A video has been posted on Wikileaks (it shows people dying - best avoided if you're squeamish)
This video shows the gun camera footage from an Apache helicopter that fired on a group of Iraqis killing 2 journalists 3 years ago.
I've just watched the video - It's one of those surreal black and white movies that captures someones death on camera as soldiers calmly talk over their radios.
The video is causing uproar because two unarmed hacks were killed.
The Wikileaks report is laced with emotive comments and it is clear their intention is to portray the US pilots as murderers - the film itself is called Collateral Murder.
However, the soldiers request time and again permission to engage what they believe to be Insurgents (several of the group are clearly armed with AK47's - Wikileaks bizarrely state that although armed they were very calm)
War is a very nasty business. And all of those who die in it - be they friend or foe - deserve a better fate than ending up on YouTube scoring cheap points for anti-American propaganda.
I've been to war and several of my comrades were killed by an American in a blue-on-blue contact. I hold no ill feeling toward the pilot who killed them because I know, that just like me, he was frightened and wanted to go home alive.
The pilots in the Wikileaks video did exactly what they are trained and paid to do. War is hell.
I must agree with you. Those who haven't been in a war and the shear terror it can instill in you, Should shut the fuck up. I have been there and wouldn't want to go back.
ReplyDeleteI had the same thoughts while watching the abridged version on Channel4 News this evening.
ReplyDeleteAlso, while the reporters 'may' have had good cause to be going about their business, you have to wonder about their associates... none who appeared to be wearing any kind of uniforms.