Footage from Kunduz strike. - Polidicks

Hey all. Remember the story on the air strike on the stolen tankers in Afghanistan back on 4th September? Well the gun cam footage from the US aircraft has been recently released, I found it on another forum along with a time line of events and thought I'd share it. As its about a new story I hope I have it posted in the right section. Apologies if it is not. Here's the footage, with German commentary. [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwCtTAtVjpU&feature=player_embedded[/url] Timeline: 20.00 - A Afghan source reports that two fuel trucks have been stolen in Aliabad, south of the Bundeswehr camp. 21.14 - On demand of German forces a US B1 Bomber (Which previously was in the region to support German troops) Nickname "Bone 22" is searching for the two trucks, but can't find them. 22.00 - The source calls again, tells the Bundeswehr that the two trucks are stuck in a river. 00.00 - "Bone 22" has found the two trucks stuck in the river, broadcasts the footage live to the German camp in Kunudz. Commander George Klein is watching the footage live, his nickname is "Red Baron". 00.48 - "Bone 22" returns to the base because it run out of fuel. 00.50 - "Red Baron" demands air support again, says that there are troops in contact. 01.08 - Two US F15 arrive over the scene, codename "Dude 15" and "Dude 16". The guncam footage is again broadcast to "Red Baron" in the German camp. The F15's report no friendly forces in the area, and around 50 insurgents. The German command gives them the order to ready 6 bombs. 01.30 - "Red Baron" reports details about his wishes on payload etc and the target. He demands fast air support. 01.36 - The pilot asks if he just should do a strafing run to scare the persons on the ground. "Red Baron" denies this. 01.46 - The pilot asks if the persons around the trucks are a imminent threat. "Red Baron" gives the command to release the bomb. 01.50 - Two GBU-38 hit the target. And, my first response is holy shit, that's a big fireball. Anyway, the footage prompts new questions into the legality of the strike etc. And it looks like the US pilots didn't deserve the blame they got in the beginning when this happened.

dude 15 and dude 16? badasses

-snip- Didn't realise they were civilians and not insurgents.

[QUOTE=Morbo!!!;18585167]In before 'Lol CoD' Oh well, watching insurgents go boom is pretty cool[/QUOTE] Along with 100 civilians?

So it seems this was the fault of either the intelligence services or the german commander "red baron".

[QUOTE=Billiam;18585210]Along with 100 civilians?[/QUOTE] There were civilians? I don't know the background to this shit, enlighten me

[QUOTE=Morbo!!!;18585380]There were civilians? I don't know the background to this shit, enlighten me[/QUOTE] Civilians were clustered around the place where the fuel-trucks were. Pretty much the only thing I can say that isn't in the timeline.

[QUOTE=Morbo!!!;18585380]There were civilians? I don't know the background to this shit, enlighten me[/QUOTE] The Taliban stole 2 tankers on September the 4th, they crashed one into river by accident as I think they were trying to cross it. They told civilians to come and take the petrol out of the crashed tanker so they could free it, an aircraft finds the tankers and relays the footage to the Germans, who order an US air strike which as you can see vaporises the area and everyone in it. Reports vary but some 30 to 70 civilians and around 50 insurgents were killed IIRC.

[QUOTE=Morbo!!!;18585167]In before 'Lol CoD' Oh well, watching insurgents go boom is pretty cool[/QUOTE] Do you even know what was going on there?

Many civillians in Afghanistan support the taliban. So we will probably never know what they were doing around the fuel trucks. It's better for them to stay at home with their families if they are civillians than mess around with stolen army goods. [media]http://www.149fw.ang.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/web/090717-F-9538F-001.jpg[/media]

Yeah to be honest even if they're civillians, they're also war thieves. GUILTY

[QUOTE=Morbo!!!;18585167]In before 'Lol CoD' Oh well, watching insurgents go boom is pretty cool[/QUOTE] Lol, CoD [b]Modern Warfare[/b] indeed. It's pretty god damn realistic if you think about it.

[QUOTE=The DooD;18585920]Yeah to be honest even if they're civillians, they're also war thieves. GUILTY[/QUOTE] Next time I see a thief running with a hand bag I'll just call an airstrike on him.

At first I thought there were only Taliban, but finding out nearly one-hundred civilians were killed I was pretty disappointed. [QUOTE=The DooD;18585920]Yeah to be honest even if they're civillians, they're also war thieves. GUILTY[/QUOTE] What the fuck are you talking about?

[QUOTE=TAU!;18597410]What the fuck are you talking about?[/QUOTE] They were assisting in the theft of military property It's their own damn fault (though to be fair they probably didn't know it was stolen but they probably knew these people were Taliban). Morel of the Story: Don't want to get killed?, don't associate, don't help and just plain stay the FUCK away from the people we're fighting a war with.

Wrong Place Wrong Time?

[QUOTE=The DooD;18585920]Yeah to be honest even if they're civillians, they're also war thieves. GUILTY[/QUOTE] Not if Phoenix Wright is on the case. :objection:

[QUOTE=goon165;18597968]They were assisting in the theft of military property It's their own damn fault (though to be fair they probably didn't know it was stolen but they probably knew these people were Taliban). [/QUOTE] Well that isn't something you should say if we are to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan peoples. But you do still have a point, if they knew it was the Taliban they then they shouldn't have colluded with them in the first place. Even if they do collude with the Taliban you should do precision air strikes to get rid of the insurgents alone. [QUOTE=goon165;18597968]Morel of the Story: Don't want to get killed?, don't associate, don't help and just plain stay the FUCK away from the people we're fighting a war with.[/QUOTE] That I agree on. Now only if we didn't have to worry about fighting the mindset the Taliban put into the people, and not having to worry about fighting in cities.

[QUOTE=rsa1988;18598296]Well that isn't something you should say if we are to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan peoples. But you do still have a point, if they knew it was the Taliban they then they shouldn't have colluded with them in the first place. Even if they do collude with the Taliban you should do precision air strikes to get rid of the insurgents alone. That I agree on. Now only if we didn't have to worry about fighting the mindset the Taliban put into the people, and not having to worry about fighting in cities.[/QUOTE] Well precision wasn't really going to aid anyone in this situation. you have insurgents and civilians in incredibly close proximity with two fully loaded fuel trucks. dropping two 500lb bombs on it probably wasn't really the greatest idea but I can see why the commander went through with it. They stole marked military fuel trucks, if they had gotten away they could have very easily rigged them up with explosives and rammed them in to a checkpoint or a police station and flatten the entire area. or worse drove them into a military base and set them off or just simply took the fuel and made IEDs out of it. all really bad scenarios so I can understand why he did what he did. The Taliban breed violence and ignorance where ever they set up shop and it's really sad that these people can't see that because then they'd see that they are fucking up any chance for progress for them and the rest of the region.

[QUOTE=The DooD;18585920]Yeah to be honest even if they're civillians, they're also war thieves. GUILTY[/QUOTE] yeah, you're right. death for them..

I'd like air strike footage a lot more if it wasn't always grainy black and white footage from cameras that couldn't go toe to toe with cameras from the 1920s.

[QUOTE=goon165;18597968]They were assisting in the theft of military property It's their own damn fault (though to be fair they probably didn't know it was stolen but they probably knew these people were Taliban). Morel of the Story: Don't want to get killed?, don't associate, don't help and just plain stay the FUCK away from the people we're fighting a war with.[/QUOTE] Exactly. Stealing a handbag is a bit different to assisting Taliban move stolen military oil

Oh hey I'm a dirt poor Afghan villager who has just been told to take as much free fuel as I want from a nondescript tanker. Should I be incinerated for my actions?

[QUOTE=Sams Brume;18599795]I'd like air strike footage a lot more if it wasn't always grainy black and white footage from cameras that couldn't go toe to toe with cameras from the 1920s.[/QUOTE] Do you even understand how those cameras work?

[QUOTE=gerbils_alt_2;18608612]Do you even understand how those cameras work?[/QUOTE] Yeah. The footage still looks like shit, though.

I can see how they made such a big mistake, it's practically impossible to tell the Taliban apart from civi's and the German commander most likely thought the approaching people on the ground were Taliban fighters based on the location so thats why they ordered an air strike on it. Doesn't make it any less tragic though. Though I think it's safe to assume that the majority died instantly and did not suffer.

[QUOTE=zombieslaya;18613473]the majority died instantly and did not suffer.[/QUOTE] don't even.

[QUOTE=Sams Brume;18599795]I'd like air strike footage a lot more if it wasn't always grainy black and white footage from cameras that couldn't go toe to toe with cameras from the 1920s.[/QUOTE] i think that's a pretty sick thing to say. you're complaining you're not getting entertained enough because these videos of people getting blown up aren't high enough in video quality? that's kind of sad.

[QUOTE=Sleepy Head;18614814]i think that's a pretty sick thing to say. you're complaining you're not getting entertained enough because these videos of people getting blown up aren't high enough in video quality? that's kind of sad.[/QUOTE] Cause I just get off to these kinds of things.

[QUOTE=Sams Brume;18609841]Yeah. The footage still looks like shit, though.[/QUOTE] They don't use these type of camera's so you can bitch them. They use them for tactical purposes. And it's hell of a lot easier to spot a person on a camera like theirs than a color one.