The officer in charge sounds as if he's saying "don't let him escape" (at around 5:30) in respect to the fellow running away below. Is that SOP for foot soldiers?
The officer in charge sounds as if he's saying "don't let him escape" (at around 5:30) in respect to the fellow running away below. Is that SOP for foot soldiers?
Good bet! I did a search on Google for "gunship afghanistan video mosque" and found this newsgroup posting of an AP story (I've edited out the irrelevant parts):
One airstrike originated last November when intelligence units in the United States and Afghanistan heard reports of an impending meeting of Taliban and al-Qaida leaders near Kandahar's airfield. To check out the reports, U.S. forces dispatched a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, a surveillance drone the size of a small private plane. At the same time, a modified Boeing 707 airliner called an E-8 Joint STARS, cruised into the area, its radars scanning the ground for vehicle convoys. It found one. The column of vehicles was heading toward the airfield. The Predator's remote controller trained the craft's video camera to track it.
In the Air Force's account of the strike on the meeting, officials said reconnaissance also noted a mosque near the expected meeting site, which was highlighted to pilots as a target to avoid. Commanders sent an AC-130 gunship to attack the meeting site. The AC-130 is a loud, slow, propeller-driven variant of a cargo plane that is bristling with guns and able to deliver devastating fire to ground targets.
Over the next several hours, the Predator observed the meeting place as the AC-130 approached. Once it arrived, the Predator, which can transmit video directly to the AC-130, directed the gunship to attack trucks, people and buildings at the meeting site. After the strike, the mosque stood undamaged.