Tragic, but I cannot see that the helicopters were incorrect in their actions, going by what they knew at the time.
I _knew_ what I was going to be seeing, having read a lot of comments before screwing up the courage to watch the video. And it was much more justified than I expected to see. I also identified the two camera men as having weapons, since they were standing in a group of men that had 3 assault rifles being carried out in the open. The cameras were slung over a shoulder, but the guns IN THE SAME GROUP were easy to identify. So, we have 3 men who clearly have guns, and 2 men with straps over their shoulders. Then one of the men crouches down hiding behind a building corner, and a 4" cylinder peeks out, then is aimed straight at the helicopter, and the man tracks the helicopter with the tube. I admit I would not have been thinking "oh, that must be a Reuters Cameraman taking a photo". RPG was what I was thinking, too. And I _knew_ what it was (and had the handy labels). I think if any cop in the nation saw those men with guns, and then the man peeking around the corner with what appeared to be a weapon, they too would have fired. I am sure it never occurred to the cameramen that they appeared hostile. I am sure it never occurred to the soldiers that there could be cameramen amongst the armed men. I feel very sorry for the kids. And also for the soldiers who discovered the kids. And for the ones who fired, now that they know what was going on with the kids in the van. I have a couple of questions I wish I could ask the cameramen. What story were they covering? Why were they with a group of men armed with assault weapons? Were they aware they were in a dangerous situation (above and beyond being in Baghdad) I have a couple of questions to ask the helicopter crew. Was that a known area of bad guys? Why were you looking at those men, and why were you patrolling in that area? Is it normal for 3 out of 10 men in the street to be armed? If so, how do you tell the good guy from the bad guy? I would assume that is it looking down the bore of the other guys gun that makes the difference clear. Other than that, I can only imagine the need for the soldiers to keep a mental distance from their work. To joke about it, and keep it light. And congratulate each other when they do it well. And how quickly they switched gears once they realized there were hurt kids on the ground. Again, tragic. And exactly the reason that we shouldnt be there unless we really have to be. On any patrol. Whenever you have heavily armed people in fear from heavily armed people, there is a whole lot of split second decisions, and the word "oops" doesnt quite cut it. But I cannot fault the soldiers. And it is hard to blame the dead guys. I don't quite know what can be done to prevent this in the future. But I hope something. I also cannot fault everyone with a copy of the film to not want it shown. I still wish I hadnt seen it. But lying about it would be wrong. But jumping on this as an example of "an illegal war", and showing that all soldiers are bad is just as wrong. Tragic. On Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 5:12 PM, Eric Roberts < [email protected]> wrote: > > yeah > > -----Original Message----- > From: Scott Stroz [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 3:59 PM > To: cf-community > Subject: Re: This is not good.... > > > I am speechless. > > On Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 4:12 PM, Zaphod Beeblebrox > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > I haven't had time to validate it's authenticity, but here's a video from > one of our gunships taking out iraqi's that were mistaken for > combatants...two of them were reporters for Reuters. > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:315090 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
