Collateral Murder
- Thread starter JBeee
- Start date
Psycopathic bastards loved it. Subhuman scum in choppers. I don't much like sharing my planet with stinking dog ****ers like that.
Wikileaks Releases Video of US Copters Killing Iraqi Civilians
By Jason Ditz April 5, 2010
The website Wikileaks.org today publicly issued a classified US military video from July 12, 2007, showing Apache helicopters killing at least a dozen civilians, including two employees of Reuters. The video had previously been sought by Reuters in its own investigation of the killings, and an encrypted copy had reportedly been smuggled to the website, who finally decrypted and released it.
The video shows the soldiers in the helicopter watching the group of civilians walking casually down the street, and then declaring that one is holding a rocket-propelled grenade launcher (apparently the camera held by one of the Reuters employees). The helicopter then opens fire on the civilians, killing all but one, who is seen badly wounded as the crew discusses whether or not to kill him. When a van arrives and begins to cart off the wounded or dead bodies, the helicopter attacks it as well, killing several others and wounding two children. One of the voices on the video then glibly remarks that the injuries of the children are the fault of the van driver for “bringing their kids to the battle.”
US officials have confirmed the authenticity of the video but have largely declined comments on the question of why the troops so eagerly attacked the group, let alone attacked the people trying to rescue them. The State Department officially declined comment at today’s press conference, while the Pentagon maintains that the soldiers acted appropriately in the killings and no investigation would be held.
At least as troubling is the Pentagon’s unwillingness to explain why, at the time of the killings, they claimed troops were “engaged in combat operations against a hostile force,” when the video clearly shows no action at all taken by the civilians in question, who are summarily mowed down by helicopter gunfire and never had a chance to react one way or another.
A retired US intelligence officer speaking about the video on MSNBC said that it appeared to show violations of the military’s rules of engagement and that the soldiers should have made some effort to capture any suspects instead of just killing them en masse. He described the period after the initial firing, in which the troops mull killing the wounded Reuters employee (who is eventually killed when the van is attacked) as particularly disturbing.
Though Wikileaks’ release was scheduled well in advance, the release comes at a particularly inopportune time, as the US military is still scrambling to explain away the killings of several civilians (including pregnant women) in an attack on an Afghanistan home. In that case as well, the military lied about a “firefight” which never happened, and even blamed the deaths of the pregnant women on insurgents that were never present at the site.
By Jason Ditz April 5, 2010
The website Wikileaks.org today publicly issued a classified US military video from July 12, 2007, showing Apache helicopters killing at least a dozen civilians, including two employees of Reuters. The video had previously been sought by Reuters in its own investigation of the killings, and an encrypted copy had reportedly been smuggled to the website, who finally decrypted and released it.
The video shows the soldiers in the helicopter watching the group of civilians walking casually down the street, and then declaring that one is holding a rocket-propelled grenade launcher (apparently the camera held by one of the Reuters employees). The helicopter then opens fire on the civilians, killing all but one, who is seen badly wounded as the crew discusses whether or not to kill him. When a van arrives and begins to cart off the wounded or dead bodies, the helicopter attacks it as well, killing several others and wounding two children. One of the voices on the video then glibly remarks that the injuries of the children are the fault of the van driver for “bringing their kids to the battle.”
US officials have confirmed the authenticity of the video but have largely declined comments on the question of why the troops so eagerly attacked the group, let alone attacked the people trying to rescue them. The State Department officially declined comment at today’s press conference, while the Pentagon maintains that the soldiers acted appropriately in the killings and no investigation would be held.
At least as troubling is the Pentagon’s unwillingness to explain why, at the time of the killings, they claimed troops were “engaged in combat operations against a hostile force,” when the video clearly shows no action at all taken by the civilians in question, who are summarily mowed down by helicopter gunfire and never had a chance to react one way or another.
A retired US intelligence officer speaking about the video on MSNBC said that it appeared to show violations of the military’s rules of engagement and that the soldiers should have made some effort to capture any suspects instead of just killing them en masse. He described the period after the initial firing, in which the troops mull killing the wounded Reuters employee (who is eventually killed when the van is attacked) as particularly disturbing.
Though Wikileaks’ release was scheduled well in advance, the release comes at a particularly inopportune time, as the US military is still scrambling to explain away the killings of several civilians (including pregnant women) in an attack on an Afghanistan home. In that case as well, the military lied about a “firefight” which never happened, and even blamed the deaths of the pregnant women on insurgents that were never present at the site.
That was some great footage.
Too bad the reporters got too chummy with the insurgents but if your gonna lie with dogs you're bound to catch some fleas. Or in this case 30MM rounds from an Apache.
Too bad the reporters got too chummy with the insurgents but if your gonna lie with dogs you're bound to catch some fleas. Or in this case 30MM rounds from an Apache.
I have gone over that footage a dozen times at least. I saw no rifles or weapons whatsoever. We have to remember that these "victims" were in their own country and had every right to be there. This was a cowardly attack on unarmed civillians. In any case they were no threat to the guys in the Apache.
Well you have to look again because the guys they were with did have them. They were carrying them. Look at the beginning when they were walking towards the corner of the building.
Cowardly attack...spare me please.
In summary: war is ugly, people die, sometimes the people who die aren't the ones who were 'intended' to die.
I can enhance or enlarge the pictures and one of the guys had a camera and there was certainly no RPG.
They certainly had weapons around 3:40 to 3:60 and a bit later at the corner of a building it could have been a camera with a telephoto lens...... but I doubt it
C'mon Juan... you mean to tell me at 3:41 you cannot see those guys with the AK-47's and that RPG. It's right there.
I am not talking about the photographers I am talking about the guys carrying the weapons by their sides at 3:41 on the clip. I enhanced it as well and it was even clearer.
People should realize, that soldiers in a war zone don't have the luxury of second guessing what they see......There is no rewind button when a bullet hits you.
Yep watched the vid...
At 3:41, two men on the curb carrying AK's, reporter playing peekaboo around a corner facing the helo. Camera looks a lot like an RPG.
Bad set up all around.
I said this at another site I watched this at...
This is a helo, in a hostile environment, surrounded by buildings hide literally hundreds if not thousands of potential life or death threats. The pilots and gunners have split seconds to translate, collate and analyze all data coming in.
You would think someone who has claimed to be an ex fighter pilot, would understand that.
But this is war, sh!t happens and guess what, it ain't pretty.
At 3:41, two men on the curb carrying AK's, reporter playing peekaboo around a corner facing the helo. Camera looks a lot like an RPG.
Bad set up all around.
I said this at another site I watched this at...
This is a helo, in a hostile environment, surrounded by buildings hide literally hundreds if not thousands of potential life or death threats. The pilots and gunners have split seconds to translate, collate and analyze all data coming in.
You would think someone who has claimed to be an ex fighter pilot, would understand that.
But this is war, sh!t happens and guess what, it ain't pretty.
Those were cowardly Americans hovering around looking for targets to shoot at.
Quite common tactics for US military. Little did they know it would be aired for the world to witness.
On a side note, don`t ya just luv it when American media (now on CNN) have no choice but report those cowardly acts by it`s `brave` troops?:lol:
Quite common tactics for US military. Little did they know it would be aired for the world to witness.
On a side note, don`t ya just luv it when American media (now on CNN) have no choice but report those cowardly acts by it`s `brave` troops?:lol:
The NET is full of these clips!
Looks like these guys were looking around the wrong corner.
PWNED! :lol: