: (Place/push) him in there, come on. Marine A: Get him right in. M: Come on. 00:00:51 Marine A: Over by that corn. M: That’ll do. Marine A: Right in that – that clear space. 00:00:57 M: Get him right over here. 00:01:05 M: ... M: (Take him out there and ... ) 00:01:07 M: That’ll do, that’ll do, that’ll do. M: Mm. M: Out here [Radio] 00:01:12 ?Marine D: Do you want him back in? Marine A: Yeah, I want – I want him in this area here so I can see what the fuck (we’re/I’m) doing. 00:01:18 M: Er- M: ... just arrived in there. 00:01:32 Marine A: Anybody want to do first aid on this idiot? M: No. 00:01:34 Marine B: No. M: ... 00:01:36 Marine C: I’ll put one in his head, if you want. M: ... 00:01:41 M: ... M: [Laughs] M: [Laughs] 00:01:43 Marine C: Take your pick. M: [Laughs] M: ... M: Yeah M: ... 00:01:50 Marine A: No, not in his head, ’cause that’ll be fucking obvious. M: Just move him round here. M: ... 00:01:54 M: Move him round. Marine A: ... Marine B: Going to switch this fucker off. M: ... Marine A: I don’t know where that AH {Apache helicopter} is mate. 00:01:58 – end of recording. Second clip The captive is lying face down at the start of the clip. The marines allegedly pretended to apply a field dressing while the Apache helicopter hovered nearby. The captive is turned on to his back. After the helicopter has gone, Marine A shoots him in the chest with a 9mm pistol. M: Yeah. Marine A: Yeah he’s got a sucking chest wound, mate. M: Fucking hell. M: ... 00:00:03 Marine B: We’ll patch him with an FFD, {field dressing}. Marine A: Yeah, send, over [speaking on radio] 00:00:05 Marine B: That’ll do, won’t it. M: ... M: ... 00:00:12 Marine B: Keep your eyes on my weapon, mate. 00:00:21 M: Where’s that (Where’s that Ugly) now? {Ugly is the helicopter} Marine A: He – he’s over there and he can fucking see us. Ah. 00:00:26 M: Yeah check the – check the ... M: Yeah M: Yeah 00:00:36 Marine C: I think Murph’s trying to get hold of us on the er – {Murph is a fellow marine back at base}. M: (OK). Marine A: Yeah, Murph, this is [name of Marine A], send, over. [Speaking on radio] 00:00:41 Marine B: Better send up a nine liner, I suppose {report that a medical evacuation is needed}. [Radio] 00:00:50 Marine A: Yeah, er, we’re just waiting for [name of comrade] to er get ... He may well be dead. [Speaking on radio] Marine C: He’ll be on – be behind them trees in a minute. 00:01:02 Marine B: For fuck’s sake, I cannot believe I’m doing this. Marine C: Don’t – just – don’t – yeah, wait a minute, just pretend to do it until he’s behind them trees. 00:01:08 M: ... just strangle him. Marine A: Yeah 00:01:11 [Laughs] Marine B: Yeah, that might ... M: Yeah 00:01:13 Marine A: Yeah, he’s past. Fuck it, he’s past. M: Yeah Marine C: He’s dead. 00:01:19 Marine A: Hello, one zero, one four, hotel. [Speaking on radio] M: ... 00:01:25 Marine B: Fucking cunt shooting at Taalander, you twat {Taalander is a British command post}. 00:01:28 M: (Just making ... ) 00:01:30 Marine A: (Hello) one zero, one four, hotel. [Speaking on radio] Marine C: ... 00:01:36 Marine B: (Hang on a sec) say. M: ... 00:01:37 Marine A: I hate to say it, administering first aid to this er – individual, he’s er – [Speaking on radio] Marine B: Wait. 00:01:41 Marine A: Passed on from this er world, over. [Speaking on radio] 00:01:50 Marine A: one zero, one four, hotel, I will er – [Speaking on radio] M: Mm. 00:01:53 Marine A: Okay, er – [Speaking on radio] M: Mm, mm. Marine A: Do my best to er biometrically enrol him erm and then er gather a DNA samples er [Speaking on radio] {DNA samples and fingerprints are routinely taken from suspected insurgents}. M: ... 00:01:58 Marine A: To bag up the evidence, the weapon and the er grenade, over.[Speaking on radio] M: ... 00:02:03 Marine B: There was a grenade there, as well, was there. Marine C: Yeah in his pocket Marine B: Fucking twat M: Yeah, cunt. 00:02:08 Marine B: That’s probably re- ready to go on you boys. M: Mm 00:02:13 M: (Get your) shot fucking ... M: Fucking ... 00:02:18 M: Fucking hell. Marine A: ... [Speaking on radio] 00:02:19 Marine C: Yeah, maybe we should pump one in his heart. Marine A: ...er b-both of my call signs all round. [Speaking on radio] Marine C: Can’t ... 00:02:22 Marine B: Just hold that on him, [name of comrade], just a few secs. Marine A: ... er er while we er, like I say, we’ll try to biometrically enrol this guy as best as we can and we’ll gather what er intelligence we can before moving back. [Speaking on radio] M: [Clears throat] 00:02:35 Marine B: Right we’ll roll him over again. 00:02:36 Marine A: Er he’s dead. Don’t waste your fucking FFDs on the cheeser. Take it off him. Right, get the – get the HIIDE camera out, see if you can a picture of him, minus all the – the thing. [Name of comrade], push up the corn there will, you? {The HIIDE camera takes images of fingerprints, irises and other details} 00:02:46 Marine B: Can you just (grab/get) the HIIDE camera out (my back for me, mate). HIIDE camera’s in my (sack). M: Yeah M: Top? 00:02:51 Marine B: Yeah, it’s in the main compartment, mate. Marine A: (Just) down there mate. Stay there (covering/cover) him, fucking – M: ... 00:02:56 Marine A: Er [name of comrade] [Speaking on radio] M: Did you get him? Marine B: Eh? 00:03:01 M: ... you get him? M: ... [Speaking on radio] Marine B: In the head? Yeah that’s fine. 00:03:03 Marine A: ... back pack, get er er a DNA kit for this guy. [Speaking on radio] 00:03:10 M: Yeah, got that, 00:03:16 Marine A: Where is the CAT, Ugly call sign? {referring to the helicopter again} Marine B: It’s gone that way. ?Marine A: Yeah Marine B: Went south, mate. 00:03:20 [GUNSHOT] {This is the moment when A allegedly shoots the prisoner} M: (What was that?) [Distant voice] M: (Don’t know.) [Distant voice] 00:03:28 M: ... 00:03:33 M: ... 00:03:35 Marine A: There you are, shuffle off this mortal coil you cunt. M: ... 00:03:47 Marine A: It’s nothing you wouldn’t do to us. Marine B: I know. M: Exactly. M: All right. 00:03:50 Marine A: Obviously, this doesn’t go anywhere, fellas. Marine B: Yeah, roger, mate. Marine A: I’ve just broke the Geneva convention. 00:03:54 Marine B: Yeah, roge. M: ... 00:04:01 Marine A: Biometric data module, right. Er try and brush some of that shit off his face. 00:04:05 Marine B: If anything – if anything gets heard, mate, it’s as a warning shot went down. M: ... 00:04:08 Marine A: Yeah [name of comrade] he’s er fully dead now. [Speaking on radio] M: (Yeah, roger) ... [Response from radio] 00:04:14 Marine B: [Laughs] Marine A: Yeah, just getting a ... mate. [Speaking on radio] 00:04:17 – end of recording |