Law Students

What is it Good For?

First, some back story. In July, 2007, two Reuters photographers were killed during an altercation with American Apache helicopters in Baghdad, Iraq. The helicopters were assisting ground forces who had been fired upon by insurgents with RPG's and smaller weapons. The aircraft found a group of 8 to 12 people including the journalists, whose cameras they mistook for weapons. After determining the cameras were weapons, discussing the issue, and obtaining permission to fire, the helicopters killed most of the people on the ground. A van rushed to the scene and began collecting wounded and (from the aircraft's vantage) weapons. After obtaining permission, the helicopters fired upon the van. Ultimately a dozen people were killed, and two children who were inside the van at the time were wounded. Reuters demanded an investigation, the result of which was a finding that the American gunships had fired in accordance with applicable rules of engagement.

Until today, that's where the story seemed to end. This afternoon WikiLeaks (who are a fascinating group -- check them out) released leaked classified video footage taken from the gunship, along with dialogue. United States Command has since confirmed the video's authenticity, and also released photographs of the scene. The photographs do show machine guns and grenades near at least some of the bodies. There are thus two ways to characterize the events: one is a story about United States forces engaging what appeared to be insurgents, and the other is a story about innocent journalists killed in the street.

Both stories are true, though neither is complete. My view (and yours may differ) is that the American soldiers made an understandable but horrible error. You can come to your own conclusion by watching the video, but viewer beware: the video depicts a military altercation as disturbing as it is professional. This is footage of a tragedy unfolding, and unfolding in a way that greets the viewer with an uncomfortably dark feeling of inevitability.

Dark feeling of inevitability. That brings me to the point of this post. The United States has lost 4,287 soldiers to date in Iraq. As of today, 30,112 American solders have been wounded -- just a few hundred fewer than the combined graduate and undergraduate population at UC Berkeley. The documented civilian death toll is between 95,775 and 104,481, depending upon the source -- approximately the entire population of the City of Berkeley. I honestly do not see how tragedies like the one described above can be avoided as long as we are in Iraq. Simple mistakes, as the video footage shows, bring horrendous consequences, and there is only one way we can put an end to it. We need to get out of there.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on April 06, 2010 (boomark / email).