Wikileaks Video Released!!, page 5

Here are a few questions/points I pose to everyone just throwing blind judgment:

On the crew:

How far out were they circling the city from?
If you watch the long video there are parts at the very end during the missiles the camera appears to be at the 'home' position directly below the chopper, and the distance seems very great. (Also for those of you wondering why the insurgents were not firing on the choppers.)

What size screen do you view that camera from in and Apache? Can anyone else see the video live? (For instance the folks who gave the green light to fire.)
Even watching this on my monitor in full screen mode it was very tough to discern clear features, has anyone flown or knows of Apache's and can tell us what the video display is like inside.

I assume the front pilot is flying and the rear pilot is the gunner? Is he wearing full headgear (Helmet/headphones/visor)?
Again sort of falls on the video, is only the co-pilot watching the camera and what is he looking at.

How long had they been in flight?

The ground team:
Why not report over the radio something like 'where are the guns?'
This really confused me, they very quickly identified the two children, but none of the casualties were identified as civilians, and many were still discussing the 'RPG' shell under a body. Now this may have been the reporter's camera in question, may not.

The only other part that is curious is when they initially arrived, they skipped right past the first dead bodies and started talking about the rooftop. If they saw the corpses in the street with NO weapons is that why they just ignored them as not being why they were called to the area?

The driving
In Baghdad you were told not to stop for anything when driving. Someone jumping in front of you could be a diversion for an ambush or stopping you next to a bomb. Those of you crying over the corpses being run over, priority #1 was to set up a perimeter of armor in a situation like that, once you know that you and your men are safe, then you can worry about why you are there.

The civilians:
What are you doing there?
Most press I have seen on the news, in papers on you-tube, etc. They were ALL accompanied by troops or in some way a part of coalition forces. With that there was nothing to identify him as a member of the press.

Even in the Gaza strip guys with cameras and not guns have jackets on with PRESS in giant letters.

Especially in the frames where he is crouching around the corner he just oozes insurgent, just bad judgment on his part.

Help in a war-zone can be seen either way.
No matter what if you are in a war-zone and help out someone who is wounded, you attract the attention of the opposing side. If an Iraqi were to shelter a wounded American, insurgents would have taken out him and anyone else in the house if found.

This also plays into the guerilla tactics a lot of insurgents show, many corpses are removed before they would ever be identified or counted. Many guns removed to fight another day.

This guy was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Even with these there are still a million questions to ask and facts to look up before you make final judgment.

- The military just had its highest death toll in a month in almost three years.
- Multiple suicide bombs killing hundreds of people had been occurring frequently in the past few months.
- Curfews were almost always in effect.

Regardless with every factor put into play this is war. No matter what when your life or your friend's lives are at stake you can make rash decisions, you can make bad judgment calls, you can make mistakes.

No matter how precise our weapons there will always be humans controlling the triggers so they will never be perfect.

I would see this as a huge leap in Warfare when you have to cover up a handful of civilians being killed when a few decades ago civilians were killed by the tens of thousands during wars