Apache killing video becomes viral news

http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story795.shtml

Geneva convention ring any bells anyone ?

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A graphic US military video showing the killing of three Iraqi people is being circulated via the web after appearing on US TV news channel ABC News.

The one-minute file, filmed from a US Apache helicopter, shows three suspected Iraqi insurgents being shot with 30mm cannon fire. The clip was cut from a longer video obtained by ABC News last week and verified by a senior US army official.

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Tony Sleep, a freelance photographer in the UK, was one recipient of the file. He was emailed a link to a US academic site that temporarily hosted the MPEG file.

"It's very uncomfortable to watch because it's so calculated," he told dotJournalism. "It's quite pornographic actually."

It is very disturbing. One man is injured and it looks like he can't walk - so the shoot him again to make sure he is dead. Also they see one drop a pipe-like object into a field and decide it must be a weapon. They receive permission over the radio to fire and kill all three within seconds.

The clip is about halfway down the page under the international heading.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/video_index/video_index.html

but it's huge. http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/01/284086.html

http://www.thecia.net/users/stewarte/apachehit.mpg

I hope they were aiming at the belt buckles and canteens, per training.

whatever the cannon was (30, 50mm?) it in essence dissolves the people it hits in a couple of rounds. aim doesn't look real important.