Video Leak: US Attack Helicopter Kills Farmers While Pilot Sings
Jason Ditz,
July 07, 2012
With apologies to Don McLean:
A new video from LiveLeaks shows an AH64 Apache attack helicopter targeting farmers in the Wardak Province, Afghanistan while they were planting poppy seeds. The pilot cheerfully sings a little tune after firing a Hellfire missile at them.
It’s unclear where the new video came from, but it will draw inevitable comparisons to another video leaked in 2010, which showed Apache helicopters massacring civilians in metro Baghdad.
Larry
July 7th, 2012 at 5:13 pm
Brutal disregard for human life. Why (if the LiveLeak web site's description is correct) were farmers planting poppy seeds in the middle of a road? That seems like a strange place to plant them.
O'Brien
July 7th, 2012 at 5:27 pm
Indeed. They meant things that go pop…and boom.
Poppies are not planted in the middle of roads in the middle of villages. IEDs are. Every gun camera vid is not a war crime, except maybe to those who want it to be. Having said that, the singing while ending the lives of other human beings was inappropriate and disturbing inasmuch as it reveals something deeper and more disturbing.
How many fingers am I holding up?
Tanya Kasim
July 7th, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Someone should give Don McLean a heads up about how his song "American Pie" is being used.
persnipoles
July 7th, 2012 at 8:51 pm
I can't tell from the FLIR whether they're just loitering near/in the road or if they're doing something that 'legitimately' gets you ROE'd. Might ask whose road it is? I mean, if they're really shooting the s–t on, e.g., a US Army road, that'd get me so hopping mad I wouldn't even think of looking for the "explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.”
Nick
July 7th, 2012 at 9:03 pm
… and if they where, they have every right to plant them there since they are brutally occupied. In their own country mind you, not in New York or London.
I would,t blame them if the where planting IEDs in our corporate western regimes if they ever get here.
JLS
July 7th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
Washington: "Stop leaking these things!"
Soldier who leaked it: "Stop doing these things."
RParker
July 7th, 2012 at 9:40 pm
The Yankee Zionist air pirate who did this would probably be happy to do the same thing to American civilians when martial law comes here.
guest
July 7th, 2012 at 10:02 pm
The Yankee Zionist air pirate who did this would probably be happy to do the same thing to American civilians when martial law comes here.
___________
Too true.
O'Brien
July 7th, 2012 at 10:47 pm
Fascinating how many people make faulty assumptions based on what is left unsaid.
Yonatan
July 7th, 2012 at 11:31 pm
All in a day's work – murdering with impunity. Soon it becomes second nature.
Mr. Berke
July 8th, 2012 at 12:14 am
Dear Mr./Ms. O'Brien,
"…Every gun camera vid is not a war crime, except maybe to those who want it to be…." You're kidding the world, aren't you? We (the United States Military) have NO business being in that poor, wretched country, now for well over a decade, and the world's only hope for this ENDLESS INSANITY to finally come to an end, is for all of us good citizens to support Dr. Ron Paul, M.D,, Congressman representing the 14th District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives, for the Republican Party nomination, and then to vote for him on Tuesday, November 6th. Please let us all RESTORE AMERICA (and therefore the WORLD!) NOW!
Sincerely,
Mr. Berke
Mission Viejo, Orange County, California, U.S.A.
izazahmed
July 8th, 2012 at 1:50 am
War was and is always killing;there may be different graphs of killing.Almost all the soldiers do their jobs for salary to maintain their livelihood.Most of them generally come from very poor background.The brains which train them make them almost insensitive to human values or humanity while they are in war.We have Generals whose all need whether legal or illegal were met by the leaders of the nations.So we always see the army of a nation standing against their own people, very easily serving dictators,autocratic powers or the agents of corporates houses.There is a conception that generally in a army who have more gratitude or respect to their leaders than to their nation ultimately reaches the top tier – ready to serve more the ruling class than the constitution, its values or people of the nation. For all the war crimes the brain washers ,the political leaders are the main motivators. And the Generals are always aware that their leaders are not going to question them on those 'trifle' matters they are only interested in results. And what about the bright scientists who are producing all those military systems to kill human beings very easily hiding like pretty thieves?Will those scientists be going on making killing machines and developing them in the name of country's defense till eternity? What are they doing or what the protests they are registering against all those innocents killings? Aren't their position showing them people against scientific values? It shows that almost all the defense scientists are just careerists whose only motto is to become rich consumers of the shopping malls and costly life styes.
Mark
July 8th, 2012 at 2:44 am
Human life is of no value to government unless it is in its service. And then only for so long as it can support the state fully.
When will people learn government is our enemy, not those in impoverished countries?
Cold Wind
July 8th, 2012 at 3:45 am
A dark soul indeed. Brutes and devils wearing US military insignia.
Frank
July 8th, 2012 at 4:34 am
U.S. troops are in Afghanistan to get a pipeline built and to get all that CIA heroin out. There is no declaration of war from congress and any body with 10% of their brain intact knows that 911 was a false flag.
Get the fuck out of their country and quit murdering them for the NWO and you wont get blown up with IED's!
Frank
July 8th, 2012 at 4:53 am
U.S. troops are in Afghanistan to get a pipeline built and to get all that CIA heroin out. There is no declaration of war from congress and any body with 10% of their brain intact knows that 911 was a false flag.
Frank
July 8th, 2012 at 4:54 am
Pretty neat how they cut half my comment out!
curmudgeonvt
July 8th, 2012 at 5:42 am
I'm gonna go out on a limb and bet that this never makes the evening news…or the cable news, for that matter. Have to keep the American public ignorant…
anders.
July 8th, 2012 at 5:48 am
so anyone doing anything in the middle of a road in afghanistan is fair game to be blown to pieces by a hell fire missile, because they MIGHT be doing something sinister ? with the threshold for guilt so low it's little wonder stanley mcchrystal once mused that "We've shot an amazing number of innocent Afghan civilians".
Jan Burton
July 8th, 2012 at 5:53 am
Yet still managed to leave the dumbest parts intact!
911 twoofers are a laugh a minute. Thermite!!!!
Jessica
July 8th, 2012 at 6:23 am
Whether or not the soilders’ assumptions were justified based on these farmers’ movements is immaterial. What matters is they were wrong, and we have no business targeting people without substantial proof of guilt. Shooting people who *might* be ‘up to no good’ based on previous behaviors of *other* people is not proportionate response and the argument that they’re operating on ‘a battlefield is a misdirect. While Afghanistan as a whole could most certainly be considered a battlefield, no thanks to our continued presence, preemptive measures can not be classified as defense. We can’t expect people to respect and aspire to our principles of innocent before proven guilty when we don’t respect or practice it ourselves. And this callousness towards death is no shock in light of all that.
liberranter
July 8th, 2012 at 6:49 am
Yeah, that would be interesting. I wonder if McLean is one of those 60s/70s anti-establishment types who's turned state-worshiper in the ensuing 40 years and now "supports the troops."
liberranter
July 8th, 2012 at 6:51 am
Yep. That's one of the main reasons why they're "over there:" Iraqpakghanistan is a training ground for NWO martial law, coming soon to your neighborhood.
liberranter
July 8th, 2012 at 6:54 am
Human life is of no value to government unless it is in its service. And then only for so long as it can support the state fully.
Exactly, which is why it simply amazes me that after 235 years of historical precedent, more Amoricons haven't wised up and refused to join in on the war games (hint: go visit a local VA medical center, or, better yet, go follow a combat-disabled vet who has been trying desperately to get the care and benefits they need, but are being randomly denied such care by a bankrupt government desperate to wash its hands of its own crimes).
liberranter
July 8th, 2012 at 6:55 am
An Amoricon public that is willfully ignorant and will make sure that it keeps itself in that state.
taki2drugi
July 8th, 2012 at 8:36 am
Human life HAS value to the government of any country where the soul lives. The living body adds to the CREDIT WORTHINESS of this particular country. Country credit (or: value) is judged in mineral deposits, intelectual worth, population (sheep count). Police is making sure that the sheep is not killing itself in THEIR SPARE TIME, while being on guard to protect the establishment. For that reason TANKS were issued to the Police. To the Police, repeat. As for the value of each body in particular country – you can find this in $$$. It is calculated and available.
OSHA, for example, "protects workers, their health.." – but somewhere elese I read, that protects the value of the workforce. That is – the sheep flock value. Your life, health is nothing – if not that factor: financial value, hands to operate machine gun or machine in a factory
pendulum
July 8th, 2012 at 8:53 am
Govt's value of human life is restricted to pay tax and shut up, when you are too old – off to the ice flow or mountain top
Coann
July 8th, 2012 at 9:09 am
And if we know for a certainty that this won't make the mass news, then isn't it incumbent upon those of us who know about it to tell the people we know? News can travel as fast as email or twitter messages these days.
persnipoles
July 8th, 2012 at 9:38 am
Read it. http://www.serendipity.li/wot/why_indeed/active_thermiti...
Klyde
July 8th, 2012 at 11:57 am
Hearts and minds boys, hearts and minds!
Khmetikan
July 8th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
amerikkkans see non amerikkkans as less than hue-man "the last shall be first and the first shall be last" – ARMAGEDDON NOW – KHMETIKAN.COM
anonymous
July 8th, 2012 at 12:48 pm
it ok leaking this thing because it is foreign occupation and they won't get punish at all. however washington should stop leaking this type of trigger happy thing if its done on US soiled because they might get punish.
Charles
July 8th, 2012 at 3:15 pm
I guess if he could also dance at the same time he’d do it. That’s what the culture of the US military teaches them. Kill, kill, kill, them damn foreigners are insects. Only we are the foking exceptional in the world.
J Harlan
July 8th, 2012 at 7:07 pm
The targets weren't planting poppy seeds on a road. Maybe IEDs. Maybe nothing. But not poppies as the purpose of planting them is to harvest opium not have your plants driven over, which also makes their identification as "farmers" dubious.
Whether the pilot had any grounds to fire is another question.
MoT
July 8th, 2012 at 9:34 pm
To blow somebody up just because they're in the road is flat out ridiculous. You can hardly make out anything of whats happening. To "ass-u-me" they're planting IED's is a stretch. Plus, anyone who comes out of their hovels to see what in the hell is going on is then fired upon by these bastards. Typical, isn't it?
El Tonno
July 8th, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Really, I can't get into a (frankly manufactured) moral outrage because of some singing. What's he supposed to do? Recite shinto prayers?
There problem is not that there is a singing pilot firing missiles at whomever, but that there is a heli in the first place.
james
July 8th, 2012 at 10:07 pm
I would start singing the moment he target the brain dead Americans, deservedly so.
persnipoles
July 8th, 2012 at 10:35 pm
I'm actually seeing it like a recruitment ad. For the sake of argument, say you bought the GWoT, hook, line, sinker. You see this film, and you've heard of 'rules of engagement.' You sorta knew already that people get killed from the air, and more or less thought it was 'necessary' and served a noble purpose. There's an unarticulated (and possibly unarticulable) connection between GWoT and 'freedom' stuck in your head. Oh, and you raised yourself on cornflakes and video games and you heard the 'peaceniks' were 'freaking out about' it. What are you taking away from this film? Point being, spreading it is a mixed bag.
persnipoles
July 8th, 2012 at 10:57 pm
I read you above, then I had to take the time to look at the original caption, and found that what I'd wanted-to-believe was Jason's description. Then it was a little saddening to see your thumbs-down accumulate. Now I'd like to believe that the caption changed on Jason…
Roger Lafontaine
July 9th, 2012 at 2:40 am
There is no war. There is only a cruel game played by dehumanized men in uniforms who have been brainwashed into becoming glorified murderers and the politicians who sold their souls for power. Do you believe in democracy ? Our democracy is in their hands, good luck with that.
tiozapata
July 9th, 2012 at 5:56 am
The fascist amerikan empire rules through ignorance and fear!
curmudgeonvt
July 9th, 2012 at 5:59 am
Perhaps, but…this "noble purpose" has been getting harder and harder to justify. I'm actually surprised that the "far-right war believers" haven't excoriated Obama for these atrocities – they seem to blame him for everything else… That aside, many of those who elect to enlist nowadays come from the pool of citizens who still believe that there is a "noble purpose" and this pool of cannon fodder is getting smaller as they bear the brunt of deaths. It's just taking a long time because tearing down a structure of belief, especially when it comes to "patriotism" – founded in reality or not..
Rich
July 9th, 2012 at 6:31 am
Pretty easy to sing songs and act care-free when the country you are attacking has no air defenses. I would guess no one would be singing in the presence of surface to air missiles. The U.S. makes sure any country it attacks has little to no air defenses.
Robert
July 9th, 2012 at 6:47 am
Murder Inc. has no regard for human life, or any respect when snuffing it out. Blowback against US terror is enroute, and well deserved.
the oaf of office
July 9th, 2012 at 7:24 am
1st off we do not know the details of who or what these individuals were doing… the Baghdad events was murder pure and simple , and it is a soilders duty to report war crimes of that sort, the murderers of Baghdad should be on tria'l not Bradley Manning ,the soilder that brought it to americas attention, the american soldiers for the most part are top shelf , and those that toxify that highly respected class of humanity need to be brought before the american people and their fellow soldiers as an example to us all that needless slaughter should not be tolerated, there is the need to refflect back on their deeds and examine the damage they not only did to those Iraqi's and their famiys, but also to their fellow soldiers, their country, and most of all themselves, the guilt of the suffering they caused can not possibly rest undisturbed in their souls, and we can only hope some act of contrition might assuage their tortured souls, and give them peace and relief.
Joe
July 9th, 2012 at 7:40 am
These military psychopaths are going to be gleefully following orders from our criminal alien hijacked government and repeating these kinds of cold blooded murders of American citizens, right here in North America – and I predict we'll see it happening before 10 years has passed, if not sooner.
Our offense? Why, we are dissidents! We are opposing these endless illegal and criminal wars of unprovoked, unjustified military aggression by the neo-con hijacked US Government all over the world!
.
johnthebog
July 9th, 2012 at 7:40 am
Who cares whether the peasant is planting opium poppys or IED's in the road. It is HIS ROAD. He and his fellow Afghans own the road. We don't have any right being there. America had no reason to declare war on Afghanistan and did not declare war. This is merely our Defense Department showing we can kick the little guy's butt. Sort of reminds you of the bully on the playground but, in this case, innocent Afghans are being murdered. Don't you wonder whom GOD will hold responsible? I do believe HE will hold someone responsible. It won't be pleasant!!
jrs
July 9th, 2012 at 9:31 am
So is the person who leaked this also going to rot in solitary confinement forever and never get a trial?
Lance
July 9th, 2012 at 9:34 am
What I find most disturbing is that when Americans commit such a crime in another country, then it's people blame it on a few "bad apples". When Syria responds to foreign terrorists who have been armed by NATO countries, then they blame it on the entire government calling it genocide and call for the country's invasion under the pretext of liberation.
jrs
July 9th, 2012 at 9:37 am
"I don't believe there are any Russians and their ain't no Yanks…just corporate criminals playing with tanks…"
for sight
July 9th, 2012 at 10:03 am
The real problem for America will come from all the people in those houses that you don't see.
DICKERSON3870
July 9th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
I'm sick and tired of you pinko liberals always blaming America. It was an Apache helicopter dagnabbit, so it's all the fault of the Native Americans!
And don't even get me started about the Tomahawk cruise missile!
Jaime
July 9th, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Exactly. I cannot tell what they are doing, and I don't believe they werer planting IED's just because the pathological liers say so.
Valerianus
July 9th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
It was a Hellfire missile, not a Tomahawk. And that is fitting because the pilot is a servant of Satan. It was murder, pure and simple. If he is lucky, he will live out the rest of life tormented by the demons that enslaved his mind, for at least he will have regretted his actions and could repent. If he is unfortunate, he will live out the rest of his life deluding himself that his actions were correct, and he will eternally condemn his soul.
RParker
July 10th, 2012 at 12:09 am
He is the modern-day manifestation of Col. Kilgore(Robert Duvall) from "Apocalypse Now" ("I love the smell of napalm in the morning"). Stupid brainwashed psychopathic murderer.
Corazon Jones
July 10th, 2012 at 12:30 am
Whilst we invade and murder, hypocrite Clinton has the hide to tell other countries how to behave.
The legacy of the Neocons lives on, when will they face a War Crimes Trial?
Cheney of course will not face a firing squad, they could not put a bullet thro the heart of an innocent man!
Maj. Chaos
July 10th, 2012 at 4:53 am
If you look at the comments on this Live Leak page, the commenter, johnsonbilly74, states: "Those were just innocent farmers planting poppy seeds."
Perhaps this poster was taken out of context – if he was meaning to be sarcastic. Who knows what those people really were doing in the road? How does one go to the source and find the truth? Air crews supposedly take part in drug-interdiction and eradication efforts, though that doesn't absolve them for the crime of being there in the first place.
Looks to me like someone found a comment to exploit and ran with it to back an agenda.
Maj. Chaos
July 10th, 2012 at 5:29 am
Video I was referring to was posted on Live Leak 2 days ago by: Bu187
Tags: Hellfire, shot, on, insurgents, SUV
Found it by searching recent posts, as I originally came across this story on 2 other blogs, which did not include direct link.
Kevin
July 10th, 2012 at 8:19 am
Who plants poppy seeds in the middle of a road? The FLIR display gives a time of 18:23 when the video begins. That's 6:23 pm. Is the FLIR display local time, GMT, or set to some other base time? I'm asking because if it was done at night, it would give greater weight to the idea that the farmers were planting explosives, not poppies. However, the area the victims were working looks very much like a road, which means it's highly unlikely they are planting poppy seeds. Although it is callous to sing a tune while killing people, the soldier is doing his job. He's been told these are the bad guys. Focus your anger on the administration that sent him there and has the legal authority to tell him who and when to kill.
RParker
July 11th, 2012 at 11:20 pm
Of course the Washington regime is ultimately to blame, but the military personnel who mindlessly carry out the orders are just as guilty. The Nuremburg defense is not valid. They are all scum and the enemies of free people. As I stated in an earlier post, these same brainwashed soldiers will just as easily and happily turn their weapons on us in the not-too-distant future.
Statik
July 12th, 2012 at 3:38 am
Soldiers and Warfighters:
Contrary to what you have been told, you have the right to Disobey! Question Authority, don't be a mindless drone!
Coreen
July 13th, 2012 at 9:28 am
It’s unclear where the new video came from, but it will draw inevitable comparisons to another video leaked in 2010, which showed Apache helicopters massacring civilians in metro Baghdad.
Wikiwha?
July 14th, 2012 at 6:26 am
LOL, planting poppy seeds on or next to a road in a village? The guys on the ground were up to no good and the Apache pilots were given the OK to engage. Planting IEDs or the wire to detonate them, or phasing them in over the course of a few nights is a common occurrence out here. You're welcome to come to Afghanistan and help these 'farmers' out, perhaps show them how to raise a more worthwhile crop. Yeah….I didn't think so.
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A new video from LiveLeaks shows an AH64 Apache attack helicopter targeting farmers in the Wardak Province, Afghanistan while they were planting poppy seeds. The pilot cheerfully sings a little tune after firing a Hellfire missile at them.winter holiday limo
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The aviator
February 18th, 2013 at 10:49 am
I doubt what the pilot did was right. But the fact is that the pilot did that and no amount of complanning is ever going to find out why he shot that hell fire. Farmers in the middle of the road? Really? Who ever thought of that must be retareded.
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Serge
March 14th, 2013 at 1:13 am
What's so reprehensible about singing while on the job?!???
Gurlukovich
March 14th, 2013 at 1:28 am
Mwa-ha-ha… That's so fun! )) I can't wait till they leak some more vids.
Anti sheep
March 30th, 2013 at 9:10 pm
Time on vid is 1820ish. That's about midnight local time. Two killers are planting an IED in Theodore of the road. The pilots watch from a distance. Get confirmation and kill them. It's a damn war. One side tries to kill the other and gets beat before he has a chance. Anybody who believes the innocent farmer planting in the road story is an idiot. As far as singing, everybody has different ways of dealing with the stress of what they are asked or ordered to do.