Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Upsetting War Footage
There’s a video going around showing the engagement of the enemy through the infrared gun camera of an Apache helicopter. In it, the enemy is engaged at night, probably about a mile away with a 30mm machine gun. After blowing away several Iraqis and seeing the heat signature of their innards all over the desert, the pilot asks the gunner to pan right and investigate a person crawling away. The gunner says, “He’s wounded.” The pilot says, “Shoot him.” And then you see his guts go flying. The rules of engagement state that we are not to fire on enemy personnel who are out of battle due to sickness or wounds.
I don’t think I’d shoot the enemy crawling away twenty feet from me let alone someone a mile away. What was the threat? It’s surprising how many people watch the video and think it’s OK or even great: “What about the World Trade Center? That wasn’t right - what they did!”
Back in the Maryland Guard, I was a medic for a line company. I was shocked to hear the list of tasks to be performed once the objective had been taken: “Cross level ammo and water, look for intelligence, demo enemy equipment and weapons, kill EPWs…” What!?! This was never discussed above the team level. An E-6 ( Staff Sergeant), reviewing who was going to do what task, said to the Soldier who was in charge of EPWs, “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
I do not think most Soldiers fully understand what duty is. Duty isn’t about showing up and blowing people away, though that’s part of it. Duty is doing the right thing even if it’s hard. One of those duties is showing restraint when needed. Another duty is reporting war crimes when warranted and letting an investigation decide whether what happened was right, a mistake, or a crime. Crimes unpunished hurt other soldiers, just as bad cops give all cops a bad name. People say, “Well, you weren’t there!” I wasn’t there when the Towers came down, but I know it was wrong.
People have mixed feelings about this, feeling sorry for the officer while wanting justice. I the movie, “The Devil’s Own”, Rubén Blades’ character accidentally shoots an unarmed suspect and he and Harrison Ford collude to cover it up. The movies side step the quandary by having Blades’ character conveniently killed off so we don’t have to deal with it.
There’s a video going around showing the engagement of the enemy through the infrared gun camera of an Apache helicopter. In it, the enemy is engaged at night, probably about a mile away with a 30mm machine gun. After blowing away several Iraqis and seeing the heat signature of their innards all over the desert, the pilot asks the gunner to pan right and investigate a person crawling away. The gunner says, “He’s wounded.” The pilot says, “Shoot him.” And then you see his guts go flying. The rules of engagement state that we are not to fire on enemy personnel who are out of battle due to sickness or wounds.
I don’t think I’d shoot the enemy crawling away twenty feet from me let alone someone a mile away. What was the threat? It’s surprising how many people watch the video and think it’s OK or even great: “What about the World Trade Center? That wasn’t right - what they did!”
Back in the Maryland Guard, I was a medic for a line company. I was shocked to hear the list of tasks to be performed once the objective had been taken: “Cross level ammo and water, look for intelligence, demo enemy equipment and weapons, kill EPWs…” What!?! This was never discussed above the team level. An E-6 ( Staff Sergeant), reviewing who was going to do what task, said to the Soldier who was in charge of EPWs, “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
I do not think most Soldiers fully understand what duty is. Duty isn’t about showing up and blowing people away, though that’s part of it. Duty is doing the right thing even if it’s hard. One of those duties is showing restraint when needed. Another duty is reporting war crimes when warranted and letting an investigation decide whether what happened was right, a mistake, or a crime. Crimes unpunished hurt other soldiers, just as bad cops give all cops a bad name. People say, “Well, you weren’t there!” I wasn’t there when the Towers came down, but I know it was wrong.
People have mixed feelings about this, feeling sorry for the officer while wanting justice. I the movie, “The Devil’s Own”, Rubén Blades’ character accidentally shoots an unarmed suspect and he and Harrison Ford collude to cover it up. The movies side step the quandary by having Blades’ character conveniently killed off so we don’t have to deal with it.
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