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Leaked Video Shows the True Horrors of a Brutal Occupation

Posted 25 months ago|23 comments|1,105 views
VIDEOS
Written by
ActiveInChange
Lafayette, LA
What happened to Honor? What happened to Intrepidness? This is the opposite! This is the brutal reality of a one-sided occupation of a third world country. This video, released today, shows US helicopter gunmen mowing down non-threatening civilians and reporters including children in a van that stopped to pick up dead bodies. Then, to add insult to death, the children are not even medivaced, they are given to the Iraqi police. I vaguely remember the rules of engagement from when I was the Marine Corps a decade ago, but I know that this was enough to completely violate them. The soldiers in the helecopter said the men on the ground were firing AK-47s and had RPGs but it is clear on the video that none were aiming nor firing anything. If this were on the nightly news you bet your **** the war would be over tomorrow. This video is disturbing to say the least but should be viewed in its entirety.

Over 869,000 Iraqi and Afghan civilians, including women and children, have been collaterally murdered since 2001 by coalition forces. Nearly twice that have been left limbless, crippled, burnt, blind, and brain damaged. What number must we reach before we can declare this a victory?

In 2009, 700 innocent civilians including women and children were murdered by US forces in Pakistan by drone attacks alone, and we are not even at war with them! It's Our Freedom they hate right? They are definitely fine with watching their sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, cousins and the like being systematically vaporized by "Democracy."

Any coward in a county of blood hungry sheep can support a slaughter thousands of miles from their home, but it takes true fortitude and courage to stand in opposition to such well armed ignorance.

-savoy
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Colorado
Colorado
Westcliffe, CO
25 months ago: Well put.
25 months ago: Close to 1,000,000 innocent women and children murdered by our soldiers.

Yea right.

Just because you're a Marine, does that mean your word is the Gospel?

You guys are either fools or clairvoyant.

You have as much credibility as Chris does.
ActiveInChange
ActiveInChange
Lafayette, LA
25 months ago: RSG you can click on the links that I posted that IN the article in which I cite the research that backs up my statements of the 860,000 dead civilians and nearly double that severely wounded.

You said I have forgotten 9/11. For starters, if you take the official story as the truth (which 6 of the 10 actual 9/11 commissioners did not) NONE of the HIJACKERS were from IRAQ nor Afghanistan. They were mostly from Saudi Arabia. IT is PROVEN that the UN and the USA were lying when they invaded Iraq under the pretense of the WMDs. The CIA has already been caught, declassified, paying off top Afghan officials directly linked to the HUGE heroin trade in Afghan.

They are shooting as US because we are shooting at THEM! If China was shooting drone missiles into your family's backyard, how Pissed off would you be? These wars help NO ONE but the Global Industrial War Complex. They are bankrupting our country both monetarily and morally. Our sons and daughters are dying over there. The suicide rate in the US military is 1/3 that of the entire NATION because of this sustained length of this occupation.

Fake conservatives like yourself preach fiscal responsibility, but if it is associated with the BILLIONS a day debt that we acquire maintaining our presence over seas, then that is just fine to forever in debt our children right?

I suppose you think the PATRIOT Act and government listening to your phone calls to "keep you safe" is a good thing too.

Freedom ain't free, it is warrantless wiretaps, violation of posse comitatus, NSA spying on its own citizens, illegal prisons, torturing children, dead civilians, and martial law........
25 months ago: Active.

Yea, and cow farts are killing Orca the killer whale too.

That's jibberish. I'm sorry.
25 months ago: I'm sorry Active, but I'll say it over and over again and you will not listen. The true facts don't fit into your structured, false world.

So what where the 911 terrorists were from. You're missing the point. Try to consider what Bush did was brilliant. He picked a place, THAT THE WHOLE WORLD AGREED NEEDED TO BE INVADED, and picked a place that ALL THE TERRORISTS WOULD COME STAND IN FRONT OF OUR SOLDIERS TO BE SHOT AND KILLED. The scumbag terrorists came to us there in Iraq. They were sitting ducks.

Plus, it beats them coming back to attack us here again too. Or didn't you notice that there was NO MORE TERRORIST ATTACKS after 911. Bush saved your hindquarters.

What in the hockey sticks is the "Global Industrial War Complex"? Does that include the paint ball club down the street?

Whether I'm "fake" or not, I think Obama, Reid, Pelosi, etc. all suck. Honestly. I'm not making that up.

I have no problem with our military guys easdropping on scumbag terrorists calling home to their cave overseas. None at all.

Toward the end of your last paragraph, you lost me.
25 months ago: "He picked a place, THAT THE WHOLE WORLD AGREED NEEDED TO BE INVADED". Do you remember any protests? RSG, you weren't really following the news at the time, were you? Actually, the vast majority of countries and the vast majority of citizens in those countries were against the war.

Incidentally, as Wikipedia records
The use of force by a state is prohibited by Article 2 (4) of the UN Charter. The only exceptions are with Security Council authorization under Chapter VII, which was not obtained, or in self-defence against an armed attack by another state under Article 51; Iraq never attacked either state.

On September 16, 2004 Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, said of the invasion, "I have indicated it was not in conformity with the UN charter. From our point of view, from the charter point of view, it was illegal."

Furthermore, before the invasion even the then UK Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, advised that the war would likely be illegal for several reasons including the lack of a Security Council resolution. He later changed his mind when it appeared that the invasion would take place regardless of the legal situation.

Even prominent supporters of the war have accepted that it was illegal. Richard Perle, a hawkish member of the Pentagon has stated that "international law ... would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone."

I think you will also find that the vast majority of insurgents in Iraq are people who have lived there and grown up there since before the USA was at war with it, when Iraq was very secular, self-supporting, and Good Friends with the USA.

If any country invaded the USA, you could bet there would be a lot of new terrorists to come and stand in front of the occupiers trying to bring order, too. Oh, what a brilliant plan, an endless supply of "terrorists", standing up, ready to be shot.

Since what you think is President Bushes plan has been so succesful, maybe some more countries could be invaded, if you think the Army has enough tax dollars and soldiers to spare in that sort of thing.
25 months ago: I read that the cost of the war to February 2010 has been $700 billion US tax dollars. That's $700,000,000,000. There are only about 30 million Iraqis.

So, it has only cost about $20,000 for every man, woman and child in that country to achieve Mr Bush's vision. That's what I call a stimulus package.

They probably would have prefered a gift voucher. Oh, well.
25 months ago: You are rewriting history, and under any circumstances, screw the UN.
25 months ago: uuhhhh...huh...

That's less than Obama is spending now....
25 months ago: AIC, I don't take offense at your message, but I do at the words you use to describe our troops. As a former Marine, you should be well acquainted with the Chain of Command. If not, then you weren't much of a Marine. Our troops are following their orders, if the orders are faulty that does not make the troops wrong in their attention to detail in carrying them out nor does it make them murderers, rapist, terrorist or any of the other names you may chose to call them. Were the orders unlawful? Probably not. Were they in error, maybe. The video is not all inclusive. It does not show the time before they began aggressive action.

From my viewpoint of having watched the video online and not in a setting where I can frame by frame analyze it, I would say that there were weapons and other objects that appeared to be weapons and at least one of them was aimed at the helo, albeit only for an instant before the bird moved out of LOS. Was it an RPG? Was it a camera with very large lens? I don't know, but I do know that one bullet will bring down a helo of any size. An RPG will bring it down without even actually hitting it. Even it the bird has a controlled crash, the fate of the crew is still uncertain because the locals are not known to be friendly. Sometimes they even like to drag dead US soldiers through the streets for fun.

Had these "civilians" just planted an IED that your fellow service men were blown up by, you would be cheering their being "mowed" down along with their families and friends and anyone else who supported them while being an aggressor.

YOU nor I know the story behind this group of people, maybe you should get it for us all so that you will have some justification for your negativity.
ActiveInChange
ActiveInChange
Lafayette, LA
25 months ago: Sixholdens, they were requesting permission to engage. The ones that had their finger on their own trigger were the ones that were asking their OICs permission to engage. They were not ordered to engage. They could clearly see that the men in the van helping out the wounded man were ZERO threat. Especially to them in a black hawk or CH43 hovering a mile above. They have dishonored their oaths and the service they represent.

R.A.M.P. from my old handbook (aka green monster) in basic:

R.eturn fire with aimed fire. Return force with force. You always have the right to repel hostile acts with necessary force.

A.nticipate attack. Use force first if, but only if, you see clear indicators of hostile intent.

M.easure the amount of force that you use, if time and circumstances permit. Use only the amount of force necessary to protect lives and accomplish the mission.

P.rotect with deadly force only human life, and property designated by your commander. Stop short of deadly force when protecting other property.

Every single one of these was violated.

I would never cheer any death SH and reporters for Reuters and or children are not usually the ones planting IEDs. I can tell you this though, if China invaded the Gulf of Mexico and came into MY hometown and started killing MY relatives, I would be the first one employing IEDs against enemy invaders.

From a two time, that's right two time, Medal of Honor winner, Maj Gen Smedley Butler USMC,

"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.....I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service"

The only thing I have is justification of my negativity towards an illegal and brutal war.
ActiveInChange
ActiveInChange
Lafayette, LA
25 months ago: There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.
25 months ago: AIC, rules of engagement in Iraq require that the troops in the field get permission to fire on suspected armed insurgents (or whatever term you want to use) unless they are being actively fired upon. Only a fool would wait until a weapon he can see is fired at him before asking for permission to fire at the person holding said weapon. In the video, I can see two rifles, probably AK-47's, one is held by the guy in the horizontal striped shirt, the other by the guy he was walking with toward the corner where they died. Due to the conflict in Iraq, Iraqi citizens are not allowed to wander around with weapons unless they wish to be fired upon. PERIOD. These people were not in uniform and they had weapons. What do you expect our troops to do? 99.9999% of the time if they see someone in Iraq with a weapon and that person is not in uniform of the US or Iraqi army or another known force, that person does not have good intent upon their mind. I'd shoot them too.

Many times there have been needless US forces deaths because the permission to fire was delayed while some bozo back at nice, safe HQ wanted more confirmation that there were hostiles out there doing something.

Yes these people did not "appear" to be up to anything at that time, do you know what was going on in the area before this incident? Why were the reporters there? What drew a COMBAT photographer to this spot? Could he have been trying to get another "live action" photo or video for his bosses to run on the six o'clock news?

It is terrible that he (and others) died in this manner, it is even worse that the children were injured when they have no control of where they were taken and if aid is all that the van driver was wishing to render, it is horrible that he and his family were injured/killed. What you fail to comprehend is that those in the helo did is their job, a job they do that is very, very dangerous even when people on the ground aren't shooting at them.
25 months ago: AIC, do know why they were stopping ANYONE from removing anything from the site? They have been (they being the US military) criticized by people like you so many times and for so long that they have to protect themselves by preserving the battle site until the pictures can be taken. Remember them telling the ground troops to get the pictures in the video? It wasn't just so they would have gory photos to send home, they are protecting their butts from people who cry murder every time an innocent APPEARS to get killed during a firefght.

Was there a coverup? No. Was there a delay in letting the world see this video? maybe, what about all the thousands of hours of video they have on file that we haven't seen? Are they covering that up also or is that there is no controversy about the other thousands of deaths because it is apparent those people were doing something they shouldn't have been doing in a war zone.

You are barking up the wrong tree, or at least the cat ain't up this one.

Don't carry a weapon in Iraq unless you are part of the forces tasked with the job of carrying weapons. Do and you die.
scotmanster
scotmanster
25 months ago: @AIC

There were two helicopters involved in the mission I would not be spouting out your derriere this is murder. I would like to see the video of the second helicopter that said they were under fire.
scotmanster
scotmanster
25 months ago: What you fail to tell the reader AIC is how the insurgents were using women and children as shields throughout the whole Iraq war. We were forced to fight them on the terms they laid out. If they hide within a city then we are forced to go into a civilian city and kill the insurgents. The insurgents chose to fight like this so they could prolong the war. Long over are the days were an army fights against an army. From here on out it will be gorilla warfare. That is what terrorism is all about.
25 months ago: Come on Scott.

That does not fit the template....so they will choose it is not true.
scotmanster
scotmanster
25 months ago: I agree RSG people simply don't get it, their mental state makes them see what they want to see. Not saying they are stupid but I am saying 99.999% of the time people will not even consider all the aspects. They pick and choose which ideals best fits their argument.
ActiveInChange
ActiveInChange
Lafayette, LA
25 months ago: I get it Scot and RSG unfortunately both of you do not. IF you really think that people attack this country or our military over there because they hate our freedom, you have your head in the sand. Our foreign policy for the last 50 years has been terrorism in the middle east. It started in 1953 in Iran, the CIA overthrows the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh in a military coup, after he threatened to nationalize British oil. The CIA replaces him with a dictator, the Shah of Iran, whose secret police, SAVAK, is as brutal as the Gestapo.

We have been having our way with those people and their natural resources for a long time. Another example is Saddam Hussein, the CIA built up Hussein's forces with sophisticated arms, intelligence, training and financial backing. This cemented Hussein's power at home, allowing him to crush the many internal rebellions that erupted from time to time, sometimes with poison gas.

If you think accidentally shooting drone missiles into neighborhoods and killing 90 children at a time is the price of freedom and keeps the US safe, then you all have some serious issues to get over. If anything the occupation of the two countries breeds more hate for the US. All this "collateral damage" begins to add up. Eventually every single person in both countries has a relative that has been killed by coalition forces. This stops nothing.

If you think sending our brothers and sisters over there to be blown to bits is this countries duty to keep you safe then you better go read some history. Our founders knew the dangers of a central bank funded war for profit and put checks in the Constitution and unfortunately fake conservatives or "neocons" like RSG and Scot, only refer to the constitution when trying to bash liberals, never realizing that the over 700 bases in 129 countries world wide is directly against everything the Constitution stands for.
25 months ago: I cannot argue with you that the US made a fatal mistake starting in WWI in becoming the world's policeman. That was a bad mistake.

I also cannot argue with you that I may be a few bricks shy of a load. Alas.

But your comments suggesting we deliberately killed 90 children and that the United States of America is evil suggest you are nuttier than I am. Sorry.
ActiveInChange
ActiveInChange
Lafayette, LA
25 months ago: I do not pick and choose ideals to fit my argument because my argument is common sense, and anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that all the reasons we started this conflict for in the beginning have been proven wrong, and there never will be a victory declared or a withdraw. The people whose interests this war is serving do not want it to end. As long as people like you blindly support it because your talking head pundit's rhetoric has propagandized you to, it will never end and senseless slayings of innocent people will continue and our grandchildren's grandchildren will be paying through the teeth for it, forever indebted to the central bank.
25 months ago: The only "ideal" of yours I can pick up on is that you hate the United States of America. Just like Obama.

So, shame on both of you.

And what "talking head pundit's" are you talking about. I don't have time to listen to anybody else but those other voices in my head....................
ActiveInChange
ActiveInChange
Lafayette, LA
25 months ago: You have me wrong RSG, it says in my profile that I love this country and the constitution and would DIE DEFENDING them both. I never once said I hate the USA nor did I call anyone "evil" That being said there are individuals that give us too many blackeyes to count. There are countless acts of depravity by our men and women in uniform. There are rapes, child killings, accidental village bombings in which 90 are killed, you name it, and this would NOT be the case had we not had this super hero fantasy burned into people's heads that the US are the police of the world, when in all actuality our brothers and sisters and children alike are being used for the benefit of special interests who are making billions off of the blood of Americans and Arabs alike.

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