Don't loot- Iraq Video

[Jarnhamar]

Came across this article while surfing. (Has it been brought up yet?)
Kinda funny, kinda sad.
http://www.punchbaby.com/media/gitfakt/clips/sick/DontLoot.wmv

Soldiers caught some iraq's looting so they shot their car then ran it over. Any comments?

 

[mattoigta]

yeah this was brought up before in another thread

 

[Jarnhamar]

Ops, sorry guys.

 

[scm77]

That videos great. I love when they shoot up the car. :akimbo:

 

[Jarnhamar]

It would have been ironic if one of the soldiers got hit by a richochette.

 

[mattoigta]

bunch of cowboys..

 

[Jarnhamar]

Wether what they did was right or wrong aside, it surprises me that soldiers would do this type of stuff infront of a camera. You would think a soldier, from ANY nation, would realise the reprecussions of that eh?

 

[kaspacanada]

It looks like it was only firewood or some wood to mabey rebuild their destroyed homes. WTF??? Can‘t people take some wood to keep warm at night? Can‘t they rebuild the homes that the invasion destroyed? If they were stealing food would they have ripped it from their starving hands? And they guy is a taxi driver? If the camerapeople understood how to communicate, why didn‘t they interpret for the Iraqi‘s???? Who made those soldiers judge and jury? Guilty without any form of trial? Some sense of justice the western world appears to be trying to instill in them.
:akimbo:

 

[clasper]

Originally posted by S_Baker:
[qb] I suppose we could have cut off everyones right hand.... [/qb]

No. But let‘s just say that the soldiers‘ sense of justice in this case was a little more... creative than is normal in a democratic justice system.

I would think the US army has SOP‘s to deal with looters in Iraq. I have a hunch that they don‘t involve shooting inanimate objects and then crushing them for sport.

So how does this footage fit in with the "hearts and minds" campaign?

 

[Infanteer]

People complain about how the US invasion led to looters running rampant, and then they complain when the US forces deal with looters. You can‘t win with the liberal press.

 

[kaspacanada]

comon, its not like they are raiding the walmarts, or priceless treasures. Sure deal with it, but deal with it fairly. Then again, do they have any form of identification there? I have no idea...mabey it was impossible to say, you need to show up in court here at this time. Mabey that‘s all they could have done. But at the least they should have found a way to properly communicate and assess the situation before playing executioner with their vehicle.

People complain about a lot of things, its what liberal society is good at. We have the right to. You should know that being an infanteer...what‘s the old saying, "if the troops aren‘t complaining, there‘s something wrong"

 

[mattoigta]

Look im not saying the US army is a bunch of cowboys - I‘m saying those troops are. "duhh US ARMY TANKERS HUA! let‘s shoot the car first! that‘d be cool!"

What ever happened to professionalism?

 

[Sh0rtbUs]

didnt seem too professional to me.

did seem fun though..

 

[brin11]

Since cowboys are self respecting...I won‘t be dissin‘ yah. So don‘t be hatin‘ so wurd up, homes?

What?

 

[casing]

Originally posted by kaspacanada:
[qb] comon, its not like they are raiding the walmarts, or priceless treasures.[/qb]

What makes you think that firewood isn‘t an extremely valuable commodity there? Is it because of the vast tracts of forest available on the other side of the sand dunes? Without knowing the facts behind the incident, how can we judge the troops? So someone behind the camera says it was merely firewood. How often does the media say things in such a manner to give the impression they want? I have to agree with Maj Baker here. Better that they lose their car than lose their hands.

Edit for spelling.

 

[Arctic Acorn]

That was unbelievable. Who in the **** gave those guys the right to do that? It‘s not like those people are animals, it was wood, for pete‘s sake! How can you expect to instill rule of law and show the Iraquis just how spiffy democracy can be when you can blithely destroy a man‘s livelyhood with a baretta and a 61-ton Abrams? If the yanks are acting like -that- over there, there‘s little wonder that they‘re having problems and uprisings. Those people are not enemies, they were supposedly the folks you were trying to liberate.

Work on your people skills, lads....

On another note, I am especially suprised with your comments, Major Baker. With all due respect, Sir, how can you support something like that? I‘m sure you well know crap like that has an extremely poor impact on the mission in Iraq. It shows incredibly poor leadership, poor control, and total unprofessionalism. I would think as a senior officer that would be plain as day. The men stole some wood and were unarmed, do you really think the punishment fit the crime?

 

[Jarnhamar]

I think if i was the commander on the ground there i would not have let my troops do something like that. If anything it‘s going to breed more hatred towards the allied troops there.

Each situation is different of course and there might have been something left off the footage but it still seemed pretty counter productive.

I‘m pretty heavy handed when it comes to justice i guess but the feeling i got from that video was them abusing their power. Just my opinion though

 

[winchable]

I dunno, it‘s kind of hard to leave something out of the footage when the guy goes

"we caught these guys stealing wood ,so we‘re going to crush his car, US Army tankers..yeaaah."

Although I would question the voice over at the end about the cab driving thing, since that‘s kind of hearsay.

I‘m going to go ahead and assume that the majority of GI‘s aren‘t doing this.

 

[scm77]

We don‘t know exactly who the looters were. They could have been taxi drivers. Maybe they had weapons in their car and we going to be detained so they decided to smash the car. So much of the videos that we see are edited/taken out of context.

 

[bossi]

It‘s difficult to second guess - we weren‘t there
(i.e. it‘s possible local authorities had asked for assistance in dealing with rampant looting, but it‘s also possible this action wasn‘t sanctioned - we simply don‘t know, because we weren‘t there).

This seems to be another unfortunate example of why all troops need to understand their ROE‘s and "the rule of law" ...

It‘s also unfortunate that not all troops understand the concept of "winning hearts and minds".

Like I always say:

Those who appreciate true valour should in their daily intercourse set gentleness first and aim to win the love and esteem of others. If you affect valour and act with violence, the world will in the end detest you and look upon you as wild beasts. Of this you should take heed.
-- Emperor Meiji: Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors, 4 January 1883