Apache gunship goes to work in Iraq. Warning: Graphic Video

Me

[Monty22]

http://home.comcast.net/~jmcno/224Helicopter_Kills.mpeg

Must faster video, will keep up for a bit.

[Enterprise]

I'd feel sooooooo much better if they could have killed them with teeny tiny bullets instead of those great big brutish bullets. (mild sarcasm)

[The KG9 Kid]

It appeared to me that these characters -- Fedayeen/Al-Qaeda diehards, I gather -- were preparing to plant an improvised explosive near a roadside or were perhaps staging weapons in an area for an upcoming attack.

The Geneva Convention does cite engagements that are illegal -- mutilation of bodies, deliberate attacks on individuals with high explosives and so forth, but I recall being instructed that if I were to use my Mk19Mod3 grenade launcher or M2 .50 cal in direct fire against enemy troops that I am really only firing at their material assets: Canteens on their hips, their backpacks, etc.

These dead men were guerillas -- terrorists out of uniform. Looks like a perfectly legal gooping of these guys to me.

In the Marine Corps, I knew a Staff Sergeant who told me that he used a TOW missile against a Lebanese militiaman shortly after 241 Marines were killed in the barracks bombing in Lebanon. They were not permitted to fire on a target of opportunity unless it was 'an armed and/or armored vehicle', but they were angrily awaiting some payback.

... Along comes a Lebanese Hizbollah terrorist riding a ten-speed bicycle toting an RPG over his shoulder at a thousand yards away. The TOW crew radioed for permission and then blew him and his bicycle into orbit. This sergeant swore that the bike flew end over end straight up in the air about thirty stories high. Terrorist went in about ten different directions. Poor bastard never knew what hit him.

Sounds about right.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thanks for the ping, Ernest. 'Puter isn't able. I am enjoying the response from Freepers.

The video, obtained by ABCNEWS, shows grainy images of three Iraqis on the ground handling a long cylindrical object that the helicopter pilots believe is a weapon.

ABCNews thinks the bad guys are doing what? Installing a pipe, handling a snake, learning to pole vault, preparing a giant sausage for lunch?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

These guys seem to be a lot closer than the c130 guys were .

If you have the kontiki CNET download manager and use it to open the file you can dowload the file and then view the playback in full screen mode.

With the little quicktime player mode you can't see the guy at the tractor doing much at all.

In full screen mode you can tell he was very busy!

[76834]

LOL
Dont make any difference if you break your neck falling off a bar stool or being nuked.
Dead is dead....

[rllngrk33]

Cool Video!!!

[Double Tap]

Thanks Monty.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Get Kontiki from CNET so you can downlaod the image (4.6 MByte even over dialup.

[Kevin Curry]

To our self-righteous virtue-challenged DU lurkers:

"Men sleep peacefully in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

- George Orwell

[KillTime]

That's the one! Tks for the link. Last time I saw this was on class network; guess it all flows down to the net eventually.

[mystery-ak]

...thought you might like to see this

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[chmst]

ping

[Monty22]

"After watching his buddies disintegrate, you'd think the one who tried to hide under the truck would figure out that just maybe moving isn't such a good idea. But no, he had to peek out to see where those tracers were coming from."

I'd like to know when this was taken too. The jihadist probably wished he hadn't been there fighting Americans in his last few seconds..

[ezo4]

bttt

[Ichneumon]

Army officials acknowledged that the 30 mm cannons used by the Apache gunners were far bigger than what was needed to kill the men, but said it is the smallest weapon the Apaches have.

Okay, *which* reporter was stupid enough to actually ask the question which elicited this "acknowledgement"?

I can see it now. "But... isn't it barbaric to kill them with a bigger than necessary weapon? If you're going to kill them, shouldn't you use a weapon that's only as big as absolutely necessary?"

[old school]

"As to whether the Apache pilots could have called in ground troops to apprehend the men..."

I don't know who the sh*t-for-brains is, who proposed this possibility, but it is apparent that we,(as Americans), have lost so much in the ability of our people to think critically! This is a freakin' war for crying out loud! May God help us!

[Gone_Postal]

Wow! Don't hide under a big truck either.

reminds me of monty python's "How not to hide"

[Professional Engineer]

WOW