But like JT said, it just seemed like a day at the office to these pilots, it didn't mean anything to them, it was like sitting around with Xbox Live going. I'm not saying the pilots are stupid. I don't know these men. But I am going to say they're cold-hearted. What followed was absolutely inexcusable and anyone attempting to justify it would not be met by a serious answer from me.
Well, I think you need to understand the context under which this took place. This was in Baghdad in early 2007. Thousands of innocent civilians were being targeted and murdered during that winter/spring time period. Both the Iraqi military, police and US forces were working hard to try to stop this bloodshed. Killing and capturing insurgents was a major priority, but the more important task was protecting the population. Thats very difficult to do when the enemy dresses up like normal civilians and hides among the civilian population.
In this particular instance, the Apache pilots are trying to provide air surport to US troops on the ground who are taking fire. They are trying to identify insurgents and stop them before they fire an RPG or plant an IED in the road that could kill innocent civilians or US troops. You have to realize that while there is the risk of killing innocent civilians by taking a shot, innocent civilians and the soldiers they are supporting are also put at risk when they don't take a shot and insurgents escape and plant an IED or fire an RPG.
I don't see any evidence that anyone in the video is "cold-hearted". Your seeing a few minutes in the lives of soldiers that are deployed there for
15 months. Ultimately, its their collective actions during this time period that brought the violence in Iraq down and saved millions of peoples lives.
Innocent people are dead, and the killers are being lauded by some
The US military, especially those deployed to Iraq in the 2007-2008 time frame are responsible for dramatically reducing the violence in Iraq, restoring public services and governence to many parts of the country and bringing a level of stability where economic and political development can continue.
The US military's main objective is to protect the population. They don't want to hurt or kill innocent civilians because it makes their mission that much harder. It drives civilians towards the insurgency which the military is trying to destroy and seperate from the population.
Let's say a handful of the deceased were insurgents, which I personally think is rubbish, and the result should still difficult to swallow for any red, white and blue-blooded gawd blesh 'merica citizen.
Well, how would you be able to declare that the people you saw in the video were innocent civilians or insurgents? Your looking at a black and white video which just last a few minutes and only comes from one camera. You don't have the other information that the military has access too from troops on the ground up close or Iraqi spies or informents on the ground, as well as other camera's, listening devices etc.
The US troops in the operation on camera had no intention of killing innocent civilians. The same cannot be side for the insurgents they were fighting who would randomly take civilians, blind fold them, and shoot them in the back of the head, often just after they had tortured them. The US troops were trying to protect the civilians from these acts of violence by insurgents that were common in Baghdad in 2007.
