Video: U.S. Troops shoot wounded Iraqi then cheer

[Truth2Tell]

Speaks for itself, not for the squemish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArUxgB8oy2g&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eichblog%2Eeu%2Fcontent%2Fview%2F1734%2F59%2F

[MNDemNY]

1. Old video, been out awile. War sucks.

[Truth2Tell]

3. new to me, sorry if most have seen it...

war crimes suck

[populistdriven]

2. i hate that media clip, it is misleading

they need to show uncut footage if they want to show reality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Py_cMPyku4

[Truth2Tell]

4. why is it misleading?

and what about the bus clip makes it redeeming in any way?

I seem to be missing the part where the people on the bus fire at the marines?

Or even have weapons?

[NeedleCast]

5. Long version of the video

In the long version of the video, at about the 2:00 minute mark, you will hear little pops and pings that sound similar to pop corn popping. Those are small arms ammunition in the van "cooking off." From the number of pops I hear, that bus was fairly well loaded with ammunition.

Also notice near the very end of the video that there is a handgun near the wheelwell of the burnt out bus, discarded by one of the men who surrendered.

[Truth2Tell]

6. surrendered?

I hear a few pops, not a "fairly loaded" bus of ammunition.

Nearly every person in Iraq is armed, and for good reason. Being in possession of a weapon does not make one an insurgent. This bus and its occupants took no aggressive action towards these troops whatsoever, that I could see.

Why do you want to rationalize war crimes?

[NeedleCast]

7. Listen to the troops

They comment on the activities of the vehicle. I can't make out everything they're saying, but it was enough to lead me to believe that the vehicle was behaving erraticaly around a checkpoint. Listening to the video again, I hear at least 100 pops and got tired of trying to count them.

I doubt that a group of soldiers with a camera on them are going to open fire on a bus-load of innocent people, but if that's your opinion, okay. Do you think that if the soliders just wanted to "kill them some Eye Raquies" that they would have put themselves in danger to give these men medical attention?

You accuse me of rtionalizing war crimes but seem like you're in an awful hurry to find them where they don't exist.

[burythehatchet]

8. young murkin yayhoo: "it felt good". I bet it did for you you fucking bastard

just try and remember not to blow away your wife and kids because someone left the cap off the toothpaste....if you make it back home.

[Truth2Tell]

9. What I heard

was the guy on the radio calling in the incident, saying they opened fire on what "looked like a military truck, moving slowly off an off-ramp". And I repeat, there is no sign of anyone on the bus acting aggressively towards the marines.

I'm not suggesting they just wanted to kill some Iraqis, but I would suggest that they are frightened and trigger happy.

-"I doubt that a group of soldiers with a camera on them are going to open fire on a bus-load of innocent people..."

Looks to me like that's exactly what we saw. You can doubt what your eyes see if you like.

But of course, Americans would never do such a thing, we're too good for that.

[NeedleCast]

10. If they are frightened and trigger happy

would you still assert that a war crime took place here, as you said in an earlier post? I'm simply not willing to jump to the conclusion that a war crime took place based on what I saw. If these were crazy, rampaging soliders intent on killing innocent civilians who posed no threat to them that it's unlikely that they'd advance on a burning bus where small arms rounds are cooking off to give medical attention to the two wounded men who come off the bus.

[Truth2Tell]

11. Last time I checked

continuing to fire on visibly unarmed individuals is a war crime, even if it's done out of fear or stupidity.

Something else you can hear in the video is one, if not more, U.S. soldiers yelling "ceasefire, unarmed, ceasefire unarmed!" in the background. But these yahoos just keep on shootin'.

And the video in my OP, shooting the wounded man, would also qualify as a crime the last time I checked. But apparently we are missing some context in the longer video that would justify it, so you seem to suggest.

[populistdriven]

12. fine, but at least you have the entire video clip with which to make your decision

the other one is so short you can think of dozens of scenarios about what was cut out