This is what the war looks like « Overland literary journal

From the Overland website

Wikileaks has just released this footage from a US Apache helicopter killing a group of civilians in Baghdad in 2007. The clip shows the crew strafing the men from the air and then returning to kill the occupants of a van attempting to collect the wounded.

The dead included two journalists from Reuters. In the aftermath of the incident, the New York Times reported:

The American military said in a statement late Thursday that 11 people had been killed: nine insurgents and two civilians…“There is no question that coalition forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force,” said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, a spokesman for the multinational forces in Baghdad.

As the video shows, that’s entirely untrue. The helicopter crew rely exclusively on their own visual identification that the men have weapons, evidently mistaking camera equipment for a RPG. On that basis, they open fire, even though the group is walking down a city street.

via This is what the war looks like « Overland literary journal.

Be afraid…this is not bed time viewing!