FYI ~ Easy! Ya just don't lead 'em so much!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 at 03:12PM If you haven't seen / heard / read about it yet, here's a link to horrible reality about our military adventures in the Middle East and "Our Nation's Finest".
... the video does not show hostile action. Instead, it begins with a group of people milling around on a street, among them, according to WikiLeaks, Mr. Noor-Eldeen and Mr. Chmagh. The pilots believe them to be insurgents, and mistake Mr. Noor-Eldeen’s camera for a weapon. They aim and fire at the group, then revel in their kills.
“Look at those dead bastards,” one pilot says. “Nice,” the other responds.
A wounded man can be seen crawling and the pilots impatiently hope that he will try to fire at them so that under the rules of engagement they can shoot him again. “All you gotta do is pick up a weapon,” one pilot says.
A short time later a van arrives to pick up the wounded and the pilots open fire on it, wounding two children inside. “Well, it’s their fault for bringing their kids into a battle,” one pilot says.
At another point, an American armored vehicle arrives and appears to roll over one of the dead. “I think they just drove over a body,” one of the pilots says, chuckling a little. ~ from NY Times article on the video/incident
I can't help but think of how right right Stanley Kubrick got it in his movie, Full Metal Jacket - the best war movie ever made -
Door Gunner: Git some! Git some! Git some, yeah, yeah, yeah! Anyone who runs, is a VC. Anyone who stands still, is a well-disciplined VC! .... I done got me 157 dead gooks killed. Plus 50 water buffalo, too! Them's all confirmed!
Private Joker: Any women or children?
Door Gunner: Sometimes!
Private Joker: How can you shoot women or children?
Door Gunner: Easy! Ya just don't lead 'em so much! Ain't war hell?
Reader Comments (6)
Eeyup. Not to mention it's a darn fine example of why video games AREN'T the best training for military service.
I am hiding from the reality today. Maybe I'll look tomorrow.
Guilt and shame should lie with those sending fine young people into battle in the first place.
I feel their shame. And I think I might puke it all up.
I'll admit I didn't see the RPG's or AK-47's...and I'll admit I have no clue what protocol is even if they did have those weapons? Is it simply a "shoot anyone with weapons" scenario in that part of Iraq? Don't they have snipers that can take out the armed men? Why use an automatic weapon that kills the whole crowd?
"However, the Web site does not slow down the video to show that at least one man in that group was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a clearly visible weapon that runs nearly two-thirds the length of his body.
WikiLeaks also does not point out that at least one man was carrying an AK-47 assault rifle. He is seen swinging the weapon below his waist while standing next to the man holding the RPG.
“It gives you a limited perspective,” said Capt. Jack Hanzlik, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. “The video only tells you a portion of the activity that was happening that day. Just from watching that video, people cannot understand the complex battles that occurred. You are seeing only a very narrow picture of the events.”
Hanzlik said images gathered during a military investigation of the incident show multiple weapons around the dead bodies in the courtyard, including at least three RPGs."
Evil exists in the world and it is us.