Friendly Fire Video Leaked

[®îçhå®?]

Linky

It has been shown many times on the BBC news today and i dont particularly know how to react. In one sense I am disgusted that friendly fire could take place but then i no feel a little sad as it was a tragic accident. Some misunderstanding left him dead and after the pilot and navigator realised, they did seem very aggrieved and appauled.

I know that this thread already exists but it is in a pretty secluded section of the boards and i feel that it belongs in this section as it is a Current Event

 

[speakerwizard]

It is sad when this happens and i do not blame the army/airforce or the pilots but i do blame the governments beaurocricy (i cant spell) the terrible handelling of this, especially as we (uk) were supporting the US, being honest with us from the begining would be a nice way to recipricate. again, no offence to the good people of the US, governments everywhere are all the same.

 

[®îçhå®?]

It is sad when this happens and i do not blame the army/airforce or the pilots but i do blame the governments beaurocricy (i cant spell) the terrible handelling of this, especially as we (uk) were supporting the US, being honest with us from the begining would be a nice way to recipricate. again, no offence to the good people of the US, governments everywhere are all the same.

The US could at least make them testify. It has already been said that no one is going to get prosecuted but it is owed to the family to know how the pilot's felt and hear their side of it.

 

[Abstract]

From the transcript, I don't think the Pilot should be guilty of anything. He was guided by someone who was wrong.

 

[®îçhå®?]

From the transcript, I don't think the Pilot should be guilty of anything. He was guided by someone who was wrong.

Well there was a misundershtanding. A few km north there were Iraqi soldiers o something like that and the person ho said attack thought that they were talking about that and not the coalition forces.

 

[Henri Gaudier]

The invasion of Iraq is one grotesque tragedy....

... and so to pick this out is rather pointless. As is this inquiry itself. According to the UN over 500,000 Iraqi children died before the invasion and post invasion figures are hotly disputed but you cannot invade without large scale deaths. The US/UK alliance made over 30,000 sorties during the "No Fly Zone " era of stalemate between the 2 invasions. RAF pilots have been recorded strafing shepherds and their flocks for fun. I've seen US pilots interviewed having just stepped down from their fighters and they're talking about what they have just done as if it's some kind of ultra sophisticated arcade game. No concience - they're just blown away by the "graphics"

The pilot said on this occasion "We're in jail, dude!" No wonder the Americans are famous for the number of "Friendly fire" deaths they cause with Valley boy retards flying their missions.

Part of me has sympathy with men and women of the armed forces - seeing them as naive fodder for the mechanations of war mongers and "End Timer Hawks" whilst the other side of me says if you travel halfway around the world to kill people in their own homes you deserve to die.

According to my Cost of War widget the price for all this in cold hard cash is $364,510,700,925 and counting.

 

[displaced]

I watched the full video yesterday. Got some mixed feelings...

Firstly - orange as a friendly unit identifier? If there was any risk that could be mistaken for enemy rockets (as seems to be the case here), that decision was profoundly bad.

Second, listening to the pilots had me in two minds. I felt incredibly sorry for them. It must've been absolutely sickening when they realised what they'd done. However (and this could be a cultural-divide thing), their repeated concerns seem to have been about what their fate was, rather than the people they'd just killed. "We're f***ed", "We're screwed", "We're going to jail"... I suppose that's only natural, but it felt a bit wrong for my British sensibilities.

Whatever the outcome, it's not going to do the US Armed Forces' reputation any good over here, where the average squaddie tends to have a pretty average regard for their US counterparts. This isn't the first time this has happened unfortunately.

 

[combatcolin]

Hasn't gone done well, PR disaster almost for the US.

After the 1st Gulf War the US said it would never happen again.....

 

[weldon]

However (and this could be a cultural-divide thing), their repeated concerns seem to have been about what their fate was, rather than the people they'd just killed.

Yes, this is a cultural-divide - a divide between those of us living safe at home and those that are trained to kill people and do so fairly often in Iraq. I wouldn't be too hard on professional soldiers that don't feel remorse immediately upon taking lives. I'm pretty sure those feelings are beaten out of them during all their training. Not that it won't surface later after they have had time to process what has happened.

 

[Mr. Durden]

Yes, this is a cultural-divide - a divide between those of us living safe at home and those that are trained to kill people and do so fairly often in Iraq. I wouldn't be too hard on professional soldiers that don't feel remorse immediately upon taking lives. I'm pretty sure those feelings are beaten out of them during all their training. Not that it won't surface later after they have had time to process what has happened.

I agree that they are trained killers and have had all remorse and conscience stripped from them. Anything less would make for terrible soldiers. It seems obvious to me that they were regretful for what had happened, but to be honest, I would think about my own arse too if I were involved in something like this. I think its human nature.

The US government needs to cooperate a lot better though. The Brits are our brothers. Our countries are staunch allies and would back each other up no matter the situation. Its obviously a terrible accident, and to not cooperate does nothing to help either side, nor help insure this doesnt happen again.

I feel sorry for everyone involved. My condolenses to the families of the slain soldiers.

 

[savar]

It is sad when this happens and i do not blame the army/airforce or the pilots but i do blame the governments beaurocricy (i cant spell) the terrible handelling of this, especially as we (uk) were supporting the US, being honest with us from the begining would be a nice way to recipricate. again, no offence to the good people of the US, governments everywhere are all the same.

It's the word "bureau" + suffix:

Bureaucracy