Leaked video of U.S. Military killing civilians and Reuters journalists.

[amoverlord]

can only say that this is murder............few here will say that it happens in war(n it sure does).....but ,look at the attitude of these murderers,they r not perturbed a bit,n justify it(even after knowing that they shot at children)....there is no humanity left in them.....

 

[Thomas]

No sh*t, I tend to work with CCTV extensively also, and in none of those shots does it appear to be an RPG or AK47s, none of them. The images of blurry at best and not conclusive enough to take action.

You can hear the soldiers report on the RPG round under the body at time code 19:18. he doesn't say "may" he says "looks like he's got an RPG round laying underneath him." Big difference.

 

[amoverlord]

You can hear the soldiers report on the RPG round under the body at time code 19:18. he doesn\'t say \"may\" he says \"looks like he\'s got an RPG round laying underneath him.\" Big difference.

ok...ok..he doesn\'t say \"may\".....ok big difference...
what about he saying..there own fault for bringing children in war......
even after that u defend them.....don\'t know who is more apathetic u or those cold blooded killers.........

 

[Forrest Griffin]

You can hear the soldiers report on the RPG round under the body at time code 19:18. he doesn't say "may" he says "looks like he's got an RPG round laying underneath him." Big difference.

No big difference. If we are watching the same images the aviator was watching, he should not have have fired. A comptent aviator would not have done this. IMO he seemed a little bit trigger happy.

Those who defend the aviator's actions make the U.S. military appear as if they are not held to highest standards.

 

[Thomas]

No big difference. If we are watching the same images the aviator was watching, he should not have have fired. A comptent aviator would not have done this. IMO he seemed a little bit trigger happy.

Those who defend the aviator's actions make the U.S. military appear as if they are not held to highest standards.

Not true....The insurgents were legit targets. they were identified as having an RPG and did. The journalists equipment was misidentified. However they should NEVER have been embedded with insurgents. It is a dangerous practice that some journalists in Afghanistan still do.

 

[Forrest Griffin]

Not true....The insurgents were legit targets. they were identified as having an RPG and did. The journalists equipment was misidentified. However they should NEVER have been embedded with insurgents. It is a dangerous practice that some journalists in Afghanistan still do.

Good point.

I still believe the aviators could have exercised better judgement.

An experienced veteran aviator would not have done this.

 

[gambit]

Not true....The insurgents were legit targets. they were identified as having an RPG and did. The journalists equipment was misidentified. However they should NEVER have been embedded with insurgents. It is a dangerous practice that some journalists in Afghanistan still do.

We learned from Desert Storm how journalists protested when their freedom to travel as they please were restricted by the US military and allies.

CNN.com - Transcripts

KING: What was your skepticism about the embedded factor, and what changed? What did it do you didn't expect it to do?

RATHER: Well, my skepticism was -- well, given our experience in Afghanistan, when -- and I'll go ahead and say it, that the Defense Department made a big mistake in Afghanistan. They didn't even meet their own standards of maximum access and maximum information consistent with national security. So because they had been, frankly, so hard-walled about that in Afghanistan, had not let the press see some of the tremendous accomplishments of our fighting men and women in Afghanistan, I just thought, well, when it comes to this war in Iraq, they're going talk about the embeds having access and having information, but when it comes down to it, they won't. And about that, I was wrong because they did.

But my concern was -- and I stated it, was that it's a very fine line between being embedded and being entombed. And by that I meant that they could get in with these military outfits but not really get access and get information. But that did didn't turn out to be the case. And I think Torie Clarke and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and anybody else who was involved in that turnaround decision to give the kind of access they did, for whatever their motivation may have been, deserves applause for it. And I'll be surprised if the next time the American military goes to war that they don't try some version of it.

I repeat for emphasis, it wasn't perfect, Larry, that in some cases, you know, they put people -- they embedded people, but they didn't let them up with the far forward units. But overall and in the main, there's nothing to complain about, and there's a lot to applaud.

Dan Rather was being diplomatic with the highlighted phrase, but his sentiments were common. Some on the 'left' side of the ideological divide practically howled Constitutional violations.

The way it works with these people is that while it is wrong for journalists to embed with US forces, at the very least it gives the impression that journalists are in the pay of the US military, none will dare to criticize journalists who either embed with Iraqi insurgents and/or wander around areas they know or highly suspected to be 'hot zones'. Journalists like the late Steven Vincent, for example...

Amazon.com: In the Red Zone: A Journey into the Soul of Iraq (9781890626570): Steven Vincent: Books

Steven Vincent journeyed twice to Iraq, paying his own way, traveling without security or official connections, living by his wits. His four months in the war zone included a foray into the infamous Mosque of Ali in Najaf, a confrontation with Ayatollah Sistani’s bodyguards, a brush with death in a Karbala bombing, meetings with assorted Western "peace activists," and run-ins with Iraqi "authorities" who alternately suspected him of being a CIA agent or a terrorist.

For them to criticize these journalists would take the wind out of their rhetoric. If someone like Vincent was killed by insurgents, the people here would rally around the 'CIA agent' argument. If he was killed by US forces, like the tragic deaths we see in this discussion, he was 'murdered', as if the soldiers knew who they were killing in order to qualify the killing as 'murder'.

 

[gambit]

Good point.

I still believe the aviators could have exercised better judgement.

An experienced veteran aviator would not have done this.

I take it you speak from considerable combat experience or even as a civilian rescue pilot on finding and identifying people from several hundreds ft altitude?

 

[H2O3C4Nitrogen]

Kudos , they did restored democracy and found a dozen of WMDs hidden beneath tons of gallons of OIL....!

 

[FreekiN]

I think this is what my friends here are trying to say:

 

[Vassnti]

In the mean time, April 5, 2010 |

At least forty-one people were killed and 237 wounded Sunday in three coordinated suicide car bombings targeting the Iranian and German embassies and the Egyptian consulate in Iraq. There’s been no claim of responsibility for the attacks, but Iraqi government officials have suggested that the extremist Sunni group al-Qaeda in Iraq could be responsible

Some of the recent attacks in Iraq
(AP) – 50 minutes ago

A look at recent major attacks in Iraq:

_ April 6 — Bombs rip through apartment buildings and a market in Baghdad, killing at least 50 people.

_ April 4 — Suicide attackers detonate car bombs near embassies in Baghdad, killing 42.

_ April 2 — Gunmen kill 24 villagers execution-style in a Sunni area south of Baghdad.

_ March 26 — Twin bombings strike a restaurant in Khalis, north of Baghdad, killing 57.

_ March 7 — Series of bombings and rocket and mortar attacks kill 36 in Baghdad on Election Day.

_ March 3 — Suicide bombers strike in quick succession in Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, killing 32.

_ Feb. 18 — Suicide car bomb explodes outside the main government compound in Ramadi, killing 13.

_ Feb. 5 — Coordinated blasts targeting Shiite pilgrims in the holy city of Karbala kill 40.

_ Feb. 1 — Female suicide bomber strikes Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad, killing 54.

_ Jan. 26 — Suicide car bomber strikes a police crime lab in Baghdad, killing 22.

_ Jan. 25 — Suicide attacks hit several Baghdad hotels in well-planned assaults that kill 37.

Thats rougly 450 killed, deliberatley targeted as opposed to 2 journalists who chose to be in a combat zone with people firing on US troops yet teh outrage is over something from two years ago?

 

[gambit]

In the mean time, April 5, 2010 |





Thats rougly 450 killed, deliberatley targeted as opposed to 2 journalists who chose to be in a combat zone with people firing on US troops yet teh outrage is over something from two years ago?

Wait just one damned minute...Sir...!!! How do YOU know those 450 killed were not CIA agents?

 

[gambit]

I think this is what my friends here are trying to say:

And if you look carefully, you will find the label 'Made In Russia' or 'Made In China' on that oily thingie.

 

[amoverlord]

I take it you speak from considerable combat experience or even as a civilian rescue pilot on finding and identifying people from several hundreds ft altitude?

gambit,i respect ur knowledge on defense........but how can u justify the behavior of those US aviators(about whom u always have highest of laurels)........ok men they killed because they were trigger happy or nervous but even after knowing that they shot children...they r passing remarks like there fault,not ours......signing it off without giving second thought......

 

[gambit]

gambit,i respect ur knowledge on defense........but how can u justify the behavior of those US aviators(about whom u always have highest of laurels)........ok men they killed because they were trigger happy or nervous but even after knowing that they shot children...they r passing remarks like there fault,not ours......signing it off without giving second thought......

Trigger happy? Did you even watch the entire 40 minutes? I doubt it because if you did watch the entire 40 minutes, you would have seen the pilots were quite deliberate before they fire. So if you chose to use the provocative phrase 'trigger happy', may we inquire as FROM what military experience do you draw upon that involve even personal sidearms that you can justify that provocative phrase?

As for the comment made by one pilot about the wounded children...What do you expect him to say when there is no 21st century technology that would endow him the ability to see through obstacles to discern adults from children? There are plenty enough news on how women, even pregnant women, and children were recruited to be human bombs. So should we be surprised that children would be callously used by insurgents precisely for the hope that children being wounded or even killed in combat zones?