The website WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff.
Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.
This is the original footage with introductory remarks:
The military did not reveal how the Reuters staff were killed, and stated that they did not know how the children were injured.
After demands by Reuters, the incident was investigated and the U.S. military concluded that the actions of the soldiers were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own "Rules of Engagement".
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22 comments:
...the actions of the soldiers were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own "Rules of Engagement".
Sounds like "social justice" to me... and if you don't like the result,then maybe you should lobby for "actual" justice instead...
btw - You might want your readers/ viewers to know what had transpired in the moments immediately preceding the video offered....
Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, and the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, both operating in eastern Baghdad under the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, along with their Iraqi counterparts from the 1st Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Division National Police, were conducting a coordinated raid as part of a planned operation when they were attacked by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Coalition Forces returned fire and called in attack aviation reinforcement.
I guess that explains what the "Reuters cameramen" were doing amongst all those carrying AK-47s and RPGs... and all the "empty streets" preceeding the helicopter engagement.
At about eight minutes into the video you hear the helicopter pilots communicating with the troops on the ground, who tell the pilot when he's "directly overhead." They subsequently announce their intentions to "pop smoke" so as to identify thir precise location and avoid a "friendly fire" incident.
After taking out the van, the troops on the ground announce that the "firing has stopped", thereby allowing other troops to move into the area in Humvees.
the odd thing is, i kinda agree with you. what were the reporters doing with enemy combatants anyway?
its horrible that U.S forces are murdering the press, but it is to be expected if they want to be that deep in during war...
it just sux that this war is even going on: blood for oil
So, when do we get the oil? When the "pipeline" finally gets built across Afghanistan? lol!
btw - So how come we're withdrawing before the pipeline gets built/ commissioned?
because the americans have a new president! That's why. Should you get another Oil company CEO as the president you will see all them poor kids/soldiers going into Iran as well.
That, and you don't need troops in there if the contracts are already signed. Haliburton is getting everything they placed Cheney in the White House to go after.
And BTW, the U.S does have Iraqi Oil flowing into the country on a daliy basis...
And BTW, the U.S does have Iraqi Oil flowing into the country on a daliy basis...
It had that during the Saddam years, or don't you remember the Left's great "oil for food" scandal?
You lefties are perfectly willing to starve millions of imnnocent Iraqi's into kissing the U.N.'s butt (taking kickbacks and selling weapons to the dictator du jour the whole time), but far too cowardly to simply kill the s.o.b. and allow the children to fill their empty bellies.
Yes, America will always be there to buy Iraq's oil. But that's only becasue the Left won't let us stay home and simply drill our own.
U.S. Admits Role in February Killing of Afghan Women:
After initially denying involvement or any cover-up in the deaths of three Afghan women during a badly bungled American Special Operations assault in February, the American-led military command in Kabul admitted late on Sunday that its forces had, in fact, killed the women during the nighttime raid.
YOU: It had that during the Saddam years, or don't you remember the Left's great "oil for food" scandal?
ME: Indeed scandal. Who is this “Left” you keeping talking about he sounds like an awful jerk?
YOU: You lefties are perfectly willing to starve millions of imnnocent Iraqi's into kissing the U.N.'s butt (taking kickbacks and selling weapons to the dictator du jour the whole time), but far too cowardly to simply kill the s.o.b. and allow the children to fill their empty bellies.
ME: Lefties? Is this the coalition of communist vampire-lizards you keep obsessing on? Are these crazy Evil Doers lead by this Left person? You know you come off as a high-schooler applying these terms the way you do. Didn’t they teach you anything else in your republican school? Your Mythic Good vs. Evil schema seems to be causing you massive brain damage. I bet you still believe the world was created in 6 days 4500 years ago too… LMAOAY~
As to U.N sanctions, I think the (stupid) idea behind that was to force the Iraqi people to rise up against their dictator and have their own civil war to begin a process of moving towards democracy. But, as you point out, it only served to starve millions of Iraqis. It’s a ridiculous strategy in situations like that. The people had no means to overthrow the state. Yet another U.S foreign policy insanity.
YOU: Yes, America will always be there to buy Iraq's oil. But that's only becasue the Left won't let us stay home and simply drill our own.
ME: That pesky Left guy again! Why is he in control of where the corporations get to drill? Is he a God or Demi-God in your mythic pantheon? Does he have laser-beam vision?
Oil is yesterday’s news – yesterdays energy regime. You and your politicians are so behind other nations in the world.
The U.S doesn’t have anywhere near the ‘domestic reserves’ it needs to supply its gluttonous activities, so it attacks other countries to make sure the supply keeps flowing in. The U.S economy is a parasite of destruction and control.
That’s ok Yul, your grandchildren will the true judges of your amoral and antiquated views on all thing ecological and military…
don't forget about peak oil,
if it is true (and it is) then the U.S and people like yul will so far behind in creating ecologically sustainable technology that they will be left begging and borrowing from china and europe.
america will reap what it sows
Clearly, patriotism can cause severe blindness, not to mention liquefaction of the cerebrum.
1. As is clearly shown, the persons killed were firing on no one. I don't know where you see RPGs...oh yes, I forgot, that is the new Pentagon name for "camera." The new Pentagon name for "little girl" has now been changed to "armed terrorist" as well.
2. Social justice? Rules of engagement and armed conflict are now equated to removing poverty, discrimination and social inequality. I guess, in a genocidal sense, your guest is right...but also abundantly in need of therapy. I would recommend a maximum security prison...or any American city as an alternative.
3. Drilling for oil at home will do NOTHING to reduce U.S. dependency on foreign oil, only a small fraction of which comes from the Middle East anyway. What will not change is that whatever you take out of the ground in the U.S., will still be priced in line with world market prices. These oil nationalists believe they can have autarky while remaining inside the global market. No such luck. Think again.
4. There is no justification for killing one million Iraqis, and that "removing the s.o.b. Saddam" is the least justification of them all.
the American-led military command in Kabul admitted late on Sunday that its forces had, in fact, killed the women during the nighttime raid.
Ooops. I guess sh*t happens in war. Perhaps the Lefties at the UN shouldn't have okay'd the invasion... oh, but they all voted FOR it before they voted AGAINST it... I guess Saddam was getting behind in his "oil for weapons" kickbacks with U.N. officials and French Presidents and had to be taught a lesson.
Why is he in control of where the corporations get to drill? Is he a God or Demi-God in your mythic pantheon? Does he have laser-beam vision?
Nope. He simply donates a billion dollars to the U.N. and then orders his bought minions in the IPCC to fabricate evidence of climate change in $1 million dollar size "grants". Then he gets a former VP to make a fantastic movie scaring the rubes, and passes out a Nobel and an Oscar or two for establishing "street cred". In Venezuela, Hugo calls the tactic "officialismo." Nothing works better in a faux-democracy.
The U.S doesn’t have anywhere near the ‘domestic reserves’ it needs to supply its gluttonous activities.
lol! Then open up the continental shelf for exploration. What are you askeered of?
if it is true (and it is) then the U.S and people like yul will so far behind in creating ecologically sustainable technology that they will be left begging and borrowing from china and europe.
China burns more coal and France cracks more atoms then the US ever even dreams of... and they only build wind turbines for the suckers in Spain to buy...
1. - Units on the ground were taking fire. That's "why" the helo's were called in.
2. - Stalin used to implement "social justice" against "class enemies" like the "kulacks" too. He sent them to the gulags. It's the preferred means of "social control" in "advanced" socialist societies like China, Cambodia, N. Korea and the former USSR.
3. If so little American oil comes from the ME, what's the problem? Why does michael` think we need to abandon our allies in the ME and stop buying their oil?
4. Tell that to your Leftie one-worlder currency trading friends down at the U.N. So when does George Soros Open Society Institure get a seat in the Security Council, anyway? I mean, just how many astroturf building Greek left-wing organizations does a guy have to buy-off, anyway? Isn't MoveOn.org, the HuffPo and Daily Kos enough?
Max,
Great points, unfortunately my Troll doesn't get it. Morality escapes him - much too programmed, much too republican, much too personally invested in the capitalist systems to acknowledge the bigger picture, the human dimension.
If he were to "hear" your points, he would have to call into question all that he is. People rarely do that.
Thanks for reading...
What a bunch of dickheads you are! I cannot see your link but I did watch the video on www.democracynow.org...but I see that the kids getting injured totally eludes you and all you guys are focusing on is the OIL!!!! p-lease!
Scenes like this are actually taking place in Iraq everyday. We criticise terrorism and suicide bombings but incidents like these are sanctioned by the US government. The soldiers are treating it like "another day at the office" and are acting as though they are playing a video game. When they injure children they just ironically say "Serves them right for taking kids to war!" They laugh when the truck runs over a body...the tone is light. They are totally desensitized to human pain.
Why are the US people not taking to the streets like they did during Vietnam? Have they been desensitized also?
I TOTALLY agree with zeroanthropology.
Shame.
Shame?
Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Great points, unfortunately my Troll doesn't get it. Morality escapes him...
You mean that "Slave morality" escapes him...
Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals Essay #1
#10 - The slave revolt in morality begins when the ressentiment itself becomes creative and gives birth to values: the ressentiment of those beings who are prevented from a genuine reaction, that is, something active, and who compensate for that with a merely imaginary vengeance.* While all noble morality grows out of a triumphant affirmation of one’s own self, slave morality from the start says “No” to what is “outside,” “other,” to “a not itself.” And this “No” is its creative act. This transformation of the glance which confers value—this necessary projection towards what is outer instead of back onto itself—that is inherent in ressentiment. In order to arise, slave morality always requires first an opposing world, a world outside itself. Psychologically speaking, it needs external stimuli in order to act at all—its action is basically reaction. The reverse is the case with the noble method of valuing: it acts and grows spontaneously. It seeks its opposite only to affirm its own self even more thankfully, with even more rejoicing— its negative concept of “low,” “common,” “bad” is merely a pale contrasting image after the fact in relation to its positive basic concept, thoroughly intoxicated with life and passion, “We are noble, good, beautiful, and happy!” When the noble way of evaluating makes a mistake and abuses reality, this happens with reference to the sphere which it does not know well enough, indeed, the sphere it has strongly resisted learning the truth about: under certain circumstances it misjudges the sphere it despises, the sphere of the common man, of the low people. On the other hand, we should consider that even assuming that the feeling of contempt, of looking down, or of looking superior falsifies the image of the person despised, such distortions will fall short by a long way of the distortion with which the suppressed hatred, the vengeance of the powerless man, assaults his opponent—naturally, in effigy...
lol!
The Left only pretends to care about other people's right's when their leaders aren't doing the killing...
@Purple Cow
You are absolutely right. Shame on us.
Shame on us indeed, people are getting murdered every day, all over the place, and we can't find a way to stop it together...
Shame on us? lol!
Plato, "Republic"
When a democracy which is thirsting for freedom has evil cup-bearers presiding over the feast, and has drunk too deeply of the strong wine of freedom, then, unless her rulers are very amenable and give a plentiful draught, she calls them to account and punishes them, and says that they are cursed oligarchs.
Yes, he replied, a very common occurrence.
Yes, I said; and loyal citizens are insultingly termed by her slaves who hug their chains and men of naught; she would have subjects who are like rulers, and rulers who are like subjects: these are men after her own heart, whom she praises and honours both in private and public. Now, in such a State, can liberty have any limit?
Certainly not.
By degrees the anarchy finds a way into private houses, and ends by getting among the animals and infecting them.
How do you mean?
I mean that the father grows accustomed to descend to the level of his sons and to fear them, and the son is on a level with his father, he having no respect or reverence for either of his parents; and this is his freedom, and the metic (foreigner) is equal with the citizen and the citizen with the metic, and the stranger is quite as good as either.
Yes, he said, that is the way.
And these are not the only evils, I said—there are several lesser ones: In such a state of society the master fears and flatters his scholars, and the scholars despise their masters and tutors; young and old are all alike; and the young man is on a level with the old, and is ready to compete with him in word or deed; and old men condescend to the young and are full of pleasantry and gaiety; they are loth to be thought morose and authoritative, and therefore they adopt the manners of the young.
Quite true, he said.
The last extreme of popular liberty is when the slave bought with money, whether male or female, is just as free as his or her purchaser; nor must I forget to tell of the liberty and equality of the two sexes in relation to each other.
Why not, as Aeschylus says, utter the word which rises to our lips?
That is what I am doing, I replied; and I must add that no one who does not know would believe, how much greater is the liberty which the animals who are under the dominion of man have in a democracy than in any other State: for truly, the she-dogs, as the proverb says, are as good as their she-mistresses, and the horses and asses have a way of marching along with all the rights and dignities of freemen; and they will run at any body who comes in their way if he does not leave the road clear for them: and all things are just ready to burst with liberty.
When I take a country walk, he said, I often experience what you describe. You and I have dreamed the same thing.
And above all, I said, and as the result of all, see how sensitive the citizens become; they chafe impatiently at the least touch of authority, and at length, as you know, they cease to care even for the laws, written or unwritten; they will have no one over them.
Yes, he said, I know it too well.
Such, my friend, I said, is the fair and glorious beginning out of which springs tyranny.
Glorious indeed, he said.
Interestingly enough, I posted on this same issue on my blog and the handful US run-of-the-mill bloggers who follow my blog were unaware of this video's existence. In my country it would be a very newsworthy item. Infact it DID make the mainstream media news and we are more aware of it than you guys in the US are. Unbelievable!
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