"IRAQ: Controversial video of U.S. military shooting"
April 6, 2010 8:07 pm- They called it "purported footage" that indicates they are not sure about it's authenticity in either what if depicts or whether it is actuall and not fake. I think it's all there, not phony and the audio sounds like many I have heard before.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/04/controversial-video-of-us-military-shooting-in-iraq.html
It's got nothing to do with L.A. life unless you may have helicopter pilots or crew among family or friends, and you can see what they may experience or know what they may think. But I thought it's something as an example of what goes wrong in war situations and it shows the cost that non-combatants, newsmen here, pay for those mistakes, and it's all supposed to balance out with an, "Oops. Sorry about that" level of response- and not even that was given in this case. Some very changed personalities are being created here in the war when things like this are not properly addressed.
This is a video from a 2007 U.S. helicopter attack on people on the ground that was just released by the military. It is very disturbing in both by the actions taken as depicted in the military video, and by the attitudes and perceptions maintained by the pilots. The U.S. ground troops actions after the event were more humane with the wounded children.
The weaponry used, if this was an Apache helicopter, is specifically, a 30 mm cannon. Other aircraft commonly use this weapon also. The projectile is an achievement in lethality. It is not solid like a bullet but contains an explosive charge that detonates as well as it penetrates objects. Firing is at a 10-rounds per second rate. The tech information is shown below if you want to see exactly what was used terms of weapons in this video.
The fixed weapon for the AH-64 is the M230E1 Chain Cannon
Rate of fire for the M230 is 600-650 rounds per minute, the spool-up time to acheive this rate being a brief 0.2 seconds. 1200 rounds are carried in the magazine-pack above the gun. Each round takes approximately 2 seconds to travel 1000m. However, as the shell's energy dissipates, it takes some 12.2 seconds to cover 3000m.
Specifications: M230E1 Chain Cannon®I don't see this as an a mistake as much as this was a patrolling aircraft looking for targets and upon finding people, assumed that they were hostiles. The crew looked for reasons to "engage," the term used for "shooting." The long-lensed camera was all I could see carried on a strap, slung on the shoulders. The statement that they "are carrying AK 47" was wrong. Walk into a market with a SLR camera with a long lens and have another come in with an AK-47 rifle enter the same store- and even from a distance, the profiles are markedly different. The crews were LOOKING FOR A REASON to shoot here.
Calibre 30mm
Length 1.68m
Weight 57.5 kg
Rate of Fire 600-650 rounds/min
Muzzle Velocity 792 m/s
The ammunition typically used by the M230 is the 30mm M789 HEDP (high explosive dual-purpose). Each shell contains 21.5g of explosive charge sealed in a shaped-charge liner. The liner is designed to collapse into an armour-piercing jet of molten metal, capable of penetrating more than 2 inches of armour. The shell is also designed to fragment into shrapnel, deadly to unprotected targets, out to a distance of over 10 feet. The ammunition is cased in aluminum rather than the typical brass as it reduces the weight of the ammunition load by half.
The second vehicle was recovering the wounded photographer as it was shot up. No one was armed, and the determination of "hostiles" carried over to the "rescue" attempt for the wounded person who was one of the newsman. "Reach for a weapon" was the pilot's thought spoken out loud to justify more shooting. But there was no weapon to reach for so there was no threat anymore, assuming for the pilot's perception that one was there to begin with. Who would be threatened by the wounded person anyway? The bullet holes in the windshield of the vehicle were remarked upon by the pilot - so what could they see and what could they not see through there screens?
The equally disturbing part of this is that every level apparently supported the reasons for the shooting and continued so, making no concessions that this could have been wrong. This will wind up left that way.
I happen to support the fact that soldiers and Marines have to do their job but they to have an obligation to do it right. "Why" we are there is not the issue here. Killing in war is not murder, based on the definition of the crime, but this was a bad shooting. Understandable, but bad. The enjoyment expressed and blame for the kids' shooting on the victims is bothersome in that that is what's being created in situations of low supervison or inadequate assurances of adherence to policies that should be designed to prevent such occurrences.
I wonder if the higher up on the command structure viewed this video carefully with the audio or if they relied on a report to make a reply that ignored the facts. If any investigation is seriously undertaken, I would be surprised. The military is not interested in that without beig politically pressured, and then it often gets the wrong people to pay up.
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An Addition to this: Video with further discussion (time: 3m:17s);
WikiLeaks VIDEO Exposes 2007 'Collateral Murder' In Iraq - Wikileaks Editor Interview at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q2hjkWBItQ&feature=related
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