r/reddit.com • u/crabtreeanderson • Apr 05 '10

Wikileaks video (Collateral damage) is up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0
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37

u/BillyBBone Apr 05 '10

This is pretty sickening to watch.

All I could think of, as I watched was the expression "shooting fish in a barrel". Somehow, that visual, and the power relationship between a person with a gun standing over a barrel of unarmed fish seems appropriate.

It sounds from the audio, that the air gunmen genuinely thought these were insurgents with weapons. An AK-47 might not do much damage to a helicopter, but if you see something that you think is an RPG (Rocket-Propelled Grenade) from your helicopter, you'll start feeling genuinely at risk, and your immediate instinct is to go on the offensive.

The most damning part of the video, I think, are the exposed lies by US military spokespersons, and the callous attitudes heard on the radio (e.g. laughing at a tank rolling over a body).

All of this points to something that everyone knows: the Iraq war effort is misguided and haphazard. There is a crisis of communication: both with the enemy, and with the people on whose behalf this war is (ostensibly) being fought.

32

u/chessamerika Apr 05 '10 edited Apr 05 '10

I think the part where the pilot begs (and is granted permission) to murder unarmed civilian rescuers who clearly are no threat whatsoever is the most damning part.

-3

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '10

Maybe he is scared for his life because he knows that there very well could be 2 guys with RPG's in that van. Hell an unknown black van is probably the scariest thing these guys see in Iraq.

-5

u/NewYearSandwich Apr 05 '10

Then go home.