Was it "murder"?
Photographer
Namir Noor-Eldeen with telephoto lens mistaken for
a rocket propelled grenade (RPG). WikiLeaks (01:21)
Viewing the 17 minute or 39 minute version of the video tape leads one to focus on two things as a result of the introductory material provided by WikiLeaks. First, we know that a photographer and his assistant were killed along with the driver of a van who attempted to rescue the assistant. We also know that there were two children traveling in the van with the driver, their father. That's before the tape even starts. Then we're drawn to the methodical targeting of the men carrying weapons. The initial identification of a weapon was a mistake since, from the introduction, we know that Noor-Eldeen is carrying a telephoto lens, not a RPG.
The incorrect identification of a camera as an RPG (above image) is the basis for all that follows in this first segment of the tape - the shooting of the men gathered on the street and the destruction of the van.
This is war, a war that was not planned or initiated by the crew of the Apache helicopter. The truly responsible parties for starting the war did so with premeditated intent. They deliberately lied to and deceived the public. They are the very first cause of the war and all of the deaths and suffering.
The helicopter crew was called into action, responded, and made a fatal error at the start that was compounded causing the deaths of the Iraqis on the ground. Was this murder? Without doubt, argued one serious analyst. Another, while critical of the mission, had too many unanswered questions to reach that conclusion.
But why is there a focus on the Apache crew? When you lock, load and deploy the world's most powerful military machine, many people die. Civilians die in every war. Several hundred thousand civilians were killed by U.S. and British bombing of German and Japanese cities during World War II. When you hear a president say he's "sending the troops," civilian deaths are part of the deal.
The most useful questions are the most fundamental. They address the first cause of the war and the means to sustain it.
Which members of the administration were responsible for concocting the lies that were used to take the United States to war?
Which members of Congress voted again and again to fund the war once the facts surfaced about the lies used to start the war (even before the invasion)?
However the dead ended up that way, the premeditated lies used to launch an invasion and occupation and those who enabled this by deliberately ignoring the truth are clearly the responsible parties for "collateral murder."
Will one of them step forward after all of this and say, "We think the price was worth it"?
Vincent
Bugliosi, before the House Judiciary Committee, July 27, 2008 (6:44)
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