From Manuel Sotil
Date: Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 11:13 PM
http://wikileaks.org/
The US military has refused to release this video, taken from an attack helicopter, despite repeated Freedom of Information Act requests by news organizations.
The video appears to have been leaked to Wikileaks (organization) by some unnamed insider. The US military avoids requests for comment by replying that they are not sure if this is an authentic video.
The video shows an American helicopter killing a group of Iraqi men in Baghdad. Only one of the man appears to be carrying a slung something (a weapon?).
The purpose of the gathering is not clear.
After the massacre, a civilian van approaches with the intention of picking up survivors for evacuation. The helicopter crew asks for "permission to engage".
All these requests to "engage" are made a granted in an off-hand manner, like if requesting permission to light a cigarette. There is always an element of exaggeration as to the intention and armament of the targets object of the request to engage.
The van, with two children clearly visible, and two men trying to carry one severely wounded survivor to the van is "engaged" and destroyed.
Then a Bradley tank is summoned to the area to either mop up or survey the effect of the engagement. It casually runs over a body, dead or living. This elicits a chuckle from the helicopter crew.
I regret that I cannot say "enjoy" this video. It is not for the weak of stomach / heart.
Manuel Sotil
--
__._,_.___
MARKETPLACE
.
__,_._,___
No comments:
Post a Comment