By Elmer Whittaker
Brought up by a online news article “Finally: hear Bradley Manning in his own voice” containing
recordings of ‘whistleblower” Bradley Mannings and the wikileaks “collateral Murder”
video I re-visited the infamous incident.
After re-watching the infamous video, I once again had to say to myself that what I saw in this helicopter camera video recording, was a genuine accident. There was absolutely no malicious intent for the killings on part of the helicopter pilots. I saw no war crime.
After re-watching the infamous video, I once again had to say to myself that what I saw in this helicopter camera video recording, was a genuine accident. There was absolutely no malicious intent for the killings on part of the helicopter pilots. I saw no war crime.
From the perspective of the helicopter pilots it really
might have looked like these people in the video were carrying weapons like
AK-47 and in at least one instance an RPG. And as far as the children in the
van are concerned, I could not identify them alone from looking at the video,
unless it was zoomed in and the fact was pointed out. A luxury from the
convenience of my living room that the helicopter pilots did not have.
It’s a war. It’s a war zone. Tragedies like this happen
in war. Every war. Wars are a tragedy.
But I wanted to do some more research on this particular
incident. So I came upon the “Collateral Murder” website and found a video of
an eyewitness o the aftermath of the incident, as reported by US Soldier Ethan
McCord:
In his presentation he reports that the incident in
question was related to a battle and firefight going on involving his squad and
another squad being under fire by small arms and RPG fire. I think I remember
hearing this before.
So, there is a reason or somehow an explanation why the
helicopter pilots might have thought the group of “civilians” were insurgents
and what they carrying were weapons.
But what I never heard before was Ethan McCord’s
statement that he saw an RPG and an AK-47 laying next to the 3 Iraqi dead
bodies (insurgents?) that he encountered when first entering the scene of
carnage.
Listen to it yourself. Minutes 7:00 – 7:45 in the video.
Maybe I’m just a confused individual, but finding an RPG
(!) and an AK-47 next to the dead bodies really does make those supposed “civilians”
Iraqi insurgents.
I’m not trying to make excuses for the criminal war in
Iraq nor am I trying to cover-up any war crimes committed by the US Government
and its military, but this incident simply was not a war crime and according to
Ethan McCord’s report it wasn’t even an accident, but a fully justified
military engagement according to the rules of engagement.
Let’s be fair to our troops.
