Looks like it is. Reminds me of some AC-130 footage I saw from Afghanistan a year or so ago. Nasty sh-t. My jaw was on the floor with this one. Thanks for the link.
ABC says they originally obtained it, and it is real.
I posted a link to this video a month or two ago in another thread - kind of old news.
Yeh - funny thing actually, I took a copy of this up to show my GFs family. I have ‘both’ copies. The short and long version. they’d seen the short version on CNN just two days ago and were saying "oh, we’ve seen this - yeh saw this on pay TV already. " I replied with “yeh I got it off the net TWO months ago.” then showed them the long version where the pilot was asking permission and stuff “oh,… oh. we didn’t see this on the news”
hmm…
What the hell was that from?
A U.S. Apache chopper firing on Iraqi insurgents in Iraq. Not a pretty sight, and not a gun you want to be hit with. It was odd how the others kind of just stood around after the first guy was disintegrated in front of them.
I imagine that if that were to happen to me (some guy disintigrates right before my eyes), I’d be scared completely stiff, unable to move. Not too surprising when you think about it - your brain just freezes.
The second guy is frantically trying to unwrap something after the first guy is hit — the thing they had just hidden, I guess, and that doesn’t make sense unless it’s a Stinger or an RPG. Also, you can see the third guy run off to the right early on — he hid under the big truck, I guess, and then tried to roll out from under it when the pilots were looking.
I’m Googling for the full version of the video, but all I’m finding is lefty blogs calling it a massacre and righty blogs whooping it up.
About that… I have a hard time getting behind someone saying “he’s injured… get him!”, but if they’re in an Iraqi insurgent group, they aren’t exactly innocent to start with.
Keep in mind that it was night. That’s IR footage. The guys on the ground probably had very little idea what was going on or where the incoming fire was coming from than.
About that… I have a hard time getting behind someone saying “he’s injured… get him!”, but if they’re in an Iraqi insurgent group, they aren’t exactly innocent to start with.[/quote]
Yeah, that’s why I want to see the rest of the video. I’m sure I won’t be able to judge for or against the presence of an RPG or a roadside bomb, but I feel bound to do more than just follow my prejudices when viewing something like this.
Given that we know the Iraqis are capable of shooting down Apache helicopters, and you’re dealing with a situation involving a truck (which could be carrying God knows what) and a fuzzy IR image which could easily blur the presence of an anti-air rocket until it’s too late, I have no problems with our boys shooting first and sifting through the wreckage later.
A friend of a friend (seriously) just killed two Iraqis last week. He was a photographer, scoping out a pickup truck for practice with some special forces types, when he realized there was a SAM in the back of it.
Upon telling the two Special Forces sorts of this, they told him he had just been promoted to sniper, gave him the gun, and told him to wait until two of the three Iraqis were in line for a single bullet and to take them out, leaving the third to flee with the missile so they could track down where it was going to be stowed.
Sure enough, the moment came, one shot, one dead Iraqi, and a second with his guts hanging out. The third fled, they followed, found a cache of arms, and took him out as well. The photographer vomited multiple times after seeing the carnage he had wrought.
The Special Forces soldiers, used to this sort of thing, started talking about getting some lunch, specifically BBQ ribs. War does strange things to people.
I hear that it’s completely natural for people to get sick after the adrenaline rush, and that no one thinks less of a soldier for vomiting, as long as he/she can pull herself back together soon after and get back to work.
Shooting with a long lens is eerily similar to sniping with a rifle. You do everything you can to reduce vibrations and camera shake. The rifle/lens is attached to a support. You put the focusing point/ crosshairs over the target. You fiddle with the focusing ring/sight for range. You squeeze the shutter/trigger the moment after you exhale.
double post
Presumably, that’s why they had him do the sniping.
If you guys want the full version I’ll put it on my site when I can later tonight - then come back here and link it.
ok - here it is - 12 meg.
http://z0r.deadbored.com/stuff/apache_mission_in_iraq.avi
if it doesn’t work properly it’s just my hosts ex host being stupid
(something about them owning part of the rights to his .com of some bullshit)