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Opinion | Civilians must be made aware of costs of war

Andrew Bowman, bowmanaj@muohio.edu

This week, I watched two reporters for the news organization Reuters be killed by an American Apache attack helicopter.

The incident took place in Baghdad in July of 2007, the highest intensity point thus far in the conflict in Iraq. Wikileaks and linked webpage www.collateralmurder.com released the footage in April, when it was allegedly handed by then Specialist Bradley Manning. He is detained with 22 charges against him.

In the video, the Apache attack helicopter was patrolling over a region in Baghdad where a battle raged. The pilot saw a group of Iraqis and Reuters employees, photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and driver Saeed Chmagh walking down an abandoned street. The pilot said, "Oh yeah, that's a weapon."

It was anything but a weapon. It was Noor-Eldeen's camera with a high-powered lens. In truth, none of the actions of the group could be considered hostile. However, it was later confirmed that members of the group did have weapons.

Most of the fighting and ground forces were east of the position. If the gunner had waited for a ground member to confirm, the whole action would have been prevented. Instead, the gunner begged to fire and got his wish. The group was taken out by multiple blasts of 30 mm gunfire. One survivor tried to crawl away. The pilot finished him off. Even with a bulletproof vest, they didn't stand a chance. Kevlar is more like a flannel shirt when it comes to a 30 mm cannon.

A van pulled up to the scene with several passengers on board. They piled out to help the street filled with blood and bodies. The gunner still chomped at the bit. He requested to engage again, got permission and fired at the van.

The final tally of targets engaged, according to the US military, is 11 insurgents and two civilians killed in action (K.I.A.) with two children wounded. In the van, two children rode along.

After ground troops arrived on scene they shouted out the numbers over the radio. The pilot said at 17:46 of the tape, "Well it's their fault for bringing their kids into a battle."

It's hard not to bring your kids into battle when the battle takes place in your own backyard.

We tend to think about only the Western media members killed in action, such as Tim Hetherington. At the time the video was released, 117 Iraqi journalists, 139 reporters overall were killed in Iraq according to Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon correspondent.

The fog of war leads to mistakes being made; no one can question that. Even with the best military technology in the world, targets cannot always be readily identified, especially in the 21st century when insurgents wear the same clothes as civilians or reporters. But the eagerness of the Apache crew to kill, without confirming the identity of the individuals, seems almost reckless and video game-like.

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Yet, actions still aren't being taken to protect members of the media and other working civilians in combat. In fact, the government has rejected a Reuters Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) as to why the two employees were killed. The government issued a statement saying that per the rules of engagement, the actions taken by the crew were deemed appropriate.

Yes, journalists report about the ugly side of war, which is of course nearly the whole thing. It is imperative that correspondents are in war, despite what warmongers want. Americans need and ought to know what their military is doing. And the fact that not more people, especially on this campus, don't have a sufficient grasp on what is going on in each of America's conflicts is concerning.

For every American that has a right to know what their family members over seas are doing, there has to be someone who is willing to go to the danger zone and report. I am willing, even if it means buying my own Kevlar vest, switching places with Namir Noor-Eldeen and making my family worry night after night. I don't do it for the recognition, but instead so civilians can understand the cost of war.