Dealing with Lox first:

Baghdad July 2007 & London November 1940

No.

You're right.

The two situations are completely different.

Thank you very much for admitting that so why the fuck did you make the comparison?? Totally irrelevant.

In WWII, did family groups go round when there were no air raids on?

Yes.

Just like the family in the van.

Well no actually they didn't, it would have been considered extremely unpatriotic and counter to the war effort had they even attempted to. I know from what you have written that you did not live through those times and have at best a BBC/ITV picture of life in those times. Families did not go for "outings", they did not have the money, transport and travel were generally very restricted. Most Dads were away serving in the armed forces, or both parents were working every bloody hour God sent, so "family outings" were suspended for the duration, a sacrifice that I know you would not even begin to appreciate.

As for the rest of your idiotic post Lox - If you are fighting a war then there is only one rule, there is only one guiding principle -YOU FUCKIN' WELL WIN IT - nobody is going to give you any accolades for coming second whilst obeying all the imaginary "rules" that you seem to think exist, and that everybody else supposedly adheres to, the opposition out in both Iraq and Afghanistan obeys no rules, we kill them, or they kill us, at least I know whose side I am on. That chum is reality get used to it.

Are you trying to convince us that the helicopter pilots were defending themselves?

No not for one milli-second, the crews of those Attack Helicopters were there to destroy those who wished to inflict harm on any US troops operating in that area - That is what they did, and in that objective, on that particular day they were 100% successful.

Now on to Don T:

If you truly believe those bastards did their job in an acceptable way, and displayed an acceptable attitude to those they slaughtered, then you are as heartless and unprincipled a bastard as they.

Did they do their job in an acceptable way - Yes without any shadow of a doubt.

Did they display an acceptable attitude - To my mind no they did not, but I do not know the full story, and I am unaware of exactly what these guys had been through, so I would reserve my judgement on that until such time as I am aware of all the facts. You on the other hand jump to conclusions all too readily.

Now as one of the unmounted US squaddies approaching that position in Baghdad on that afternoon in July 2007 you ask me if I would rather have YOU Don T looking after my security as I advanced through the area, or one of those heartless and unprincipled bastards in the Apaches, I am pretty sure where my vote would go. Results speak louder than words, they are there to make sure I do not get killed. Your choice, if you wish to take up the gun expect fully to die by it. If you are some twat of a journalist who wants a scoop that involves people getting killed - at least have to common sense to pick the winning side to photograph it from.

Got your mind reading ability sorted then?

Damn sight better than you have.

You know what their intentions were?

Don't need to know what their intentions were sunshine, all you need to to know is:
1. They are armed
2. Our guys are moving that way
1 (above)+2(above) = Legitimate target

You know that they were aware of the approaching troops, though they were not(according to you) aware of the choppers circling the area. I wear specs, but I'm still pretty sure that a chopper circling slowly at a three mile range would catch my eye.

Not a clue Don, what these clowns were or were not aware of, none of that matters, YOU (Helo Pilot) know where YOUR troops are going to go and if these fuckin idiots are on that line of march then they automatically become a threat and you act accordingly - you take them out before they can kill any of your troops.

By the bye, Don T, in a city environment, a helicopter, could be hovering less than 1000 metres from your position and you would not see it, you would not hear it. I will give you an idea of the optics these machines have. A camera pod fitted to a Torando at 65,000ft over the Ilse of Wight, can read (through cloud cover and haze) the time, to the minute, on the face of the clock on the Tower of Houses of Parliament.

You believe that men setting up an ambush would naturally stroll about without seeking cover of any description, and gather in a bunch on a street corner for a quiet chat while the choppers circled in view.

Refer to the above, these clowns had no idea that the helos were there. I asked previously for you to benefit us with your extensive experience in guerilla warfare and tell us where and when these guys would have been briefed, personally I still believe that you think that all that sort of shit is done by telepathy - Believe me you Prat it is not, those setting the ambush have to meet to discuss exactly how it is going to be sprung, if you do not acknowledge that then you are a bigger idiot than even I can imagine.

Insurgents that bloody stupid have survived since 2003?

Well by and large DonT they haven't. Taking into account Foreign Jihadi Fighters; Ba'athist Insurgents; Al-Qaeda-in-Iraq, since 2003 round about 50,000 of them have died, doing exactly what the prats shown on the film did. Doubt that then ask Al-Qaeda's No.2 whether or not Al-Qaeda "won" in Iraq? He declared it a massive defeat and a campaign that was completely counter-productive.

From the FOOL we get:

So if the local Sheriff tells his posse to murder someone, then they should obey

Classic example of an unlawful order, that any member of the said posse should by all rights refuse to obey. YOU FOOL obviously have no concept of what constitutes a lawful command and what DOES NOT - I DO, in my time in the armed forces I have refused to obey two direct orders that I deemed to be unlawful, in both instances MY interpretation was upheld against my senior officers.

the looney bloodthirsty video game trained pilots DELIBERATELY MISLED their 'controllers' to bully them in giving the order to commit murder on unarmed people - that's what the video shows, and that's why the military tried to hide the evidence.

Number of points here FOOL:

1. Callsign Hotel 26 would be able to see through a relay the real time pictures being viewed in both Attack Helicopters, nobody was being misled deliberately or otherwise by anybody.

2. Within the group there were at least four armed men that I could see. Run that footage through enhancing software and it would become even clearer.

3. Within fourteen days of the incident taking place Reuters in Baghdad had seen everything there was to see - hardly a cover up. The Military made no attempt at all to hide anything either from senior commanders or from the employers of those killed.

Now come on FOOL tell me why those Reporters were not wearing their "flak-jackets", tell me why they were not wearing their helmets?? Tell me why the fact they were not wearing conspicuous items of clothing that could have identified them as "non-combatants" was not a contributing factor in their deaths?