"ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS"

Image via WikipediaFor those of you who are wondering as to the tardiness of my response, I will explain.  I had indeed seen the original email and response to said email.  Admittedly I had not taken the time to watch the video or do any further research into this incident.  I must tell you, that I have done the above and feel compelled to offer a response to this incident.

I took great pains to watch the video over and over to see if there was ever a point where those 'soldiers' (which is one name you could give them), would be within their 'rights' to "engage" the 'insurgents'.  After careful consideration, I could not see this point.  I am as always and will ever be a logical and objective human being (many times to my detriment).  Therefore I will continue in the same vein even now.  If you were to play devil's advocate, the only point at which they may have been 'threatened' was when one of the people appeared to point a device in their direction.  Oh yes, that's right, a rocket propelled camera.  However as you would notice from the video that when the 'soldiers' came around the building, no shots of any kind were fired by the people (some like to use the term insurgents in a very broad-based way, which I must add is unfortunate to say the least).  The 'soldiers' (or are they terrorists; a point I will address a little later on) chose to engage after imploring their commanding officer.

As the ensuing carnage unfolded it was quite interesting to hear the comments being made by said 'soldier's.  Now I ask you, what is the value of human life?  Do you think by their comments that they care about human life.  Are they trying to bring criminals to justice or are they fulfilling a carnal desire.  Even up to this point, some may still argue in favour of the 'soldiers'.  So let's examine what happens next.

A vehicle gets into frame, sees the wounded man on the ground.  The occupants of the vehicle try to help the badly wounded man, no doubt in need of medical attention.  Again, like rabid animals, the 'soldiers' implore their commanding officer to "engage", saying "they are attempting to remove bodies and weapons".  Yes after all they may take the weapons, and we certainly cannot have that.  I ask you again, do you at ANY time see either occupant of the vehicle take up a weapon?  Unless of course you consider the badly wounded man, a weapon.  You see, these 'soldiers' know full well that the commanding officer will authorize them to "engage" if he thinks weapons are involved. 

Again I ask, where is the value of human life, what did these vehicle occupants do wrong?  I guess being a good samaritan just does not pay.  Maybe they should have done the 'soldiers' a favour and finished off the job for them.

Low and behold MORE innocent people are badly injured:  CHILDREN.  Yes yes maybe they did not see the children in the vehicle..........a most certainly understandable error.  After all how could they, when they were preoccupied with the 'weapon(s)' being taken, never having taken the time in EITHER instance to ensure they were doing the right thing.  "hehehe I just drove over a body, heehee, yeah", "well it's their fault for bringing kids to a battle".  Do any of these quotes imply value for human life or proper justice or do they exude ignorant disregard for life.  I wonder how they would feel if their child, friend or the like was run over like that and people saying the same.  I will guarantee you, they would not try to look for justifications but they would look for their own justice.

Some more food for thought.  And I quote the exact numbers:  Initially the 'soldiers' reported at least 20 plus 'insurgents'.  After the fact, they reported they "engaged" 8.  Let me be clear, I have also looked at other videos from major network news stations where they have shown the entire video WITH national defense personnel explaining what happened.  Out of the horse's mouth, I believe is the saying.  Even after this I saw ABSOLUTELY nothing to change my view of the incident. 

What is the definition of a terrorist?  Quite frankly I don't think I need to say anything more about who or what a terrorist is.  I would simply ask you to make your own determination.  However I will say this.  If ANYONE can look at this video OBJECTIVELY and support what these 'soldiers' did, you need to get your head checked.