<<Michael are you denying that this event took place in what was a very hot combat
zone at that time of the Iraq war? >>
Come on, CU4, get real. Was there anything in that video that gave the appearance of a "very hot combat zone?" Did those guys sound scared or excited to you, like someone was firing or about to fire on them with live ammunition? Did you hear how casually, without any hint of urgency in their voices, they radio'd for permission to shoot up the van? BULLSHIT this was combat. I know it wasn't and so should you.
The Army sounds like a comedian from an old vaudeville sketch, "Who ya gonna believe, me or your own lyin' eyes?" It's funny to watch because in real life who is so stupid as to be convinced by some slick-talking con artist that what he saw with his own eyes wasn't what it all too obviously was? (Usually it's the guy caught by his wife in bed with a bimbo. "Who ya gonna believe . . . ?)
The army and those Neanderthals in the chopper want you to believe that this was a battle. They called it combat. But they held onto that tape buried in the vault and wouldn't show it to anyone. Reuters was still fighting in the courts for an order to get that tape and their chances didn't look so hot. If it weren't for some courageous whistle-blowers inside the Army itself, that tape would still be buried in an Army vault. Is that really how an innocent party behaves? Bury the evidence at all costs? Come on, CU4. If you were on a jury in a murder trial, and you heard that the accused busted his ass to hide a film of the event, that would mean nothing at all to you? If you suspected your bookkeeper had been embezzling money from you, but he hid the books and fought you in court to keep them hidden from you, WTF would you really think - - that the guy was innocent but had a genuine fear you might misinterpret the books?
<<Seriously there had been numerous American soldiers killed
and helicopters shot down and fired upon in this same combat zone. >>
When? Where? You probably couldn't find a street corner anywhere in Baghdad where some kind of shit hadn't gone down somewhere. The fact is there were no American soldiers being killed in the streets below at that time, there was no firing from the street, there was no fire coming from the van which was trying to pick up the wounded and there was absolutely zero evidence of insurgents inside the van, which the soldiers saw arrive on the scene.
<<Michael that is just not true. This was a very dangerous area.>>
Use your head, CU4? Did it look dangerous to you? Did you see any evidence of the danger? Every street corner in fucking Baghdad is probably a "dangerous area" at some point in the 24-hour, 7-day cycle, but was it dangerous to those guys at that time? Use your head, CU4 - - you heard those guys yourself. Honest to God - - did they sound scared? Did they sound like guys were shooting at them? Did they sound like their lives were in danger? Where was the urgency in their voices? Where was the tension? Haven't you ever seen combat newsreels of guys in a firefight? I'm not saying nobody jokes at all, but these guys were joking all the time, and I never saw any combat newsreels of anyone that laid back under fire, nor, I bet, did you.