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? asked in News & EventsCurrent Events · 1 decade ago

Why has there been no outcry?

Why have news outlets not called for justice in the case of the recent video release by wikileaks? The footage seemed to incriminate US aircrew who, without provocation, attacked and killed a crowd of civilians in Baghdad in July 2007?

http://wikileaks.org/

"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. For further information please visit the special project website www.collateralmurder.com."

Update:

@ consider this

Thanks for being reasonable in your answer. True, I have never been in combat. I am a pacifist. Only if my country was invaded would I take up arms.

I'll take your point that, to the insurgents, life is cheap. I just don't think lowering your own standards to meet them in the gutter achieves anything.

Opening fire on a group of people in the street without asking questions is murder. The Geneva convention stipulates against this kind of killing, even in a warzone.

Besides, if you watch the video and listen to the running commentary of the pilots, you soon learn that they were acting callously. They exaggerate their descriptions in order to get permission to open fire. At no point is any fire returned. All we hear is them laughing, taking pleasure in killing for the sake of it.

As for your contempt for journalists, I know a lot of them are as***les, but they can be very brave and heroic too.

None of this, however, answers the question asked. Anyone?

6 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    I'm curious about this too. Seems you can get away with daylight murder if you wear a uniform.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    I agree with the views of poster "consider". Also, I served in the military and have worked with US forces, some of them are exceptionally professional but there is a gung-ho element that surfaces every now and again, that small element causes bad publicity for all US forces. Unfortunately the US military usually closes ranks and tries to conceal it's mistakes to avoid further condemnation, hence the unavailability of the gun sight footage.

  • 1 decade ago

    Let me explain a few things, not that it will in all probability do any good.

    Now, in many combat situations today, our enemy does not wear a uniform, thereby making it very hard to determine if they are against us or for us.

    Many of the people in Iraq, much like in Vietnam, who were supposedly on your side during the day, were the same people who would shell you at night.

    Do you have any idea just how many kids were shoved out into the path of a military convoy, by their older family members, in order to get the convoy to slow or to stop, so that the armed family members could open fire with anything from automatic firearms to rockets? Trust me, those kids are very expendable to those we fight against.

    I hardly ever feel badly for reporters. Why? Because friends of mine have had to fight their way through places after the media gave away their locations, strength or so forth. Sort of hard to feel badly for those that seem intent upon helping your enemy.

    I realize that you probably have never had to fight for your life. But trust me, if you ever do, your view may change a bit.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    The guys were just doing their job....Nice job guys and keep up the good work.

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  • 1 decade ago

    You have obviously never been in combat

    You have no frame of reference

    You are wrong

    Nuff Said

  • 1 decade ago

    You trust any site with "wiki" in its name ?

    And anyway it`s gunSIGHT not gun-SITE a "site" is a location.

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