DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Wikileaks reveals video showing US air crew shooting down Iraqi civilians

**remstaling** · 05-04-2010, 09:21 PM

I saw that video earlier today and it's important to put things in their proper context.

1. The video was from 2007 during the height of the "surge". There were roaming gangs of insurgents everywhere and the group that was engaged squarely fit the profile.

2. The edit on the video does a nice job of pointing out the photographers camera but neglects to point out weapons held by the other group members.

3. The van that was shot up WAS NOT a marked emergency vehicle. Vans like this were used throughout Bahdad to transport weapons, IED's and enemy wounded. It was a perfectly legitimate target ESPECIALLY since occupants other than the ones assisting the wounded guy could also bee seen inside the van.

4. The van was engaged, among other reasons, because a bushmaster team was on their way to clear the area. The van could very easily have been hiding explosives for the purpose of ambushing the team.

5. The one thing that this video DEFINITELY shows is that combat doesn't always work out the same as it appears in the movies or on an X-box.

05-04-2010, 09:21 PM	#5
remstaling Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 442 Senior Member	I saw that video earlier today and it's important to put things in their proper context. 1. The video was from 2007 during the height of the "surge". There were roaming gangs of insurgents everywhere and the group that was engaged squarely fit the profile. 2. The edit on the video does a nice job of pointing out the photographers camera but neglects to point out weapons held by the other group members. 3. The van that was shot up WAS NOT a marked emergency vehicle. Vans like this were used throughout Bahdad to transport weapons, IED's and enemy wounded. It was a perfectly legitimate target ESPECIALLY since occupants other than the ones assisting the wounded guy could also bee seen inside the van. 4. The van was engaged, among other reasons, because a bushmaster team was on their way to clear the area. The van could very easily have been hiding explosives for the purpose of ambushing the team. 5. The one thing that this video DEFINITELY shows is that combat doesn't always work out the same as it appears in the movies or on an X-box.
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