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Collateral Murder

KatNotKathy

KatNotKathy

Well-Known Member
I don't know if any of you have been following the wikileaks twitter feed recently, but there was a lot of chatter about releasing a video of US soldiers gunning down civilians and journalists. Welp, it got released.

Fair warning: I was thrown into a full-on panic attack after just watching a few seconds of video. It's not particularly gory or anything, but fair warning if you're sensitive to violence. Hell, parts are probably against the rules to show, but it's really gotta be seen.
[youtube]5rXPrfnU3G0[/youtube]

It's a good thing I have a counselor appointment in an hour, because this is ******* sick. They're like a couple of dumb teenagers playing xbox live, but with more killing innocent people.

Yeah, no real point here other than to say this is real ****** up and I kind of wish I hadn't watched it.
 
stiletto

stiletto

Naughty But Nice
I was not disturbed by the initial engagement because I assumed something led up to it. But then when they opened fire on the van (with the children in it) after it pulled up to try and help the one guy who was still alive, I nearly fell of my chair. And justifying the killing of these civilians and children with the comment "it's their fault for bringing their kids to a battle"... wow, that's REALLY ****** up.
 
MSizer

MSizer

MSizer
I can't watch it from work, but I think that's probably good. I can tell from the comments that it's pretty obvious whatever it was it was clearly brutal and uncalled for. I'm glad not to see it.
 
KatNotKathy

KatNotKathy

Well-Known Member
stiletto said:
I was not disturbed by the initial engagement because I assumed something led up to it.
Click to expand...
Something did lead up to it. They saw a reuters reporter and mistook his camera tripod for a rocket launcher somehow. Clearly the answer is to shoot the hell out of it while cracking jokes with your buddies :facepalm:

edit: Still agreein with ya though. The first act was horrible but could be justified if you assume our troops to be idiots, but the second was just overboard entirely.
 
dust1n

dust1n

Zindīq
Yup.. that was a ****** up video;

Makes sense wikileaks is going through **** in America. (I have been keeping up with their tweets.)

Maybe this is the vital information that the military's 23-page report is when it refers to 'information sensitive' intel.

9 years, now with more troops -- and the killing of our citizens. I imagine the first one is the hardest to deal with. We will be seeing these more often.

The crowd sits ideally by and says nothing.
 
Alceste

Alceste

Vagabond
I watched it. Infuriating. Makes me wish I believed in hell so I could be reassured that the entire US military will be going there to roast for all eternity.

My advice is if you already know that war is about armed men slaughtering vast numbers of civilians you don't need to watch this. It'll only give you nightmares.

If, on the other hand, you think war is actually about teams of armed men fighting one another for noble causes, you do need to watch this. It'll help rectify your ignorance.
 
McBell

McBell

Unbound
wow.
At the risk of being the target of it all....

Seems to me that there is far more drama in this thread than the video actually calls for.
 
Danmac

Danmac

Well-Known Member
These guys cannot even tell who the enemy is most of the time. When they think they see a gun pointed their way they must wait for an act of congress before they can shoot. btw. Where are all of the democrat protests against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Is it ok to be at war now since we have a democrat in office?
 
S

Sententia

Well-Known Member
Mestemia said:
wow.
At the risk of being the target of it all....

Seems to me that there is far more drama in this thread than the video actually calls for.
Click to expand...

Trained killers open fired on civilians and reporters and good Samaritans. (And children)

I think there is far too little drama...

Why do you think we shouldn't care?
 
kai

kai

ragamuffin
Any info to go with the footage? . was this going on in the middle of some kind of operation ? i mean what were Bradleys and Apaches doing in the area? and what were they gathering and photographing , i have a feeling something was going on and theses people got caught up in the middle of it. On the surface it looks like an unprovoked attack ( i did clearly see a weapon) but i want to know the context. All civilian deaths are a tragedy and this is no exception.
 
Alceste

Alceste

Vagabond
kai said:
Any info to go with the footage? . was this going on in the middle of some kind of operation ? i mean what were Bradleys and Apaches doing in the area? and what were they gathering and photographing , i have a feeling something was going on and theses people got caught up in the middle of it. On the surface it looks like an unprovoked attack ( i did clearly see a weapon) but i want to know the context. All civilian deaths are a tragedy and this is no exception.
Click to expand...

What you "clearly saw" was one guy with a camera slung over his shoulder and another guy with a tripod in his hand and about half a dozen unarmed guys mowed down. There were no guns. Maybe you should have another look?
 
Father Heathen

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
Danmac said:
These guys cannot even tell who the enemy is most of the time. When they think they see a gun pointed their way they must wait for an act of congress before they can shoot. btw. Where are all of the democrat protests against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Is it ok to be at war now since we have a democrat in office?
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware that anyone stopped protesting or changed their stancejust because of who became president. It's still as much as disastrous farce as it was 7 years ago.
 
kai

kai

ragamuffin
Alceste said:
What you "clearly saw" was one guy with a camera slung over his shoulder and another guy with a tripod in his hand and about half a dozen unarmed guys mowed down. There were no guns. Maybe you should have another look?
Click to expand...




ok i took another look the two cameras are clear enough about 2mins in two guys one with striped T shirt looks like weapons ? were there two tripods? that's why i asked for info? any weapons found on scene? and i still think their in the middle of something.


Late Monday, the United States Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, released the redacted report on the case, which provided some more detail.

The report showed pictures of what it said were machine guns and grenades found near the bodies of those killed. It also stated that the Reuters employees “made no effort to visibly display their status as press or media representatives and their familiar behavior with, and close proximity to, the armed insurgents and their furtive attempts to photograph the coalition ground forces made them appear as hostile combatants to the Apaches that engaged them.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/world/middleeast/06baghdad.html










I repeat that all civilian deaths are regrettable but i also think its wrong to post this without some info to go along with it, and i think Journalists are recklessy endangering their own lives and others for not wearing press vests.
 
dust1n

dust1n

Zindīq
Danmac said:
These guys cannot even tell who the enemy is most of the time. When they think they see a gun pointed their way they must wait for an act of congress before they can shoot. btw. Where are all of the democrat protests against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Is it ok to be at war now since we have a democrat in office?
Click to expand...


...the majority of people who speak out against the war still are.... I always have.

granted.. that looked nothing like a gun being pointed to them - you can't point an RPG in the air and walk at the same time neither.

I don't get it.. are you trying to defend this act? That killing civilians, even when they aren't the enemy is cool with you? At that distance, you can't tell anything about them. They obviously weren't doing harm.
 
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