Footage from American Apache in Iraq

[Omicron]

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

What do you think.


:edit: This may not be suitable for youngsters, there are poor quality images of the helicopter's cannon fire hitting a crowd of unarmed men and children.

[Omicron]

Well! Look at this, there may have been weapons after all, at least one AK and what looks like an RPG.

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/201889.php

[vinylrake]

I think the problem is that without context the video is all but meaningless, as is the followup clip showing weapons. They are both being used as propoganda to justify people's beliefs about the war.

e.g. Is the problem people have with the video of the shooting that we aren't supposed to condone shooting people who are unarmed? That's ridiculous, we have unmanned drones cruising around looking for 'high value' targets and will attack them with a missle if we see them doing completely innocuous non-weapon-related tasks like driving their car down the road or sitting on a park bench. This isn't a polite war, we kill enemies whenever and wherever we find them (with probably a few exceptional circumstances - I doubt we would order a missle strike on someone attending a religious service)

So since the moral outrage can't be just over the perception that we shot people who had no weapons, then what is the outrage about?

Similarly what does the photo clips of the victims holding rifles tell us relevant to the story? Is their possession of weapons supposed to be the 'get out of jail free' card that makes the shootings 'ok' (i.e. 'justified')? If so, that's just silly too. Lots of people carry weapons in IRAQ, it is a war zone. You couldn't reasonably try to argue that anyone holding a weapon is a legitimate target for US troops to kill. So, what then does the existence of weapons say about the situation?

I just don't get the thinking behind either the initial outrage or the later response absolving the soldiers of any blame because the victims were perceived to be in possession of guns. There's just not enough information in either the video or the clips to make the basis for a meaningful analysis of the events.