US helicopters fired on a crowd of unarmed civilians

Dom

It started with a phone call early on Sunday morning: "Big pile of smoke over Haifa Street." Still half asleep I put on my jeans, cursing those insurgents who do their stuff in the early morning. What if I just go back to bed, I thought - by the time I will be there it will be over. In the car park it struck me that I didn't have my flak jacket in the car, but figured it was most probably just an IED (improvised explosive device) under a Humvee and I would be back soon.

On the way to Haifa Street I was half praying that everything would be over or that the Americans would seal off the area. I haven't recovered from Najaf yet.

Haifa Street was built by Saddam in the early 80s, part of a scheme that was supposed to give Baghdad a modern look. A long, wide boulevard with huge Soviet high-rise buildings on both sides, it acts like a curtain, screening off the network of impoverished alleyways that are inhabited by Baghdad's poorest and toughest people, many of whom are from the heart of the Sunni triangle.

When I arrived there I saw hundreds of kids and young men heading towards the smoke. "Run fast, it's been burning for a long time!" someone shouted as I grabbed my cameras and started to run.

When I was 50m away I heard a couple of explosions and another cloud of dust rose across the street from where the first column of smoke was still climbing. People started running towards me in waves. A man wearing an orange overall was sweeping the street while others were running. A couple of helicopters in the sky overhead turned away. I jumped into a yard in front of a shop that was set slightly back from the street, 10 of us with our heads behind the yard wall. "It's a sound bomb," said a man who had his face close to mine.

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ToshiroOC

Oh this isn't biased.

"About 20m ahead of me, I could see the American Bradley armoured vehicle, a huge monster with fire rising from within. It stood alone, its doors open, burning."

"Then someone shouted "Helicopters!" and we ran. I turned and saw two small helicopters, black and evil. Frightened, I ran back to my shelter where I heard two more big explosions."

"The ambulance drove away and we all scattered, thinking to ourselves: the Americans won't fire at an ambulance but they will at us."

Far from objective reporting, if you ask me.

pr0digal jenius

Dom

Perhaps it's biased. Perhaps it's an acurate description his fear.

ToshiroOC

Perhaps. However, I don't put much stock in non-objective reporting

Vampyromaniac

meaning 3rd person, or just a list of facts?

-US copter fired on unarmed Iraqis
-13 dead, dozens injured

or...?

The_Neon_Cowboy

hmmm ... seems ther is alot more to the story then is being told. what about a fallow up? statment from the millitary? the other side of the story?

but then again that site is well known for it's 1/2 truths. tell a story don't fallow up, omit information to paint the picture they want to portray.
this is the same guardian.co.uk thats had a kind of anti-war stance since before day one of the iraq war. that the anti war people just love to death...

that was never in question I just had to look at the www adress

no fallow up, omited information that should of got had before going to print.
IMO: either thier biast or thier poor jurnalists. when I looked at thier site before I found it's loaded with "spin"

ToshiroOC

An accurate description of events that does not use subjective modifiers such as "evil" that are based primarily on the perspective of the writer.

Vampyromaniac

gotcha now

mkk

It doesn't get biased just because a columnist writes with his own words how he felt when it happened. It's not a news-report but a column written from a first person perspective. Seeking for proof of bias in this strikes me as trying hard to find whatever possible reason to disregard the incident as a whole. Perhaps I am mistaken in this case, but in general a lot of people seem very eager not to accept the hard gruesome facts that come with any ongoing war. That if something is bias.

pr0digal jenius

couldn't have said it better myself

CaptinSxb

What I dont get is that the iraqis poeple are killing the americans but as soon as it goes the other way people jump all over it. Its a war people die if you dont like it tought shit there always will be wars in one form or another.

Dom

Because Iraqi leadership dosen't kill American civilians, the so-called 'insurgents' do. Plus deliberately killing innocent civilians is not the American way, not to mention a war crime.

How can America be a beacon of democracy and its freedoms and values, if they deliberately kill innocent civilians?

The_Neon_Cowboy

seems ther is still more to the story as i'm reading all kinds of conflicting reports all over. Still one sided reports...

Hmm a us vehickle blows up due to a bomb (locally detanatd by the way with in line of sight) or insergants attacking... lets all run out and sourround it no matter what the story. The croud should no better then to middle in a millitary situation... if something explodes I sure as heck wouldn't run out and stand by it... gawking... that would /could get me killed

miss under standing happen so does confusion, but I still don't put any were near 100% of the blame on the troops

Counterfe1t

the only way to know the truth is to have been there but until i can get this time machine to work your on your own.

Dom

It's news reporter's/photographer's job to gawk.

I don't think shooting unarmed "looters" is the most effective way to go about proventing it.

Nacht

The helicopter pilot did not fire at an "unarmed crowd". Yes, we do know now that it was unarmed, but as far as the pilot knew, these people were attacking his friends on the ground. It was a lack of information, not some display of American brutality. The pilot did not knowingly kill innocent civillians.

pr0digal jenius

america is the king of 'lack of information' apparently...we've beaten that excuse to death...how about a new aliby..or *gasp* we step up and admit we screwed up and quit worrying about the next election and start worryign abotu the common good?

The_Neon_Cowboy

actually it is...

me = do someing XXX = I could die
me= will not do something XXX = will live thank you

so you think if the penatly say for murder was say a day in jail people would be running all over kiling any one you don't like or makes you mad. Same goes for looting people wieght the risk involved before they try to do this stuff.

not an acceptable way to deal with it, but none the less all too effective

Dom

There's a huge difference between looting and murder, man. There's not even a comparison.

America is America because people who steal have a second chance - they aren't put to death. But to suggest that people who steal in other countries deseve to die is wrong.

These people were unarmed. Regardless of if they were happy to see an American vehicle on fire and wanted to loot it.

According to your logic all the looters in the L.A. riots should be killed.

The_Neon_Cowboy

I wasn't compairing but the bigger the punishment the bigger the danger, the less people that will even consider it, little lone do it

GOG

What's next, capital punishment for shop lifters?

Dom

Yes, you were comparing it, Neon.

What you are suggesting is exactly what Saddam used to do. Make brutal examples out of petty criminals.

A1A9C1

I hear you Nacht. "Civilians" over there dance in the streets every time a tragedy hits our people. In DC, NY and in war. If they dance around the dead and dying Americans after they blow up a vehicle THEY ARE THE ENEMY. "Civilians" over there are proficient in making roadside bombs and suicide vests etc. The enemy doesn't use uniforms, a fact that is way helpful to them and in many ways harmful to us. Back in May in faluja when the crowd on a bridge chopped up the Americans, burned them alive and played with the pieces gleefully they were reported to be "civilians". Maybe the blackhawk pilot was trying to save survivors from mutilation by those barbarians. Footage of these things like they happen can be found on the www sometimes. If there are civilians over there why don't they stay away from the bad guys to reduce their chance of getting bombed, like the leaflets we've dropped tell them to. We give them fair warning. I love the USA

Dom