First Danish casualty in Iraq conflict

[Az]

I know what that means. I actually remember the expression, but I always thought I remembered it the wrong way.

Hersh: 9.2/10

[Chemical Ollie]

TV news reported that an investigation will be started to clearify if the guy was killed by his own buddies in the heat of the battle. There were two Danish teams, the second one arriving later as reinforcement.

[Gangerolf]

that's not funny ajbera

[MichaeltheGreat]

It wasn't, and it's gone.

[ajbera]

I disagree. Humor is not the same among all people. See the "2 Gruesome Deaths in 1 Thread" thread.

FWIW, I regret the loss of life, particularly under these circumstances. It doesn't mean I won't try to find some humor in it. When I kick the bucket, I hope someone is able to get a chuckle from my death as well.

[ajbera]

It was humorous, but it doesn't surprise me that others don't find it to be that way.

[Asmodean]

Originally posted by Olaf HÃ¥rfagre
TV news reported that an investigation will be started to clearify if the guy was killed by his own buddies in the heat of the battle. There were two Danish teams, the second one arriving later as reinforcement.

When a lot of things happen very quickly in battle, the question always arises: Was it friendly fire or not. It could have been, but let's wait and see what the investigation produces.

Asmodean

[Chemical Ollie]

According to Swedish newspaper DN, the investigation by CSI specialists from Danish police has shown that the Dane was killed by his buddies and that the "theifs" were unarmed fishermen.

Influenced by American trigger-happiness huh?

[Monk]

YEP, until now, we were spoon-fed with the stories of a dramatic firefight against Iraqi criminals. The Danes shot at civilians, neither of which carried any weapons and even managed to take down one of their own in the process. How very tragic, unnescessary and embarrasing, both the episode itself and the reaction.

Edit - in times of war, truth is the first victim. How very convienient for the Danish military -

[DinoDoc]

Was the troll really needed, Olaf?

[Monk]

You're right, trigger-happiness sure isn't an American phenomenon.

[Combat Ingrid]

There was a reconstruction of the shooting on Swedish television earlier tonight. See the pic below for my reconstruction of the reconstruction

D1, D2, and D3 are Danish soldiers. i1 and i2 are Iraqi fishermen in the lorry.

The scenario is the following:

1. It is dark outside.
2. D1 climbs up on the lorry to watch the people inside.
3. D2 mistakes D1 for an armed Iraqi and fires, killing D1.
4. D3 thinks it was the people inside the lorry that fired and returns fire, killing i1 and i2.

[Asmodean]

Originally posted by Olaf HÃ¥rfagre
According to Swedish newspaper DN, the investigation by CSI specialists from Danish police has shown that the Dane was killed by his buddies and that the "theifs" were unarmed fishermen.

Influenced by American trigger-happiness huh?

Yeah...like the danish military makes a point of killing as many unarmed fishermen as possible. GET REAL.

Asmodean

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by Asmodean


Yeah...like the danish military makes a point of killing as many unarmed fishermen as possible. GET REAL.

Asmodean

I quote your initial post:

Now I wonder...why the heck didn't they kill them all, instead of arresting them. Why bother taking them in?

[Asmodean]

Let's just concentrate on the facts here, shall we?

At the time of my posting this, I, and the rest of Denmarl, thought that there had been a firefight, in which a Danish soldier had been killed. It was also thought that the guys that killed this Danish soldier were mere thieves. So please forgive me for being a little overheated at that point.

Now to respong to your post, Olaf. Do you seriously believe that the Danish army, or any of it's employees would even consider killing unarmed fishermen. These guys were on patrol, it was dark, they were heading home to base, so they were probably tired. A lorry appears. They stop it. Soldier A get's on the lorry. Soldier B mistakes soldier A for an armed hostile (he fvcked up, I'll grant you that) and kills soldier A. Soldier C hears the shot, thinking that his comrades are fired upon (and maybe seeing soldier A falling to the ground). So he opens up on Iraqis A, B and C, killing 2 and wounding 1. That's what happened. These things happen in tense situations, where people are armed.

It's regrettable, but a fact of life, that soldiers, however well trained, sometimes do make mistakes. When a soldier makes a mistake, more often than not, it costs the lives of some of his comrades, and maybe innocent civilians as well. If you present a solution to that, well then I think you are a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

But to suggest that the Danish army would willingly kill innocent non-combatants, well that frankly is an insult to me as a dane, and to the Danish army as an institution.

Asmodean