U.S. Helicopters filmed firing into crowd of civilians

[hot_pastrami]

A Reuters reporter and cameraman were filming a report in front of a crowd which had gathered around a Bradley fighting vehicle which had been damaged several hours previous. While filming, U.S. helicopters showed up and fired into the crowd.

From a Telegraph article:

None of the three heard the helicopters until it was too late. As Tumeizi spoke into the camera, the first gunship opened fire. Within seconds, all three men had been hit.

The footage released by al-Arabiya shows him pointing to the smoke billowing out of the Bradley moments before the helicopters began firing.

"It gave no warning," Khalil said. "Everything happened so quickly. We fell to the ground. I heard Mazen shout 'I'm going to die! I'm going to die!'

"I crawled across to him. I could see it was bad. He was on his front and his back was open. He couldn't breathe properly. 'It's all right,' I said. 'Don't be afraid. Help is coming.' I don't know if he heard me. He couldn't speak. He was moaning quietly."

With a broken leg, shrapnel injuries to his stomach and head wounds, Khalil could do little to help his friend. Fouad too was badly hurt while, further away, Guardian and Getty Images reporter Ghaith Abdul Ahad was nursing a head wound. "Around us were others dead or injured. People ran away but then some came back to help."

As they did, the helicopters made another pass again opening fire, Khalil said. "People trying to help us were wounded or ran away. After a minute, the helicopters came back and fired again. They came three or four times."

Within 10 minutes of their arrival at hospital, Tumeizi was dead. An 11-year-old girl brought in at the same time also died, one of 13 killed in the incident, according to health ministry officials.

From Another article:

"I am a journalist. I'm dying, I'm dying," screamed Mazen al-Tumeizi, a correspondent for the Arabic television channel al-Arabiya, after shrapnel from a rocket fired by an American helicopter interrupted his live broadcast and slammed into his back.

Twelve others were killed and 61 wounded by rockets from two US helicopters on Haifa Street in central Baghdad. They had fired into a crowd milling around a burning Bradley fighting vehicle that had been hit by a rocket or bomb hours before.

This story, and the others like it, makes me ill. I think it's a safe bet that Bush is responsible for far more innocent civilian deaths in Iraq than Saddam ever was. Meanwhile, Osama sits comfortably in a cave somewhere while Bush is busy using his military for a personal agenda.

I know this topic has been beaten to death, but once in a while something truly appalling happens that reminds me how misguided and unspeakable our president's actions have been. God, I hope he isn't re-elected.