WikiLeaks releases footage of US forces slaughtering civilians

Yes, I'm duplicating yet another RetroNews thread.

Sonic Retro's The Government said:

So yeah. For those who haven't been keeping up, WikiLeaks revealed last month that they had obtained and decrypted an airstrike video that the Pentagon really didn't want getting out. Something so bad that the folks working on the leak were being tailed and watched extensively by US and Icelandic intelligence forces. One person was even detained while their computer was seized.

Well, difficulties aside, today they finally released it.

http://collateralmurder.com/ (slow/spotty connection, probably being DDoSed or otherwise fucked with)

and here's the raw, unedited footage on youtube

The worst part? This isn't anything special. It's been going on for years now. There are probably thousands more of these videos. Yep, just another day at the office for our brave Troops. God Bless Them!

I could go into a big long rant about how this is all completely reprehensible and outrageous. I could write a fucking book about how everyone from the enlisted morons pulling the trigger to the generals to fucking Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and Obama and whoever else is responsible for creating and prolonging this mess should be tried for war crimes and imprisoned for life, but I shouldn't have to do any of that. It should be pretty obvious to anyone who isn't a worthless pro-American sack of shit why the wars and the military are disgusting. Hell, it should have been obvious long before now, but who knows - maybe some otherwise decent people were still laboring under the delusion that there was something noble or respectable about all this. Maybe watching this video will make them reconsider.

I think I'll just wait for the inevitable posts from said pro-American sacks of shit, apologizing for these soldiers and defending their actions, and tear them a new asshole, one by one. (and no, those weren't AKs or RPGs. They were cameras and tripods. There was no hostile activity. If they were taking fire prior to this video it wasn't from the people they massacred)

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What the hell indeed.

So first, you go onto brainwashing the people by editing their textbooks while they're still young, and now our troops are killing civilians for no logical reasoning?

Well.... what do you know? Avatar was right. The Army really is a bunch of hostile, inhumane, useless sacks of flesh except for those who are REASONABLE.

Consider me one against the government of the U.S.A.

Its time to move to Australia.

If this WASN'T the US, no one would give a shit. But of course, it was, so it's terrible.

The deaths were unfortunate, but what would you have done in that situation? Just sit there and watch as your targets, possible insurgents are helped out by people who could possibly be insurgents too? They were unaware of their innocence. All they saw was a vehicle stopping and attempting to help out their target. So they fired.

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Saw this youtube comment, and I couldn't agree more.
And I can see some Anti-USA coming this week.

On second thought, I would agree with Autosaver.

I wouldn't entirely condemn an organization as large and diverse in functions as the US federal government, just because there are a few bad apples within it that do regrettable things. If you wanted to be more precise (but still overly-generalizing, I think), you could get mad at the actions of the US military, or better yet the people who were directly responsible for this incident.

That said, I won't totally condemn the soldier who shot at these civilians or their commanding officers who allowed them to do so, because I think they were taking necessary actions to defend themselves from perceived danger (seriously, from so far away how can you be certain that weapons-shaped video equipment aren't lethal weapons? Or that the people who come by to recover bodies aren't reinforcements who are also carrying weapons inside of their van?). And that sometimes results in regrettable mistakes, like this.

That's no comfort to the families of the wounded and the dead, of course, but I feel that getting mad that the people who caused this accident won't change things for the better. If you want to ensure this won't happen again, advocate for different military rules of engagement*. Maybe, instead of allowing urban patrol helicopters to fire when there is reason to believe that allied soldiers are in danger, wait until suspected combatants actually attack and then open fire.

Of course, this compromises our interests in keeping US troops alive, while the current rules of engagement evidently compromises our interests in keeping civilians alive. When it comes to this sort of life-or-death situation somebody has to come up on the short end of the stick and this time it was innocent civilians. War is never a fair and pleasant thing, anyway.

I hope you all don't think I'm a monster after reading this. The whole thing, as I've said, was entirely regrettable. I just want to play devil's advocate here, because I (wrongly?) suspect everyone else will rush into this thread with visceral disgust, judging from the reactions on Retro's thread.

*Course, I could just be blowing smoke out my ass because I assumed what the rules of engagement were from watching the video. If anyone with such knowledge could back me up or knock me down, I'd appreciate it. Or if I'm inaccurate of any assumptions of this particular incident, don't hesitate to call me out.

Nomekop said:

Its time to move to Australia.

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Enjoy your internet censorship! Enjoy every single animal in the vicinity to try and murder you!

Autosaver said:

Saw this youtube comment, and I couldn't agree more.
And I can see some Anti-USA coming this week.

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What the shit? (At your quote) Of course the scandal is because of the USA, and I agee that people will always care more for USA war crimes. But still ignoring this footage just because it's from an ever vigilated state when it comes to fuck ups? Christ, what a load of fucktardism, it's still a tragedy, USA or not.

Seconding most of what wombatlord said.

Of course, this compromises our interests in keeping US troops alive, while the current rules of engagement evidently compromises our interests in keeping civilians alive.

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Also vice versa. US troops are held to an extremely high standard. The opponents in the middle east have no problem with strapping young children to their bodies and using them as human shields. Women will implant explosives into their breasts and detonate them in a public center. This is a very different enemy than doing battle with another country's military. I don't think it's fair that the enemy can do all of these reprehensible things yet we're not allowed to take them out. Plus, the things that the enemy does aren't as heavily publicized (can you say bias?). We've really turned into a pansy society.

So, I consider this video non-news. This has been occurring as old as people have existed.

I'll just leave this here.

Ritz said:

Sickening as it is, this whole scandal is quite literally nothing in comparison to everything else they've been doing in the Middle East. Take this, for instance; U.S. forces have been conducting surprise night raids in Afghan villages in search of wanted suspects, murdering and abducting civilians in the process. With absolutely no regard for due process, what prisoners they do take are then transferred to top secret compounds that even the Red Cross doesn't have access to where men, women and children alike are abused and tortured. Relatives of abductees are totally kept in the dark over this, and they aren't even informed of their status (or deaths) until long after the fact, if ever. It's quite possibly the most corporeal violation of human rights ever enacted by this country.

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This doesn't surprise me at all somehow..

The funny thing is that the video is flagged. So you have to be over 18 in order to watch it. I guess the government doesn't want any kids to realise what they do over at wherever.

Hey, I thought this was new. X_x

Is there any new news about this? Was this ever shown on the news?

Things like this are always unfortunate, but we need to put it in perspective. Mistakes are made, and this one was extremely tragic, but we really can't condemn the higher-ups in the U.S. government for this sort of thing. It could just as easily have been an isolated bad decision made by the pilots of the helicopters, in which case I would advocate for the pilots to be punished, but not the government.

Metal_yoshi said:

The funny thing is that the video is flagged. So you have to be over 18 in order to watch it. I guess the government doesn't want any kids to realise what they do over at wherever.

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No, it shows people killing other people, so it must be flagged, obviously.

So, this is what they're trying to stop(or so they say) and they're doing this themselves. Ignorance is at large.

ok, I don't want to be an idiot guy, but, anyone here have heard about the "illuminati" or the "New World Oder"?
All those things are being made by the Illuminati, they are divided into 13 famillies, and they have about 74% of the money in the world.

I don't want to write down a bunch of conspiracy theories, but I believe in then.
Go search on youtube this keywords: Illuminati, Mason, Rockfeller and Swine flu lie.
The USA have been killing those people because the illuminati need to reduce the world populace to 500 million people.Yes I know that what I'm saying isn't making any sense, but make some research in this matter and you will find the truth.

Ankoctoaragon said:

ok, I don't want to be an idiot guy, but, anyone here have heard about the "illuminati" or the "New World Oder"?
All those things are being made by the Illuminati, they are divided into 13 famillies, and they have about 74% of the money in the world.

I don't want to write down a bunch of conspiracy theories, but I believe in then.
Go search on youtube this keywords: Illuminati, Mason, Rockfeller and Swine flu lie.
The USA have been killing those people because the illuminati need to reduce the world populace to 500 million people.Yes I know that what I'm saying isn't making any sense, but make some research in this matter and you will find the truth.

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ahahahahaha what

Content: You brought up a 2 month old topic to bring up some crappy conspiracy theories that you're not even going to explain?

Because you can totally kill off over 80% of the world's population, you know?

And because a war in Iraq would be totally enough to kill those over 80%, really. Also, the swine flu isn't a lie, I had it myself.

And because a war in Iraq would be totally enough to kill those over 80%, really. Also, the swine flu isn't a lie, I had it myself.

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sorry, I wasn't clear in my post, the reason I said it is a lie, is because of all the "warning alert" of the media.
There is no reason to give "special attention" to it, since this flu is like any other flu.
What I was trying to say is:
the media is making a false alert.

tomorrow I will be back and I will explain all those theories because of Bobinator's appeal. =D