Quote Originally Posted by Fuchs View Post
A policeman also needs to do snap judgments sometimes and may be tired.
Nevertheless, we expect him not to kill without a reason that withstands a judge's curiosity - or else he faces and deserves serious problems.
I'd like to note, here, that the Apache pilots' reasoning did withstand (the equivalent to) a judge's curiosity.

Quote Originally Posted by PeaceOutE View Post
Since when is it against the rules to have an AK-47 in Iraq? This is not a justified ground to attack an Iraqi as it is their legal right as Iraqis to own one AK-47 per household. Granted, if the AK-47s where directed at an incoming host nation or other MNC-I combat troops the Apaches would be justified in their attacks.
Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't believe private citizens in Iraq are allowed to own any number of RPGs. There was at least one RPG-7 visible in the gunsight video, and an RPG-7 and rounds were discovered by the ground troops who arrived to secure the scene.

As far as the camera, the telephoto lens of the cameraman is amazingly huge and at first caught my eye. Then I saw an image of the photographer with a massive telephoto lens. Regardless, the object in the video is smaller than an RPG.
I would point out that I know several people who know what to look for, who had to double-check to make sure the object in the video was a camera. If you got it right the first time, good for you--but you did so with advantages that the Apache crew did not have. Namely, the leisure to focus on the video exclusively; and the headlines that forewarned you that a guy with a camera got blowed up.