online news for online journalists




16 January 2004



Apache killing video becomes viral news

Posted: 14 January 2004 By: Jemima Kiss
Email: jemima@journalism.co.uk

A graphic US military video showing the killing of three Iraqi people is being circulated via the web after appearing on US TV news channel ABC News.

The one-minute file, filmed from a US Apache helicopter, shows three suspected Iraqi insurgents being shot with 30mm cannon fire. The clip was cut from a longer video obtained by ABC News last week and verified by a senior US army official.

The MPEG format file has been posted to several right-wing US forums, where the effectiveness of the Apache's firepower has been celebrated.

So far though, in spite of its graphic nature, the film does not seem to have attracted much attention from the anti-war movement.

Tony Sleep, a freelance photographer in the UK, was one recipient of the file. He was emailed a link to a US academic site that temporarily hosted the MPEG file.

"It's very uncomfortable to watch because it's so calculated," he told dotJournalism. "It's quite pornographic actually."

Video download (WARNING: some viewers may find this material disturbing):
http://www.journalism.co.uk/imagesn/apache.mpeg

See also:
http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/US/apache_video_040109.htm

Maybe you've never heard the phrase "war is hell", but, for those of you who haven't let me tell you that "war is hell".

It is hell whether it is Palestinians "struggling" to blow up school busses full of kids, or FARC struggling to create little dictatorships in the Americas or Castro executing dissident priests, or Pol Pot executing millions. . .

Of course, no one on the left minds war when it supports their world view. . . only when its done in the name of liberty.

What does G.P. stand for? "Get Phucked?"

This is no longer a war but an occupation. Get Phucked
is an armchair shithead who obviously gloats in the
white supremacy of Israel murdering civilians in the West Bank, Pinochet disappearing and murdering civilians,
Hussein murdering Iranians, the U.S. dropping bombs on
the Japanese, the US murdering southern Vietnamese people,
and even Hitler murdering Jews (since Prescott Bush did financially support him after all), to say nothing of
the legacy of Native Americans genocide and the colonization
of Northern Mexico. Pick up a dictionary or an enyclopedia
and learn about the word imperialism before you open your
anus.

Is like, ya know, not like the same as having anything like, you know, like smart to say, or like whatever. Ya know?

Assuming you guyss have jobs, that is.

Anyway: The Apache is a weapons platform. Weapons are designed to kill people. The 30mm cannon on the Apache is very efficient at doing that.

The Iraqi insurgents are not doing the Iraqi people any favors with their actions. They are actively and violently opposing efforts to bring Iraq into the 20th century. They got what they deserved.

You should all be thankful that your tax dollars are being spent wisely killing the bad guys.

nonanarchist

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where they squash people they can't even see like bugs using infrared so they have no chance of escaping without being blown to pieces.

they cheer as body parts fly as if human life was no more valuable than an insect

and this is what kind of culture the military *encourages* !

I have the entire video in the archive..


watch the complete video and then think about fresca's usage of the words "sub-human" and "animals" - I think these words will take on a new meaning after you see this..

If you liked that Apache video, here's one from 2002 of our boys in an AC130 Gunship killing bad guys in Afghanistan:

http://digitaldreamteam.com/images/AC130_GunshipMed.wmv

... silly little boys getting excited about video games.

The US needs Apaches and 4-engined Spectre gunships to blow-up foot soldiers.

Guess the price of what brought down this multi-million Abahams tank...

Keep believing in technology, imbeciles. It looks great on CNN and Fox but won't allow you to control Iraq. The US will stay there until it won't be able to afford it anymore.

Nonimperialist,
Given your wish for the US to leave Iraq before the job is finished, which do you prefer:
* Shiite theocracy (a la Iran), or
* Civil war and balkanization?

There is not a single serious analyst (in or out of Iraq) who envisions another outcome. Which one are you rooting for?

Nonimperialist believes that everything will be just fine and dandy if the US abandons Iraq. Universal peace will blanket the world, the stars will come into alignment, and the Happiness Fairy will give everybody a puppy.

Either that, or he simply wishes Bush's will to be thwarted so badly, he doesn't care how many Iraqis die as long he gets his way.

No matter which, he's pretty stupid.

nonanarchist

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You were flying that thing, nonanarchist?

I'm in the Air Force, you dork.

The Army flies Apaches.

Just remember...ignorance is curable.

Stupidity is not.

And I have a pretty accurate diagnosis of your condition.

nonanarchist

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I think we are looking at the death of three farmers and possibly a child in the pickup truck.
The machine on the left is a tractor pulling a plough or tilling machine. You can see the tilled soil to the right of the tractor. The vertical exhaust of the tractor is clearly visible in the picture as a white line. The driver dismounts from the front right, typical tractor layout.
The drivers are changing shifts, ie, one leaves and new driver takes over. Fuel or seed is in the truck and it stays with the tractor and tiller. The pickup brings the new driver and takes away the tired driver.
It could be a child hiding in the pickup.
Driving night and day enables a large area of land to be tilled by a small tractor, sowing or tilling before the weather changes and new rain falls.
I think we are seeing apache pilots not understanding what they are seeing. It happens in war. No blame or recriminations, just sadness for the futility of it all.

(I'm assuming you've seen the longer, non-edited version)

If these are farmers going about their business, then why does one of them run to the field and dump a warm (it's glowing in the nightvision) 1-meter tube into the field? Wouldn't a tube in the field interfere with their farming activities?

Let's see...what could that have been?

A date tree planter?

A baby goat incubator?

Or maybe...an RPG or SAM launcher?

Gee...what would innocent farmers be doing with a bad thing like that, now?

nonanarchist

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NOONDAY, Texas - William Krar and Judith Bruey assembled a frightening arsenal in three rented storage units in this East Texas town, and federal authorities are trying to figure out why.

A raid in April found nearly two pounds of a cyanide compound and other chemicals that could create enough poisonous gas to kill everyone inside a space as large as a big-chain bookstore or a small-town civic center.

Authorities also discovered nearly half a million rounds of ammunition, more than 60 pipe bombs, machine guns, silencers and remote-controlled bombs disguised as briefcases, plus pamphlets on how to make chemical weapons, and anti-Semitic, anti-black and anti-government books.

The findings have led to one of the most extensive domestic-terrorism investigations since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Federal investigators believe conspirators may remain free, and one question lingers: What did the couple intend to do with the weapons?

"There's no other reason for anyone to possess that type of device other than to kill people," said Brit Featherston, a federal prosecutor and the government's anti-terrorism coordinator in Texas' eastern district. "The arsenal found in those searches had the capability of terrorizing a lot of people."

In November, Krar, 62, pleaded guilty to possessing a dangerous chemical weapon. He could go to prison, but the law does not specify a minimum or maximum. Bruey, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess illegal weapons and could get up to five years in prison. The couple remain in jail. Sentencing is expected sometime in February.

Krar and Bruey moved to a house in Tyler from New Hampshire about two years ago, though federal authorities do not know why.

They soon rented space at Noonday Storage and for more than a year visited their units each morning, spending hours unloading U-hauls of military surplus items or picking through piles of bathing suits and beer coolers they said they resold at shops and markets.

"We never had any problems out of them and never suspected anything out of them," said Teresa Staples, who owns the storage business in this community of 500 people about 100 miles southeast of Dallas.

A mistake led the FBI to Krar two years ago.

Krar mailed a package to a self-described militia member in New Jersey. The package included several phony documents - U.N. and Pentagon ID cards, a Social Security card, birth certificates from three states - and a note: "We would hate to have this fall into the wrong hands."

But that was exactly what happened.

The package was mistakenly delivered to a man in New York City, who notified authorities. It was traced back to Krar, and the intended recipient, Edward Feltus, 56, of Old Bridge, N.J., pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the transportation of false identification documents. He could get up to 15 years in prison.

Krar's attorney, Tonda Curry, acknowledges that Krar owned illegal weapons, but said there is no evidence he planned to use them.

"It was not a situation where they were at arm's reach, ready to respond to some invasion. They were miles away stored," she said. "Nothing I've seen from the government or from him indicates that the United States as a country had any reason to be afraid of Bill Krar."

But federal investigators believe Krar's past behavior indicates his potential for domestic terrorism.

In 1985, Krar was arrested in New Hampshire for impersonating a law enforcement officer, according to the FBI. He stopped paying federal income taxes in 1989. His ties to New Hampshire's white supremacist and anti-government militia groups in the mid-1990s were investigated by federal agents.

Firefighters battling a blaze at a New Hampshire storage building in June 2001 discovered thousands of rounds of ammunition and four guns. Some belonged to Krar.

An employee at another New Hampshire storage company told investigators she feared Krar because he was "wicked anti-American," often ranting about government corruption and how he hated police officers and Americans in general because they were "money-hungry grubs," according to an FBI affidavit.

Last January, a Tennessee state trooper stopped Krar for a traffic violation and found in his rental car two handguns, a grenade, handcuffs, a gas mask, 16 knives and 40 wine-like bottles filled with an unknown substance.

Most curious were handwritten notes that listed "meeting places," including hospitals or Wal-Marts in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. The notes also outlined a code for referring to the level of danger, from "Lots of light storms are predicted" to "Tornadoes are expected in our area - Things very hot. Lay low or change your travel plans."

Krar told investigators the code was part a plan to help his girlfriend escape her ex-husband.

Despite the warning signs, Krar was not fully investigated until the fake documents went to the wrong address. And even that red flag may have been ignored if not for the heightened attention after Sept. 11, Featherston said.

Some contend the government is so focused on foreign terror threats that it overlooks domestic dangers.

"I have no doubt whatsoever that had these men been affiliated with al-Qaida, we would have heard more," said Daniel Levitas, author of the book "The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right." "There is something of a blind spot within the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., when it comes to the violent potential of America's own homegrown version of al-Qaida."

Featherston said hundreds of subpoenas were issued and the Texas case was investigated just as thoroughly as foreign cases.

"There's international terrorism and domestic terrorism, but they're all terrorism," he said. "I don't care which one it is or what color their skin is. If their intention is to do harm to the citizens of this country, then all the resources necessary from the local level to the federal level will be put into the case."

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/7836911.htm