|
|
|
|
|
|
by patrickk
5926 days ago
|
|
|
It seems extremely unlikey that the van occupants would fire on the chopper, do you think they would pull up and try to grab a wounded guy if they thought a chaingun was aimed at them? And who says they are grabbing weapons? All that that was visible was a guy pulling a wounded man off the street, who got turned into a human rag doll for his trouble. Do you think any sane person would intentionally go into a combat scenario with a little girl in the back of his vehicle? That unfortunate man was probably nothing more than a good Samaritan. Iraq does't exactly have a highly organised ambulance service. Also, the original group of Iraqis didn't notice the chopper at all, even though it was circling for a while. They surely would have had a potshot at it had they seen it, as they were supposedly all armed with AKs and RPGs. It's probably quite a distance from the target, with the camera zoomed in creating the illusion its a lot closer than it would appear. Notice the amount of time it takes for the rounds to strike the target. That's why I reckon the van pulled up, he thought the street was empty. |
|
|
All I was saying before was that gunners like this are used to facing insurgent tactics. When they see vans like this, they aren't looking to give them the benefit of the doubt. They have been trained that, if they do, they may be putting their lives and the mission at risk. This guy is probably scared out of his mind. He has a huge responsibility, and screwing up - as we've seen today - has enormous consequences.
To me, the laughing and joking isn't making light of slaughtering the enemy, it's nervous laughs and desperate attempts to bring everyone out of it. We're human, we don't deal with this shit well. The comments here are good proof of that.
None of this excuses slaughtering innocent unarmed civilians, it's just my attempt at bringing some perspective.