See for yourself how these soldiers murdered innocent civilians and damn well enjoyed it. This is only one video...I imagine this type of crap happens all the time and doesnt get reported as long as no journalists get shot. Someone tell me what the difference is between a suicide bomber and an american soldier other than the fact that the suicide bomber is a one shot deal. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_OkPDPEhhC4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_OkPDPEhhC4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
What is the point of starting the same thread over again? Around 3:41 if you look at the group behind the first group of men approaching the buildings the equipment the men have certainly could be mistaken for weapons. One of them has some type of object hanging from the shoulder and the other has a five foot solid rod that looks like a tripod or an RPG. Secondly around 4:07 one of the men can clearly be seen peaking around the corner of the wall with some type of object in his hands. At 4:19 it seems as if the man stands up right when the Apache loses its shot and seems to be aiming something in the direction of the Apache. Based on those three observations I would consider those men to be hostile. Also, what type of people stop their car on the side of the road and pickup injured people on a battlefield while having kids in the car? They are either terrorists themselves or completely stupid.
Im not going to watch the video. I don't need too. When your sorry ass is in a war zone surrounded by the scum of the earth, we can talk.
There is not a military force on the face of this earth that endeavors to limit harm to non-combatants than the US military and its western allies. There was a Minf element down the street that was taking fire, the Apaches were in support of the grunts, they were not just "seeking".......... Do you recall any Al Qaeda insurgents rushing wounded children from the Twin Towers to medical treatment ?
I agree that watching the video they definately looked like a threat, the guy peaking around a corner with a camera definately looks like he is peaking around the corner with an RPG. What is alarming to me though is deciding to mow down a vehicle coming in to pick up the wounded, and begging for the chance to take the shot. I think that people who end up in positions where they are a gunner in a helicopter, or flying a drone from a computer in the U.S. are desensitized to the actual human life involved in war. That said, the guy begging to be allowed to take the shot, and hoping the guy on the ground will pick up a weapon so he can kill him, is either a psychopath, or completely desensitized to taking a human life. I guess you would have to be to some extent. However the further we go into computers waging wars, and high end technology the easier it becomes to take someone else's life. I can guarantee you that if war was fought in old school ways where 1 million troops rush a trench and 90% die that guys would not be begging to take a shot so they can kill someone. The further removed people get from actually killing the person who is 10 feet in front of their face, the further removed their conscience seems to be from the fact that they are taking a human life. I understand that this is war and it is one life vs another, but what real threat did those people pose to them, even with an RPG they were probably so far out it wasnt even possible to hit them, if nothing else very unlikely. The way war is waged these days is very scary, especially when waging war with someone who is completely technologically deprived, I can honestly say that if i ever signed up to do this shit i would not be able to pull the trigger on a guy who posed no IMMEDIATE threat to me, and it is scary to think there are guys controlling these weapons against a totally inferior army begging for the chance to kill someone.
I agree with you that we as a country are doing our best to limit innocent casualties, but you can not argue that the guy in a helicopter BEGGING for a wounded person to pick up a gun so he can shoot him from many miles away has the same thought process. This guy was obviously a psychopath or else so far removed from the war (from a technological standpoint) that he just doesnt care. I realise this is war, and it aint pretty, but to think that the people controlling these weapons who are so far removed from ground level action are begging for a chance to kill someone makes me sick. I guess i am just disillusioned and it has to do with my own personal morals but i would never be able to pull the trigger from a robot/drone/helicopter, on someone i just saw walking who posed no threat to me. From what you say it could have been someone who posed a threat to other friendly soldiers on the ground, but i think i would still have a tough time killing someone from afar. I know that my opinion in this regard is mostly hypocritical as i have never been there, but I guess thats why i would never join the army, all i can do is hope that the good ones make it out of there alive, and are able to get over the atrocities of witnessing war first hand.
Seeing boot camp gives you a clue as to how someone can be transformed into being able to commit that.
I dont agree with you on much from a political standpoint, however i fully agree with you on this, and I am glad i have never been forced to go through this, as i do not know how i would live with myself at the end. My conscience has enough problems with the every day things i do which most people would consider wrong, let alone taking another persons life. I cant even fathom what PTSD would be like for most battle hardened soldiers.
The gunner is executing his training in the best way he knows how........it is kill or be killed. We would all handle such extreme stress in different ways. The ultimate responsibility is not with the grunts, they are doing what the have trained to do, and are ordered to do. The buck stops with the Commander in Chief. It is my personal opinion that Iraq was a war that did not need to happen.
Know who else you "fully agree" with; Noam Chomsky. The guy just is better informed than anybody on the motivations behind foreign policy. He cites international consensus, documents and history on it all and its objective w/o home team bias. Check out video on Z Magazine of his. Some Beck/Limbaugh educated goof is bound to disagree.