US military 'shot six Libyan villagers' in pilot rescue

Front page of the Guardian




Update to include the Channel 4 EYEWITNESS report by Lindsey Hilsum who's been reporting from the ground for weeks.

:sarcasm:

n/t

There you have it.

:eyes:

They shot six insurgents.


See the difference?

See how that works? Not only do I not think you know who these dead folks are, I don't think that the Marines know - nor do they care. Well, they care only after the fact, which means nothing at all...

Rec!

Try sorting that mess out if they do.

21:00 The Guardian A US military spokesman has denied reports that US Marines rescuing a downed pilot in Libya on Monday night shot and injured six civilians.

“It didn’t happen, I can deny this 100%,” said Captain Richard Ulsh, a spokesman for the US Marines.

Two pilots parachuted from their US Air Force F-15E near Benghazi after their aircraft suffered a mechanical failure. Two Osprey tiltrotors based on USS Kearsarge off the Libyan coast were dispatched to rescue the pilots, who landed separately. The Osprey has two rotors and can take off vertically before the rotors swivel to allow it to fly like a plane.

One pilot was picked up and brought back to the Kearsarge, where he is being given medical treatment but is in good condition. The US military has said it picked up the second pilot but has not revealed his whereabouts.

Each Osprey was manned by a 12 strong squad of armed Marines, but Ulsh said no shots were fired. “The Osprey is not armed and the Marines barely came off the aircraft,” he said. “I was in the landing force operations centre (on the Kearsarge) and firing was never reported.”

The denial from on the USS Kearsarge contradicts reports on the ground. The Associated Press reports a second plane strafed the field where the pilot went down. It says Hamid Moussa el-Amruni, on whose family’s farm the plane landed was himself was shot.

He suffered shrapnel wounds in his leg and back, but he could still walk. He used an old broomstick as a crutch and said he held no grudge, believing it was an accident. He said the second crew member came down in a different field and was picked up by a helicopter, an account that coincided with the US explanation of the rescue, AP reported.

http://www.libyafeb17.com/

small bubble above is head>>>> "actually it was 9"

The 'rebels' or the U.S. military

both are noble in this cause.

:shrug:

It appears that the helicopter did not do any shooting, but the second strafing plane did.

This is what we're freaking out about?

Our people thought our pilots had been captured when they were merely being feted? And our people who have been taught very well how to shoot to kill didn't kill anybody?

Good grief.

then bought 'em a beer.

Too many movies, man.

in Bahrain and Gaza and Yeman. Lest you forget, we are the GOOD GUYS. We have the RIGHT to dismiss any government we don't like.

War always hurts more than it helps.

the truth creeps out. k&r for the light of day..

- of who sent them there. With so little being know as to who or what we are fighting, who is friend and who is foe, and what the end result is expected to be, I don't blame them for going in with guns blazing. You cannot put our men in life-threatening situations and expect them to sit back and wait to see what's going to occur as that could cost them their lives. Am glad to know that the civilians weren't killed.

in the way the US handles things. Shoot first- is the first line of thinking that needs to go.

the plane was not fired upon
The officers in charge need more intelligence
The military knows their are many civilians around so they need to use restraint
One civilian will lose part of his leg.....

BBC Video: Libyan injured during American pilot rescue mission ‘still backs mission’

http://www.libyafeb17.com/2011/03/march-22-update/

As it appears that the Marines themselves didn't fire but another plane fired, this is much to do about nothing.