{"id":4622,"date":"2010-04-06T00:20:40","date_gmt":"2010-04-06T08:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=4622"},"modified":"2010-04-17T06:28:16","modified_gmt":"2010-04-17T14:28:16","slug":"collateral-murder-video-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/06\/collateral-murder-video-released\/","title":{"rendered":"“Collateral Murder” Video Released"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several major news outlets have reported on the “leaked” video<\/a> of what appears to be a US helicopter gun attack on civilians.\u00a0 News of the video has been distributed under the “collateral murder” moniker.\u00a0 Reportedly, a Reuters photographer and driver were killed, as were about a dozen others in a small group.\u00a0 A van subsequently comes to the scene and is also fired upon; in the van were two children who were wounded.<\/p>\n

While not exclusively a fighter pilot topic, the video does shed some light into an area not often discussed in the public eye.\u00a0 There are times when helicopter pilots, fighter pilots, bomber pilots, UAV operators, and even Army Soldiers on the ground must attempt to identify the enemy.\u00a0 Often, their friends are being attacked, and they are forced to make a rapid life-and-death decision with only the information they have in front of them.\u00a0 It is not an enviable position, but it is one many US military members face.<\/p>\n

While the video is slightly edited (with some potentially missing frames and audio), assuming all the events in the video and its description are factually correct<\/em>, the actions taken in the video appear to be consistent<\/span> with appropriate<\/span> conduct by US military members.<\/p>\n

The video is apparently from July 2007, a few months into the “surge” during which American forces were trying to “retake” Baghdad.\u00a0 The narrative, as well as video, are available on other sites.\u00a0 In short,\u00a0helicopter crews identified and fired upon what they believed were\u00a0threats to ground forces.<\/p>\n

To call this “murder” is an assault upon the character of Soldiers both in the choppers and on the ground.\u00a0 There is no doubt the helicopter crews sincerely believed the equipment they saw was weaponry [Update<\/span><\/strong>: Even the “leaking website” admits<\/a>\u00a0it was “likely” the men were carrying weapons.].\u00a0 There is a stressful moment when one man with a piece of equipment (previously identified on comm as an RPG), crouches and peeks around a corner in the direction of American forces–the tenor of the crews’ voices rise as they apparently fear an imminent attack on US forces.<\/p>\n

If the information is accurate, it is tragic civilians were killed in the battle area.\u00a0 But their death in the midst of a ground fight\u00a0does not make the US military “murderers.”\u00a0 The helicopter crews appeared to follow strict ROE: they identified what appeared to be weapons in the hands of military aged males, and they received ground force permission to engage.\u00a0 They did not<\/em> engage a survivor, even though they evidently planned to if<\/span><\/em> he picked up a weapon.\u00a0 If their goal had been to murder, the entire discussion over weapons would had to have been a preplanned charade; and their restraint over the wounded would have been contradictory.<\/p>\n

Despite claims to the contrary, it is not obvious there were children in the van.\u00a0 Even those experienced with these types of video–with foreknowledge there were allegedly children in the van–would be unable to see them.\u00a0 It is not unrealistic to view someone in a vehicle coming to the aid of the enemy–as friendly forces near–as a threat to those friendly forces.<\/p>\n

Finally, while some may find the “revelry” of the helicopter crews<\/a> distasteful or their attitudes “callous,”<\/a>\u00a0they are not uncommon in any branch of the military.\u00a0 (The F-15 pilots involved in the friendly-fire Blackhawk shootdown over Iraq in 1994 were similarly derided for their color commentary.)\u00a0 When a Soldier believes someone is going to kill\u00a0his friends,\u00a0he wants them dead; while potentially morbid, it would not be uncommon for him\u00a0to express disdain for his targets or “celebrate” his success in that endeavor.\u00a0 While few military members find joy in killing others, it would be a far rarer circumstance to hear gun camera footage of a Soldier crying or apologizing as he fired; simply put, such attitudes are\u00a0generally inconsistent with those who join the military\u00a0to begin with, nevermind those who place themselves in the position to use\u00a0overwhelming lethal force.\u00a0 Again, however much one disagrees with helicopter crews’ attitudes, they do not make otherwise justifiable actions\u00a0“murder” as a result.<\/p>\n

The primary site<\/a> upon which the video has been released is dyslexic in its characterization, first saying<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Later, it said:<\/p>\n

In this particular case, some of the people killed were journalists that were simply doing their jobs: putting their lives at risk in order to report on war.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It at once describes the killing as “indiscriminate” and also part of the natural risk of reporting on war.<\/p>\n

For those with any doubt, carrying large camera equipment easily mistaken for weaponry into a ground battle is indeed one way of “putting their lives at risk.”\u00a0 The risk is they will be mistaken for the enemy and fired upon.<\/p>\n

They were.<\/p>\n

That they chose to accept the risk does not make the US military “murderers” when their risk becomes reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several major news outlets have reported on the “leaked” video of what appears to be a US helicopter gun attack on civilians.\u00a0 News of the video has been distributed under the “collateral murder” moniker.\u00a0 Reportedly, a Reuters photographer and driver were killed, as were about a dozen others in a small group.\u00a0 A van subsequently comes to the scene and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[358,356,5285,110,52,2,357,53],"class_list":["post-4622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fighter-pilot","tag-bomber","tag-collateral-murder","tag-fighter-pilot","tag-helicopter","tag-iraq","tag-military","tag-reuters","tag-uav"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4622\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}