While we fully support international military action when it is necessary to defend the American people, the following video suggests US military personnel fired on unarmed civilians, an incident that was later covered up by superiors.
Should those involved be held accountable or is this a case of collateral damage and/or appropriate military action that was taken in line with rules of engagement?
Hat tip disinter
Update: The Other Side of the Story:
Reports are suggesting that the above video decrypted by WikiLeaks has been edited and/or misinterpreted. See the following related stories.
Via the JAWA Report:
Seriously, this whole thing didn’t even deserve a “debunking” story. The evidence that the US soldiers acted well within the rules of engagement and that Reuters stringers were embedded with enemy combatants is that overwhelming.
An alternate analysis of this video is available at:
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I understand how soldiers could do this….they have seen many of their friends blown up by IED’s. Maybe we should have not gone there in the first place?
Its clearly a fake. No pilot would fly like that. I think the pilot in this clip gave cover to the insurgents 6 times while leaving his ship open to fire from cover. Only in the movies!!!
“clearly a fake” ? Â so you’re saying this entire footage is created by CGI in a studio somewhere? Â What possible evidence do you have to back that up?
It’s really hard with these kind of visuals and so far away to see if foot mobiles carry weapons or something else.
I wonder if those Apaches were invisible to them hovering above them making all those helicopter noises. The foot mobiles sure seemed really unimpressed. They even didn’t bother to look up. Even if those Apache were about 1 or 2 miles away, you still hear them.
And something Arabs are doing all the time is bringing their children to shooting sites. You see that over and over again.
It doesn’t matter if this video is a fake or not, but even if it were, would that somehow invalidate the horror that is the US occupation of Iraq? Â Well over a million Iraqi civilians have died in the seven years since we invaded their country. Â Do their deaths make you feel any safer?
The bitter truth is that neither the invasion or occupation of Iraq was necessary to defend the American people. Â Anyone who still believes that that was our reason for toppling Hussein’s regime is dangerously naive.
Comments….. ANyone know the altitude of the choppers?Â
It seems a lot of you want this to be real. Based on the height of the people, the walls and the angle of attack, the chopper would have had to be low and close. But it really doesn’t matter how I know, it seems some of you want to hate America and our troops. If this was real MSLSD would be playing it wall to wall nonstop. Sleep well, our troops are protecting you and your rights.
“Patriot” One,
How exactly does the subjugation of Iraq protect “you and your rights”?  I’m very interesting in learning just how you arrived at such an outlandish conclusion.  Know this: slaughtering countless innocents isn’t a productive way of ensuring anyone’s safety.  There is absolutely no justification for what we’ve done to those people.  Period.
I don’t know what’s worse: that you actually believe we invaded Iraq to defend our “freedom”, that you equate dissent from your amoral beliefs with a hatred of America and its military, or that you sleep better at night knowing the world has a million fewer Muslims (no doubt known as ragheads in your neck of the woods).
By all means, keep hiding behind patriotism; just know it’s clear that that isn’t what truly motivates you. Â No, you’re driven by fear and a disturbingly deep-seated hatred for your fellow man. Â I pity you.
Axel. well said.. it is amazing that we can’t figure out why they fly planes into buildings and why they hate us. I love my country but ashamed at what we sometimes do. The $2 trillion this mistake cost us could have given free health care to everyone for 10 years. How about that?
Comments…..Thank you men and women of the armed forces for destroying the savage Nazis, and for protecting us against the savage muslims who have been trying to destroy America since the “shores of Tripoli” in 1801. Sad how Americans forget and stand up for the barbaric hate filled racist savage Muslim cult of the moon god.
Now we can understand why the Iraqi’s burned and hung the Blackwater creeps from that bridge
I agree with Axel, we don’t need to be there.  It’s a waste of money that could be better spent.  Maybe not by the dumb shi&s in Washington, but that’s beside the point. Or is it the point?  I would sure like to keep some of it in my pockets.    Get rid of the bullshit in Washington!!!!!
they werent hovering above them, didnt you notice the zoom levels on the guncam? did you also not notice the time it took for the bullets to reach the men? and how far the cross hair was from where the bullets were striking? how about the fact that almost none of them paid any attention to the chopper? you can see the camera shake and heat corrupting the video when it shot…. also the men didnt move because the bullets arrived before they heard the shots…but thats probably from high velocity, faster than speed of sound rounds…
“While we fully support international military action when it is necessary to defend the American people”
and whens the last time the american people needed defending from a foreign attack ON US SOIL???
what was that in the constitution of maintaining a standing army, because of the peoples propensity to find a use for it???
anything other than defense is an offense, and an ASSAULT.
the whole iraq situation is fubar from the start….but when did it start? when the cia helped sadaam to power? when the brits carved up persia?
the rules of engagement were NOT followed…
the military personnel acted with total desensitized, arrogant, reckless disregard for human and civilian life, wishing, hoping and manipulating the video images into weapons and terrorists that werent there and were not a threat to the chopper, just because a man has a gun, doesnt make them an insurgent or a terrorist……
brainwashing…..
but read the testimony of other troops stating they would bring shovels and weapons with them, and if they killed a civilian they would throw the shovel or weapon next to them, creating a terrorist to them, after the fact…
FUBAR…
absolutely f*cking disgusting…
Thanks for your comment Socialist American (no sarcasm).
It’s not like the targets were all shot at the same time. It’s technically impossible by one gun. (Though Nazis did some tests on Jews in their concentration camp).
Of course the round’s faster than the speed of sound. But the sound of the chopper was there all along. And choppers are loud. At least from a 2 mile distance you can hear them, especially when there are no cars and no other people on the street.
As far as I know, Cobras have a fire range of about 9 miles. Did you notice the angle and speed of the Cobras flying around the corners of the buildings? Imagine how long it would have taken from just a 2 mile radius to get your target into your visual.
And, one Conbra usually doesn’t come alone. So they were 2 at least. Meaning, making even more noise to get recognized.
Philosophy aside. American forces are sworn to the Constitution and to fight for the American Way of Life. You can read it in every field manual.
Saddam Hussein and the Iraq’s forces were sponsored by the US Government to fight against Iran, and the Taliban were sponsored by the USA to fight against the Russians.
And guess what happens when you fuck your sponsor? Your sponsor fucks you! And sponsors can do so, because sponsors tend to be (finacially) stronger than their godchildren.
I noticed a few dumb ass civilians think cave men flew the most sophisticated aircraft with zero training into 4 of the most protected building’s on Earth, and you wonder why America is doomed? Because you let Evil shit like Bush/Cheney/Obama/Clinton etc etc lye to you and you just suck their ball sacks.
  The Fucing US Government Orchestrated 9/11 Stupid Asss Holes!! Vietnam, WW2, Korea etc, all by plan!! The US Government Doesn’t Give a Rat’s Ass About You Or Anyone Else.. Wake The Fuck Up!!
 Oh Yes, Fuck The US Troops!!! I was one,!! they are all ass holes for the most part playing Heavy metal and rap music while killing children and innocent people, maybe they should bomb the fuck out of America and kill your mom ass hole’s!!!
 9/11 “INSIDE FUCKING JOB”!!! Do You Actually Study Your Computer politics or just jerk off??.. EVERY SOLDIER KNOW’S THIS what i say here.!!!!!!
 I shed my blood TWICE for what??? Nothing!! The USA?? NO!! OIL AND NATURAL RESOURCES,!! Or America Collapses!! HELLO??? Is everyone really this fucking stupid?? We Are Fucked. America will be Nuked by 2011, Remember this little letter when it happens!! every soldier know’s this is coming too, Obama the Faggot Non US citizen half NIGER just sent 400 Bunker Busters to an Island right off of the coast of Iran.
  I hope Russia put’s a Nuke in your fuccn back yard ass holes, this is all that war is about, selfishness and greed and EVIL>>> If you relish in the deaths of Iranian’s or Iraqi’s etc? Your a fucn sick Hitler Satanic Evil Bitch, maybe you need to see and smell DEATH!! ASS HOLE!!!
 Oh, Do not reply, FUCK OFF!!
I saw the rifles. Fuck em all after that.