Saturday, April 10, 2010

Some excitement this week about a video shot from an Apache helicopter killing a bunch of Iraqi guys who were just hanging out. It came from wikileaks if you haven't seen it yet. We got to see it mostly because among those killed were two Reuters photographers, and so Reuters kicked up a ruckus. otherwise it probably would not have seen the light of day. What impresses most people is the revolting way the troops talk about what they are doing- these guys sound callous and hard to the point of being hardly human anymore. They sure do like killing people, and laughing about it.

So it turns out they were acting like proper troops, doing everything the right way, always asking for permission. And all the brass sees nothing wrong with
anything they did. They followed the U.S. rules of engagement to the letter.

This footage horrified most people who saw it. But the problem is, this event is just about exactly what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan every day. This is what our "war" is like. Guys flying around in f-16s and choppers shooting or bombing defenseless people. It's been happening for seven yers in Iraq and nine in Afghanistan- thousands and thousnds of times. It's happening now.