Another video from Hit, Iraq

This shows my buddies unit (working with Iraqi units) searching a house for "Slaw" or Kalashnikov.

I think this is a good representation of what normally happens between the Iraqi people and the US military. As much as people would have you believe we are monsters, this is the common behavior. Yes, we have a few bad apples but for the most part we Americans are caring people.

/beuo6

Intresting video, plus thats a very nice house
wish mine was that large

Great Post Dronetek,

The only images the media ever show from Iraq are ones of destruction and chaos so its nice to see something a little different. Hows your Buddy finding Iraq? I wish him luck and hope he completes his tour unharmed.

Btw, do you have any more videos like this?

Sure. These are from the previous series I posted.



Video #1:
/dthbf

Video #2:
/8jf29


Video #3:
/czpxu


Here is one more showing the marines walk the bridge after the battle.
Video #4:
/9j9a6



edit: If you meant videos of them hanging out and talking with local Iraqis, then yes. I have a few more of them playing with the local kids.

[edit on 2-12-2005 by Dronetek]

Sorry but I don't think this kind of thing illustrates very much.

Obviously it says that not everywhere in Iraq is a fresh battle-zone.

I suppose it also says that there are numerous times when Iraqi and foreigner (whether it be US or UK etc) nationals can and have acted like 'normal' civilised people towards each other; for some of the time at least.

In Northern Ireland we often saw similar sights between the British soldiers and the kids and some of the people in staunch republican or nationalist 'areas'; it did not mean everything was OK there or that those locals in that instant of civility and 'normality' supported British sovereignty in Northern Ireland.

My friend out in Iraq does not come back with stories of how great it is all going nor that it is getting better.
Quite the opposite.

It isn't called the most dangerous country in the world for nothing now.



[edit on 2-12-2005 by sminkeypinkey]

Originally posted by sminkeypinkey
Sorry but I don't think this kind of thing illustrates very much.

Obviously it says that not everywhere in Iraq is a fresh battle-zone.

I suppose it also says that there are numerous times when Iraqi and foreigner (whether it be US or UK etc) nationals can and have acted like 'normal' civilised people towards each other; for some of the time at least.

In Northern Ireland we often saw similar sights between the British soldiers and the kids and some of the people in staunch republican or nationalist 'areas'; it did not mean everything was OK there or that those locals in that instant of civility and 'normality' supported British sovereignty in Northern Ireland.

My friend out in Iraq does not come back with stories of how great it is all going nor that it is getting better.
Quite the opposite.

It isn't called the most dangerous country in the world for nothing now.



[edit on 2-12-2005 by sminkeypinkey]

Excuse me for posting a a video that dosnt demonize US soldiers. There is already so much of that around here I thought we needed a change of pace.

Great video's Drone

Unfortunately the only type of video's accepted around here are ones of Americans doing bad things so that way we can be cut up and degraded by many.

A bunch of guys in my Unit just got back from Iraq and yes not all of it is death and destruction. But then it is not the best yet over there but I feel that one day it shall be. Just takes a lot of time and patience.

Originally posted by Dronetek

Excuse me for posting a a video that dosnt demonize US soldiers. There is already so much of that around here I thought we needed a change of pace.

I agree totally! It is nice to see American soldiers doing something besides
killing innocents. I expect a slanted bias from the world media towards making Americans out to be immoral and deranged murders, but even the American media only reports the negative. Down at the Rusty Pelican (my favorite watering hole) we say it's so much easier to kick a drunk when he is down than to help him up, brush him off and buy him another beer. Pedro my macaw says 'Every journalist has three stories, 1)What really happen, 2) What they wanted to happen, 3)What's gonna get them on the 6 o'clock news'. Unfortunately American's making nice with Iraqi's isn't news worthy.

Originally posted by Dronetek
Sure. These are from the previous series I posted.



Video #1:
/dthbf

Video #2:
/8jf29


Video #3:
/czpxu


Here is one more showing the marines walk the bridge after the battle.
Video #4:
/9j9a6



edit: If you meant videos of them hanging out and talking with local Iraqis, then yes. I have a few more of them playing with the local kids.

[edit on 2-12-2005 by Dronetek]

Much obliged my good man, cheers.

BZ Drone!

Keep that stuff coming. Its good to see another perspective, for a change.....

Originally posted by Dronetek
Excuse me for posting a a video that dosnt demonize US soldiers. There is already so much of that around here I thought we needed a change of pace.

- Er, well actually my comment had nothing to do with you posting the video nor with trying to "demonise" US soldiers.

It was your comment -

I think this is a good representation of what normally happens between the Iraqi people and the US military. As much as people would have you believe we are monsters, this is the common behavior.

that prompted mine.

Like I said, in Northern Ireland some people wanted to use the 'it's not like that everywhere and all the time so it's probably ok' type of line to kid themselves.

Carry on looking for a 'bright side' if you like but I don't think it is saying anything significant in the overall scheme of things.

Originally posted by sminkeypinkey
Like I said, in Northern Ireland some people wanted to use the 'it's not like that everywhere and all the time so it's probably ok' type of line to kid themselves.

Carry on looking for a 'bright side' if you like but I don't think it is saying anything significant in the overall scheme of things.

Ireland is Ireland and Iraq is Iraq my good man!

Demonize all you want, my support is with our wonderful men and women in the service of our nation!

Good show Dronetek, keep up the good work.
It is nice to see someone, somewhere giving the truth equal time even though it is not politically correct!
My personal assisitant Mr. Beezer agrees as well.

- One Man Short ®





[edit on 2-12-2005 by One Man Short of Manhood]

Originally posted by One Man Short of Manhood
Ireland is Ireland and Iraq is Iraq my good man!

- Yet having experienced decades of Ireland it is amazing just how many parallels there are in the things said and the way they are presented.

Demonize all you want

- Er, where have I tried to 'demonise' the troops?

my support is with our wonderful men and women in the service of our nation!

- I see no reason why one cannot on the one hand recognise the whole 'enterprize' in Iraq as the disaster it is whilst on the other retaining every respect and support for the troops on the ground.

I have a friend out there.
I don't think he should be there but that is a comment and attitude aimed at the politicians who got him there and not him.

Originally posted by sminkeypinkey - Yet having experienced decades of Ireland it is amazing just how many parallels there are in the things said and the way they are presented.

so then youre saying what? that the soldiers are going around abusing everyone most the time?

The issue should not be wether or not American soldiers are bloodthirsty killers, but rather what is it about the circumstances in which they are placed that lends itself to the large amounts of civilian casualties comming out of Iraq.

For the most part as stated by others Soldiers are decent and even caring people, after all they have decided to sacrifice a comfortable life in order to serve a cause larger than themselves. However, when you send Soldiers who are trained primarily to close with and engage a regular military force in a classic country vs country war, and then put them into a situation where they are part police officer, part counter terrorist agent then you are going to have problems.

Take a situation that was described to me by a veteran, you have a squad moving down a street, and then they take fire. Well, in basic training you learn that you respond to contact with overwhelming fire to the direction of the enemy, and then sweep through the area to secure it. So what is going to happen is that because of a few snipers, that squad is going to direct as much fire as then can on say a bulding where the shots came from, using small arms motarts and maybe more to kill the enemy, but also resulting in damage to the area and injury or death to any civilian who may be in or around that building.

The result of that and other enemy contact is that the U.S soldier is forced time and time again into becoming an agent of death and destruction to Iraqi civilians, while those who attacked are seen as resistance fighters. This is why I believe we have to either completely change how we fight in Iraq or pull out. There is no way we are going to win fighting with half of our mentality in convetional tactics, and the other in counter insurgency operations. Vietnam has shown us that it simply won't work.

Originally posted by namehere
so then youre saying what? that the soldiers are going around abusing everyone most the time?

- No; I'm saying what I said (please don't try putting words in my mouth, thank you).

Periods and places of relative calm and even apparent normality do not give much of a 'true picture' of anything really and certainly not 'what is really going on' in a place where gross abnormality is rife.

Like in Northern Ireland the fighting was not constant there either and you could, if you looked, often find numerous places and people behaving as they would anywhere; but it didn't show 'what was really going on' or a (for some nefarious reason) unreported 'bright side' there either.

If the political fundamentals are against you/us (and I think in Iraq they most definitely are - US & UK polling show a majority of Iraqis think things are now worse for them since the invasion and occupation - so much for liberation, huh?) then no amount of quiet and relatively peaceful areas or moments of civility between individuals is going to counter that.

As for placing soldiers into a position where they are expected to act as some sort of semi-policemen I think TheEXone has put that very well already.
That is a proven recipe for making matters so much worse.

Cool stuff thanks for posting, Ignor the trolls though, They tend to get pissy when people post things such as this, As it gives them nothing to fuel there fires of hatred.

Originally posted by TheEXone
The issue should not be wether or not American soldiers are bloodthirsty killers, but rather what is it about the circumstances in which they are placed that lends itself to the large amounts of civilian casualties comming out of Iraq.

I'm pretty sure the guys blowing up car bombs in the middle of crowded streets are the ones responsible for most of the civilian casualties. As someone who has been there I know we take every precaution to avoid civilian casualties.

It is really nice to see that kind of exchange happening between Iraqis and Coalition soldiers. Most of what we see is very different. I think because most of the exchanges (in the war-torn areas) are very different.

Originally posted by Dronetek
I think this is a good representation of what normally happens between the Iraqi people and the US military.

I do not think so. It's clear that these soldiers were very comfortable and didn't feel threatened at all. They're joking around and acting as though they're visiting friends, not searching for something dangerous.

If there were some insurgents or someone with an AK-47 in there they'd be dead the casual way they're acting.

So, although this is nice to see, cone on, you guys, this isn't in any way a 'normal' search of a house for weapons. If it is, it's no wonder we're losing soldiers!

Nice video, though.

lol. Yeah, why listen to the people who have been there when we have these arm chair quarterbacks to tell us how it really is in Iraq. Give me a break.