This is the first I've heard of it. Our left-wing press over here, in its usual back-handed egoistic way, is hammering away at the point that the war in Iraq is a totally AMERICAN war. Only AMERICANS are being killed in combat. From the majority of news coverage one can only come away with the impression that AMERICAN troops are being sent out with targets painted on their backs for the sole purpose of being killed.
The American Left views most everything through political eyes. Already there is an increasing drone about who is going to win the nomination for the Democratic Party for the presidential election in 2008. The major debating point among the Democratic candidates seems to be limited to which one of them can abandon Iraq the fastest, "bring the troops home" the soonest, and blame Bush for the resulting Middle East collapse the most vindictively.
Nowhere do I hear from the Left any discussion of ways of working our way to victory. Heh, it's more like a modern day re-do of the Monty Python "Quest for the Holy Grail" movie where King Arthur's motley band of knights flee a savage taunting with cries of "Run Away! Run Away!"
My deepest sympathies to the families of the British soldiers killed and wounded in that convoy attack incident.
Classifying it as an "unfortunate friendly fire incident" just simply does not honor those soldiers. Nor does the US military having a knee-jerk denial response do those soldiers any respect.
I can only offer my supposition as to why it might have been handled by the military in the way that they did. Any footage, any unfavorable report coming from any aspect of the war in Iraq offers "aid and comfort" to the enemy. It encourages him to continue the war while at the same time discouraging our side.
For example, I very much doubt that English cinemas during WWII ran Axis propaganda films that might have come into their hands triumphing the Fall of Tobruk or Singapore. More to the point, I do not believe that civilian audiences today are not ready to see the effects of an A-10's firepower on the human body. So what is to be gained from admitting that the film exists and afterwards succumbing to inevitable pressure to show it aside from satisfying ghoulish curiosity and torturing the families of the fallen?
Lionus Prints Up-date (Retraction?) !lionusFebruary 8 2007, 12:06:36 UTC
An article regarding the friendly fire incident appeared in last night's Boston Herald on page 13.
To put this in context, think of yourself in a very fast aircraft toddling along at a couple of hundred-miles-an-hour with the ground underneath you whipping past pretty fast -- you are not a tourist with a leisurely view of landscape.
You spot a line of vehicles in an area where the "bad guys" have been active lately and you spot what look like flashes of orange light. Flashes like what you see when rockets are being fired. You report this to your ground control, as you are supposed to. Ground Control comes back to you telling you that 'there are no friendlies in the area'. More flashes of orange. Apparently the bad guys are rocketing people on our side in a "drive-by" style. You and your wingman go in to stop them.
But after your attack Ground Control comes back at you to let you know that 'there could be friendlies in the area'. Opps! Was it that the folks who were supposed to send in that information didn't? Did that information get side-tracked in the flood of information that modern day combat generates and requires?
The "orange flashes"? It seems that coalition vehicles have an orange light on top of them to help distinguish them from the air from all the other thousands of vehicles in built-up urban areas. But on bumpy ground, passing by buildings, through trees those lights can appear to be alternately appearing and disappearing, giving the visual impression of firing.
As to the video of the attack, that refers to the pilot's cockpit video, something that may be engaged during an attack. There may be a deterioration of the film over time in the desert heat with a resultant practice of not loading any film when combat is not expected. Then with complaints about how expense the war is, simply avoiding the practice of loading film, throwing it away, loading film, throwing it away and so on.
Aircraft communications are recorded and the reaction by one of the A10 pilots after learning that they had in fact attacked a British truck convoy causing casualties says it all, "I think I'm going to be sick."
The American Left views most everything through political eyes. Already there is an increasing drone about who is going to win the nomination for the Democratic Party for the presidential election in 2008. The major debating point among the Democratic candidates seems to be limited to which one of them can abandon Iraq the fastest, "bring the troops home" the soonest, and blame Bush for the resulting Middle East collapse the most vindictively.
Nowhere do I hear from the Left any discussion of ways of working our way to victory. Heh, it's more like a modern day re-do of the Monty Python "Quest for the Holy Grail" movie where King Arthur's motley band of knights flee a savage taunting with cries of "Run Away! Run Away!"
My deepest sympathies to the families of the British soldiers killed and wounded in that convoy attack incident.
Classifying it as an "unfortunate friendly fire incident" just simply does not honor those soldiers. Nor does the US military having a knee-jerk denial response do those soldiers any respect.
I can only offer my supposition as to why it might have been handled by the military in the way that they did. Any footage, any unfavorable report coming from any aspect of the war in Iraq offers "aid and comfort" to the enemy. It encourages him to continue the war while at the same time discouraging our side.
For example, I very much doubt that English cinemas during WWII ran Axis propaganda films that might have come into their hands triumphing the Fall of Tobruk or Singapore. More to the point, I do not believe that civilian audiences today are not ready to see the effects of an A-10's firepower on the human body. So what is to be gained from admitting that the film exists and afterwards succumbing to inevitable pressure to show it aside from satisfying ghoulish curiosity and torturing the families of the fallen?
Reply
To put this in context, think of yourself in a very fast aircraft toddling along at a couple of hundred-miles-an-hour with the ground underneath you whipping past pretty fast -- you are not a tourist with a leisurely view of landscape.
You spot a line of vehicles in an area where the "bad guys" have been active lately and you spot what look like flashes of orange light. Flashes like what you see when rockets are being fired. You report this to your ground control, as you are supposed to. Ground Control comes back to you telling you that 'there are no friendlies in the area'. More flashes of orange. Apparently the bad guys are rocketing people on our side in a "drive-by" style. You and your wingman go in to stop them.
But after your attack Ground Control comes back at you to let you know that 'there could be friendlies in the area'. Opps! Was it that the folks who were supposed to send in that information didn't? Did that information get side-tracked in the flood of information that modern day combat generates and requires?
The "orange flashes"? It seems that coalition vehicles have an orange light on top of them to help distinguish them from the air from all the other thousands of vehicles in built-up urban areas. But on bumpy ground, passing by buildings, through trees those lights can appear to be alternately appearing and disappearing, giving the visual impression of firing.
As to the video of the attack, that refers to the pilot's cockpit video, something that may be engaged during an attack. There may be a deterioration of the film over time in the desert heat with a resultant practice of not loading any film when combat is not expected. Then with complaints about how expense the war is, simply avoiding the practice of loading film, throwing it away, loading film, throwing it away and so on.
Aircraft communications are recorded and the reaction by one of the A10 pilots after learning that they had in fact attacked a British truck convoy causing casualties says it all, "I think I'm going to be sick."
Reply
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