belarusian
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Well, when 5 year old kids start shooting at drones, there might be some justification.
not at all. the drone is very expendable.
if there are american or allied forces on the ground taking fire or encircled from militants mixed in with civilians then it becomes complicated.
This is not a hypothetical circumstance it can happen:
Ambassador Robert Oakley, the US special representative to Somalia, is quoted as saying: "My own personal estimate is that there must have been 1,500 to 2,000 Somalis killed and wounded that day, because that battle was a true battle. And the Americans and those who came to their rescue, were being shot at from all sides ... a deliberate war battle, if you will, on the part of the Somalis. And women and children were being used as shields and some cases women and children were actually firing weapons, and were coming from all sides. Sort of a rabbit warren of huts, houses, alleys, and twisting and turning streets, so those who were trying to defend themselves were shooting back in all directions. Helicopter gun ships were being used as well as all sorts of automatic weapons on the ground by the U.S. and the United Nations. The Somalis, by and large, were using automatic rifles and grenade launchers and it was a very nasty fight, as intense as almost any battle you would find."[22]
However, Aidid himself claimed that only 315 - civilians and militia - were killed and 812 wounded.[23] Captain Haad, in an interview on American public television, said 133 of the SNA militia were killed.[3]
Known civilian deaths include:
* The 3 year-old daughter of Maria Osman, killed when one of the Black Hawks crashed onto the Osman family home after being attacked by Somali militants.[24]
[edit]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mogadishu_(1993)
The parallel with Mogadishu is that gunmen in that battle hid behind walls of civilians and were aware of the restraint of the (Army) Rangers. These gunmen literally shot over the heads of civilians, or between their legs. They used women and children for this. It's mind-boggling. Some of the Rangers shot civilians, some of them inadvertently and some of them advertently. They made the choice to shoot at crowds. When a ten-year-old is running at your vehicle with an AK-47, do you shoot the kid? Yes, you shoot the kid. You have to survive. When push comes to shove, faced with the horrible dilemma with a gunman facing you, yes, you shoot. It's not just a choice about your own life. If you don't shoot, you're saying that your mission isn't important, and the lives of your fellow soldiers aren't important."
Does "Black Hawk Down" Portray an American War Crime? - Jeffrey Goldberg
To be honest I think the problem is that small numbers of american soldiers appear vulnerable and isolated when in fact they aren't. So the psychology of crowds comes into play and there is a collective seizing of the opportunity and a sense of impunity to strike down them down and loot their possessions. The troops that fought in Somalia were elite. I have tremendous sympathy for the national guardsman particularly who were in Iraq in 2006. The national leadership clearly failed them.