Iraq war logs: Civilians gunned down at checkpoints

Iraq war logs: Civilians gunned down at checkpoints

www.guardian.co.uk

Fear of suicide bombers means troops have shot drivers and passengers who were simply too scared or confused to stop.

The victims of these road killings were not always in cars or vans. In Falluja on 26 March 2004 a cyclist approached a US Humvee with military police investigating a booby trap that had just been found.

According to the intelligence report he was riding "very quickly".

(visit the link for the full news article)

It's horribly ironic that so many innocents were mowed down at these checkpoints, not to mention those killed by drone strikes, when Zarqawi himself had made it through two such checkpoints alive with everyone opening fire and a drone tasked to kill him suffered from "technical problems" which caused the camera to gyrate uncontrollably.

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

As much as I hate it, I can relate, Even when we first got to Kuwait, months before even entering Iraq, The fear of the unknown will cause a soldier to shoot first and ask questions last. I can recall myself being at a checkpoint or guard post with my 249 at full ready, and sights locked onto some Kuwaitis head waiting for a false move. I was fortunate enough to never have to pull the trigger. Being there, and reading about this stuff is two different things. I feel sorry for the inosent civilians, but they truely are casualties of war. I would much rather not go to war, but If I am called back, I would be in the same mindset. We should not have been there in the first place.

reply to post by SirKnightE


Apprehension is normal, indeed if you weren’t concerned or on edge then you haven’t been trained very well. The key is not pulling the trigger unless you have a bloody good reason. Were you fortunate enough not to pull the trigger or clever enough not to pull the trigger? You were fortunate enough to not be FORCED to pull the trigger.

HMMM.....

How about this? Checkpoint with US Troops. Vehicle approaches and is warned away. He doesn't, and troops open fire.

One dead Iraqi man.

Two dead Iraqi kids.

Car with a buttload of explosives. They figure he was either killed before he had a chance to set it off, or it misfired.

Now, is this murder? Of course, here on ATS and elsewhere, people will say it is. The pencil-necked geek in his mom's basement that's adding up all the civilian deaths will, too.

Every entry on that leak list tells a story. Too bad no one will ever know it.

And about that example: It happened in my unit. I saw the vehicle afterwards with my own eyes.