Video: Apache Gunship mowing down Iraqis

[kaput]

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[Antonito]

Originally posted by CUG
I'm not detracting from the civilian casualties here, but the same people who are "shocked" and "seeing how it really is" stutter and fart when you ask them things like "What about the bad guys? They drive vehicles into markets full of civilians and blow the shit out of them?"

And they're horrified over a video like this?

Oh, 100% serious, lets hear it:

It's a foregone conclusion that terrorists are vicious assholes and do shocking things. That's the whole reason to be at war with them.

But the US/Canadian/allied armies are the good guys, so it's shocking to see a video like that. To see violence like that, we're conditioned to think it's an enemy or bad guy doing it. If you ask the general population how they imagine the allied army doing their jobs, it'll be vague descriptions of check points and house checks, and getting shot at. Mowing down a group of people probably does not come up at all.

[revelations]

Originally posted by banned3x
im sorry but if i was there and saw a group of insurgents id call in an ac130 and lite that mother up 10 mile radius only because the fear for my own life and they should of left the kids at home

The "Spooks" dont operate during day light hours.

[heavyD]

Originally posted by Trini
really disgusting

It's like a video game to those guys

sadly it is very unlikely they will be ever be held accountable

LOL accountable for what? It's war people.

[beyond_ban]

Wow crazy video. Is it bad if it reminded me of COD?

[n1zm0]

its sad to say but this happens every week if not everyday in the current theaters of these liberating 'wars' (afghanistan/iraq) and it goes unreported - also probably safe to say this goes on in ANY war/conflict, just this time there is visual/audio proof leaked to the public, see why Vietnam was such a bust for the american military, one of the first wars filmed for the american public's livingroom.

[Anomaly]

It's my understanding that someone was firing on US ground forces before this video. Hence why the ground forces called in Air Support. The streets are empty also, suggesting that this may be true.

They made a judgment call on what information they had... It's not impossible to see why they did it either. If someone is walking around with what looks like an RPG or AK47 in a war zone...


The video on wikileaks was also cut short. The original is twice as long and shows them engaging other hostiles who fled into a building and clearly ARE carrying rifles.

And as far as the callous remarks the pilot/gunner make: They're in a war where I'm sure they see some fucked up shit. That's how the cope with what they see. Pretty common, and I'm sure no one would understand unless they've been in that situation.

[Trini]

Originally posted by heavyD


LOL accountable for what? It's war people.

oh yea I forgot, you can go about and kill civilians and it's all good

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by banned3x
im sorry but if i was there and saw a group of insurgents id call in an ac130 and lite that mother up 10 mile radius only because the fear for my own life and they should of left the kids at home

That's just it though, what proof was there that they were insurgents?

-There were shots fired in the general area, if it were a shoot out they wouldn't be walking around so casually.

-The "RPG" was a camera

-Two men had AK47's, perfectly legal to own there, as long as their registered.

-The van that came could have been any other non insurge who just see a bunch of hurt/dead people and felt compelled to help.

Yes it's a "war" (illegal), but that gives them the right to open fire on anyone? They don't need more proof of being an insurgent? They don't need to be accountable when an "RPG" turns out to be a Camera Reporter? The video was buried, and only came to light after someone whistle blew.

[kenny]

Originally posted by kaput
I don't understand why they would have attacked the van after the fact? Those guys were unarmed and only trying to help.

To protect themselves.

If there were in fact some hostiles on the ground and someone comes in and carts them all away along with their weapons, it would look extremely bad to have a dozen dead civilians with no hostiles or weapons.

[Quiet10]

If this situation was the other way around and the chopper WAS shot down and all those troops died, people would be saying "why didn't they shoot them or why didn't they do anything, they were in a known hot-area"

[darthVWader]

And how many times have they been sitting up there with the enemy in view and ask for permission but the permission was NOT granted and they watch as a few of their own get nailed? Day in and day out they watch their own getting shot at and blown up so I can see how it sounds and looks cold but they are really fighting for their Brothers and Sisters on the ground.
The PR battle is just another weapon the bad guys use to get the upper hand and just like in Vietnam they know if they can pull at the heartstrings of the public they can slowly turn things in their favor.

We have the luxury of watching the video with the assistance of highlighted and blown up circles and the after knowledge that they where photographers but from the distance they were sitting and in the heat of the moment I can see how a long telephoto lens could be mistaken as an rbg or the shoulder strap as a gun strap and if I had my kids in that van there is know way in hell I’d drive up that freaking street!!!!!!!!!!

[heavyD]

Originally posted by Trini


oh yea I forgot, you can go about and kill civilians and it's all good

Has there ever been war where there were no civilian casualties? That's why it's called war.

[GorG]

Originally posted by Quiet10
If this situation was the other way around and the chopper WAS shot down and all those troops died, people would be saying "why didn't they shoot them or why didn't they do anything, they were in a known hot-area"

Its sad that innocent people were killed but its war.

[BigMass]

Soldiers are trained killers, not police officers. You can’t blame them when they act the way they were trained. If you want to blame anyone, blame the government for sending them in the first place. I can’t blame those troops just like I can’t blame police officers for enforcing idiotic laws. It all starts and stops with psychopathic megalomaniacs inside government.

[BigMass]

Originally posted by beyond_ban
Wow crazy video. Is it bad if it reminded me of COD?

that's what the military wants and has already admited FPS games like that are a great recruitment tool. It's the future of warfare like it or not. Half of those guys sounded like kids playing a video game and using ventrilo. Which is nor far off from the truth.

[kevie88]

There's not really any controversy here either.. US admitted they made a mistake, killing civilians and reporters.

The only thing controversial about this video is the fact that people in the general public can't handle seeing true scenes of modern war. Everyone wants to believe it's like Band Of Brothers or something, where you can clearly see the enemy in a uniform on a tank and you can shoot them.

[dezmarez]

I would have thought it was a rocket launcher as well. It is crazy how things have changed in terms of what is expected out of war. Civilians are going to die in war.

Some history on civilian casulities during war...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing...n_World_War_II

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strateg...g_World_War_II


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_bombing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_...a_and_Nagasaki

and keep in mind...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly-fire

It is a war, and there are going to be civilians killed. It sucks, but thats the reality of it. RIP to the victims, but those photographers new exactly what they were getting into when they went to Iraq.

[Hakkola]

Originally posted by Sykes
That was all so surreal - I don't even know what to say...

You want to think good is being done over there (and I have a friend in the military who has been deployed and says that good things are being done indeed), but then there's this stuff...

Is your friend American? Because Canada isn't in Iraq.

[CMW403]

i saw nothing wrong with that video at all.

the guy peeking around the corner actually looked like he had an RPG and was about to fire. and then they come around the building and their all huddled in a group? i would have been firing rockets not bullets.

how high up do you guys think they were? i was wondering why they didnt get the fuck outta there quicker, what it somebody else had an RPG that they didn't know about??