NationStates Jolt Archive

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/middle_east_shooting_in_tal_afar/html/1.stm
US soldiers in Iraq approach a car after opening fire when it failed to stop at a checkpoint. Despite warning shots it continued to drive towards their dusk patrol in Tal Afar on 18 January.
nside the car were an Iraqi family of seven. The mother and father were killed but their five children in the backseat survived, one with a non-life threatening wound.
While it seems the US troops were well within their right to open fire, as the car didn't stop after warning shots, picture 3:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/middle_east_shooting_in_tal_afar/html/3.stm
Is pretty difficult to defend. This pic may become like the one of the naked Vietnamese girl running down the road.
Certainly going to do a lot of damage to Iraqi perception of US troops.

US troops can't win in the court of public opinion. If there were no checkpoints insurgents would be even more out of control than now and the US would be hated for failing to maintain order. If we have checkpoints some idiot will try to run them and get shot. We should forget about being seen as nice guys and just get the job done so we can get out.

it was well within their right to fire......and i don't thin that troops should be seen as evil becasue they did this.....i doubt they knew who/what was in the car neway....it could have been a car bomb for all they knew.....it's strage that atrocities are overlooked when someone else commits them, however this is far from an atrocity...

Nah, I'm against the war an' all that blah blah, old info... but I really can't see how this could be held against them. It was night, or dusk, at the very least, after all, even if they were very lenient, they wouldn't be able to see into the car til it would be too late if it was a carbomb. Whilst it's terrible that it happened, it wasn't the soldiers fault.

it was well within their right to fire......and i don't thin that troops should be seen as evil becasue they did this.....i doubt they knew who/what was in the car neway....it could have been a car bomb for all they knew.....it's strage that atrocities are overlooked when someone else commits them, however this is far from an atrocity...
Opening fire was certainly the right thing to do, but it won't be interpreted that way by many who have an ax to grind with the US.

Yep, I'm with the majority here. Those soldiers could have no idea who or what was in that car. I haven't seen a copy of the RoE, but I would certainly say that they were well within them. If a driver can't work out to stop after warning shots are fired, and fail to stop at a checkpoint, it's their own damn fault.

this is a terrible thing for the united states. our enemies will use this to paint a broad stroke of defamation against the US and the military. Im willing to bet things like this have happened before but the lack of such graphic photographs didn't bring it to center stage in the media apparatus. Don't be too surprised to find the photos plastered as murals in cities within islamic fundamentalist countries such as Iran. The photos will be used and misused like tha Abu-Graib pictures to whip up support against american interests around the world.

If we cared what the rest of the world cared about us we would not have invaded in the first place. As for this when you approach a road block you stop for it, if you dont you are assumed hostile and with very good reasons. There were how many car bombings this morning alone, three?