As it turns out, the sword is actually mightier than the pen

[sabotabby]

American troops kill a bunch of insurgents with AK-47s.

And by "insurgents," we mean "Reuters journalists." And by "AK-47s," we mean "cameras." But they're still totally dangerous to the war effort, so much so that the Americans felt the need to lie about it afterwards.

After they were done blasting the hell out of a group of clearly unarmed people, they shoot up a few Good Samaritans trying to evacuate one of the wounded journalists. Oh yeah, and two kids. Then they congratulate themselves on some good shootin'.

You can read about it and watch the video of the murders here.

Hat tip: kynn.

Related: Collateral damage in Afghanistan.

Comments

[lienne.livejournal.com]

What the fuck America.

[krinndnz.livejournal.com]

The comments in the video's subtitles are - I won't quite say ugly, but they're symptomatic of what you'd expect from the soldiers of an empire, conditioned to see every Other as an enemy, and to feel no particular distress over their violent deaths. Also, the Orwell quote was well-chosen. They describe their actions as "engaging" the humans on the ground. Please. You're in an armored helicopter with massive weaponry. You didn't engage shit. You blew the hell out of the defenseless. Even if they had an actual RPG, as one of the pilots comments, the actions just don't add up.


Ugh. It is a brutal thing, and I suspect that reactions, if any, will underline just how invested we Americans are in seeing our military as an extension of us, the Good Guys, and how we refuse to process critique.

[jamie-miller.livejournal.com]

I have just enough optimism to hope that there will be consequences for this, but I am cynical enough to believe that the only consequences will be for WikiLeaks.

[jk-fabiani.livejournal.com]

Occupation.

[(Anonymous)]

Under$500.

[(Anonymous)]

まあね。もしもあと1インチ長かったら、すぐに売れちゃう。

[99catsaway.livejournal.com]

I watched the video last night, and it was so disturbing.