Re: Footage of an American massacre in Iraq 2007
Though unfortunate, and ultimately preventable with a more robust Rules of Engagement(ROE), i still did not see anything that could be considered indiscriminate killings as the sensationalists suggest, this is most likely a terrible mistake in judgment by the helicopter crew, but given the fog of war and combat operations in the surrounding area, its not unreasonable to say that a group of men gathering around a street corner would be viewed upon suspiciously, especially when insurgents on many many occasions have used street corners to set up ambushes.
Also, lets not forget this was in 2007, the height of the Iraq war, the year with the highest US causalities, so for one, we know the war was in full swing, and given the high causalities and number of combat operations, it's not unreasonable to say that US forces are likely to pick targets more liberally, also according to US ROE and the Geneva convention rules of war, they must give civilians prior warning before any combat operations in a civilian area, and since this is not questioned in any report, its safe to assume, that civilians in that area was warned well in advance before any combat took place. So given that information, the likelihood that a group of men could be insurgents vs civilians(who should know its unsafe) is rather blurred, and its not completely wrong for US forces to assume the worse.
Two, many have questioned if there was any combat in that area at all, and the US military was just targeting groups of people at random. I am puzzled as to how this could be the case, since Reuters themselves claim that the two journalists where there in that location because they heard reports of fighting in the area. Also the presence of US troops near by along with a Bradley light armored vehicle, plus a attack helicopter should also reinforce the face that, there was something going on in that area. Though there might not be fighting in the same street where the journalists were killed, but fighting did occur in the surrounding area, and men gathering in a combat zone have a high risk of being identified as enemy combatants.
Three, some say the attack was unprovoked, this is a ridiculous idea considering, when fighting wars, one does not give the enemy the liberty to attack first, you neutralize threats as soon as you find them. If you see insurgents with weapons, you take them out, you don't wait till they shoot at you, risk taking causalities and then shoot back. In this particular case, the Apache pilot, identified that the group of men were armed, one with a RPG. This might or might not be factual, since i have not seen any reports proving or disproving that they had weapons, but the reality is, who is a threat and who isn't is left to the judgment of the troops in the front, sometimes they are wrong and civilians get killed, but putting this in 2007 context where the war is at its height, its hard to blame the troops for assuming the worse.
Four, No one really broke any rules here, the whole thing is a mistake, and the rules might need to be revised, but no one is really wrong, not the journalists nor the troops, they were both doing their jobs, watching the video clearly shows that permission was asked on all occasions before engagement, so the pilots did not break any rules. They definitely screwed up, but when you factor in the fog of war and the whole context of the situation, screw ups are unavoidable.
I do believe that the US military should be more strict on target selection, but this a fine balancing act between safety of civilians vs safety of soldiers. Unfortunately, its the nature of war to be unsafe and unpredictable. These journalists are causalities of war, not indiscriminate murder.
