Is Iraq really THAT bad?

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This roundup of YouTube clips is meant to give a small sense of what it's like for the people who are killing and getting killed in Iraq — a view that, limited as it is, one can't possibly get from the mainstream newsmedia.

1. Insurgents Shoot U.S. Soldier



According to the slate at the opening of this footage, it takes place on the 4th of July, 2005, so the fact it's from the perspective of a couple of insurgent snipers makes it all the more poignant. There are at least two males stalking the lone soldier, who is standing next to a Humvee on the far side of an automobile thoroughfare. They mutter to one another, perhaps discussing the optimal time to fire. We hear a sudden metallic clunk and then the soldier falls straight to the ground.



On a pro-Marines website also hosting the video, text reads, "Thank God for Body Armor!" and as the hit infantryman gets onto his feet, we see that he's unhurt. He quickly scuttles to the opposite side of the Humvee as the insurgents mutter praise to Allah. Their praise does not sound celebratory, but rather, fearful. Perhaps they expect an inevitable and massive retaliation.

2. Apache Gun Kill



This one has been around a while; it's from December 2003. But this extended near-4-minute footage gives an interesting glimpse into the thought process of people on the triggers of some of the biggest guns in the world. Note the very calm, clinical voices trying to discern what the two targets are doing, what they're carrying and, ultimately, when to "smoke ’em." The men seem to be aware that they're being watched, but it's unclear they know exactly what awaits. (The Apache has the ability to monitor and track targets even when concealed.) Adding to the detachment is the Terminator-like view through the Target Acquisition and Designation System. When the guns finally go, the destruction to the human bodies is sickeningly complete and obvious, even through the infrared scopes.

3. Mortar Attack on U.S. Troops



Here, a small group of troops are outside a military compound in a vehicle when mortars start to rain down. The footage is from a soldier's camcorder, and we hear them saying, "Damn!" as the explosions go off near by. We hear the whistling of incoming mortars, and the shock & awe of the guys when mortars go off inside the compound (“Ohh, right inside the fuckin' base!"). They rush to pack up and go into the compound to help with emergency aid. In the distance inside the compound, we can hear the chaos of urgent voices and we can see plumes of smoke rising. (“We obviously pissed somebody off in the last few days.") The clip has footage of a roadside explosion spliced onto the end; U.S. troops are jovial as they pass 3 apparently civilian cars, smile and wave, and then get hit.

4. Counter-ambush Operation




This dash-mounted video is straight out of Hollywood, and it makes you wonder whether war movies tell us about reality, or help shape it, or both. After an ambush, retaliation is called for. "Shoot those motherfuckers! Get some! Get some!" shouts one soldier as we zip down tight residential roads after an unseen enemy. "Get yer Sixteen up there!!!" Gunfire. "You stupid motherfuckers!" It's chaos, and adrenaline, and of course, death in the streets.

5. Apache Voyeur



It's not all artillery and death, though. The last two clips are glimpses of the lighter side of war. Here, the troops catch another sort of hot Iraqi action. "That's a chick." A dark figure in a convertible car with a ponytail is visible. "What's she doin'?" "She's bouncin' up and down. On him!" A burst of laughter. "I swear to god, man, this chick is going crazy on this guy, it's incredible." Indeed, with the night-vision we see it clearly. The clip is over 7 minutes long, but who knows how much time and fuel was wasted on this "operation." The woman switches positions. "Stop moving," says someone to the helicopter pilot. An official voice says, "We got activity out here but I don't think we really need to report it...appears to be fornication in the convertible." "Do a target/store and I'll be there in a second." "Oh, we're tapin' it."

6. Night Vision Donkey Sex



No commentary needed for this one.

Not all of the above items are new, but as a series, we find them powerful. We decided to exclude montages set to music. (It is possible to find these from Coalition and insurgent perspectives.)



Know of better clips? Leave links in the comments, but please do not embed them.

See Also:

Hallucinogenic Weapons: The Other Chemical Warfare
Catching up with an Aqua Teen Terrorist
Lost "Horrors" Ending Found on YouTube
Homeland Security Follies
5 Best Videos: Animals Attacking Reporters

46 thoughts to “Is Iraq really THAT bad?”

  1. Video #2 is of farmers. Note the lines of cultivation, and where the leftmost one ends there is what is by all rights a tractor. Uncertain as to what the indiv threw into the field. Oh well

  3. Video #5 isn’t from Iraq :(

    I saw it more than a few years ago when my description said it was a training mission in the US for some National Guardsmen. I don’t know if that’s really what happened but it’s most definitely not Iraq.

  4. Yeah, #3 you can hear them say ‘on the ANA side’ after the third round hits.

    I think that means Afghan National Army.

    But yeah, that’s kinda what it’s like, nervous laughter and all.

  6. “Video #2 is of farmers. Note the lines of cultivation, and where the leftmost one ends there is what is by all rights a tractor. Uncertain as to what the indiv threw into the field. Oh well”

    I think the point was that whatever they were doing they were doing it at night… don’t forget those were from IR sensors, not just telephoto lenses.

  8. The first video is my friend from High School. After he jumped behind the humvee he radioed in where he believed the shot came from. The rest of his unit lit up the van. Three Iraqi’s ran in to the street on foot. His unit chased them down, the sniper that had shot him was wounded in the counter-attack. My friend Steve(The US Soldier shot) was the combat medic for his unit. He stabilized the Iraqi sniper who shot him and they transported him to a hospital. Steve is one noble guy, to save the life of a man who shot you only minutes before. I can’t even comprehend it.

  9. Video #2 – Take not to the guy whipping out the RPG by the tractor after the apache starts unloading…. yes those are weapons.

  10. Video #2 is in fact insurgents, not farmers. it was set up as a weapon exchange, but once they noticed the apache, they began to set up their weapons in the field under the cover of a truck that came in (on the left). what they didn’t know is that it was an apache, and had a hell of a lot more ammunition than a Gatling gun. they were not desecrating the bodies in anyway, they were making sure their target was eliminated, and thats their job. saying they did anymore than that is just speculation.

  11. Its pretty obvious that in video 2 they have weapons, they look like rpgs but I’m not sure. If you notice when the guy in the tractor pulls up they begin to remove or put something onto the tractor (one of the weapons) so obviously they are not just farmers.

  12. video #1 where the US soldier was hit next to the HUMVEE.. the whole story is that the marine survived the attack.. then returned fire and hit the insurgents.. the insurgents then fled.. but was hunted down by the marine they shot.. he then caught them and provided medical AID to them.. weird huh..

  13. The narration on ” Night Vision Donkey Sex” video shows a very ugly side of the war as well. I mean bestiality is disgusting, but the narrator makes some disgusting statements about how the ‘local’ populace has sex with donkies, I bet that guy humped the donkey after the guy in the video was done.

    Bestiality is disgusting, and so are racist idiots!

  17. The first video is footage taken by the infamous Juba, the sniper who killed over 70 US soldiers in Iraq. Search YouTube and other online video sites for “Juba sniper” and if you are lucky to find it (it gets removed every now and then after an upload) watch the documentary on that shooting and footage of real kill shots on US soldiers.

  18. Video #2, the first (larger) item thrown into the field is painfully identical in shape, design, and proportion to a shoulder-fired RPG. Its terribly obvious that these men are not farmers.

    Also note that once the Apache engages the targets, they do not run, but instead one attempts to pull something out from under/in front of the tractor.

    I don’t know about farmers where you are… but farmers around here don’t calmly fiddle with bags of soil or seed while being strafed with gunfire.

  19. These are all classic clips from the war that have been around for a while. I saw them on ifilm where they’re categorized by:

    Iraq
    http://www.ifilm.com/collection/602/channel/war

    Explosions
    http://www.ifilm.com/collection/1243/channel/war

    Soldier Uploads (some pretty funny sh*t).
    http://www.ifilm.com/collection/2585/channel/war

    I had heard that #5 – the Apache voyeur one – was from Arizona… but Arizona-Alabama… def not Iraq!

    Personal all-time fav for Iraq video is this somewhat graphic one:
    Deuce Four Sickness
    http://www.ifilm.com/video/2727549/collection/3583/channel/war

    Thanks for putting these vids up for world to see!

  20. Glastrov, you moron. Not one time during the donkey show did the narrator say anything about one “race” doing anything. Shut the hell up and go take your pills.

  21. # Herschel Krustovsky Says:
    November 28th, 2006 at 2:40 pm

    Video #2 is of farmers. Note the lines of cultivation, and where the leftmost one ends there is what is by all rights a tractor. Uncertain as to what the indiv threw into the field. Oh well

    yeah, maybe they were farmers, but as you can see when the helicopter starts shooting, one of the guys jumps for the rpg by the tractor which was wrapped in some kinda clothes , which makes them combatants and not poor farmers like you’re trying to present them.

  22. Hey Jeff,

    A polite little FYI. Appearing in your ganjapressheader.jpg is a chimp. Chimps are apes, not monkeys. Don’t sweat it, no one seems to know this. : )

  23. Chimps are apes, not monkeys. Don’t sweat it, no one seems to know this.

    I do know this, actually. And I occasionally feel ashamed for re-enforcing ignorance about our primate cousins. But when it comes down to it, “monkey” is a better word to have in the title of this webzine than “ape,” but apes have much more interesting faces.

    So, I took the easy way out…

    But, if you come across a compelling image of a monkey that you think would work as well as the ape’s in the header image, pass it on, and maybe I’ll swap it out!

  24. I have a couple of clarifications for video #5. That video was shot on a National Guard training mission. The helicoptor is in the US JRTC in Fort Polk, Lousiana. It’s also NOT footage from an Apache either: it is actually the footage from an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. If you want to be extremely specific, that’s the video from the CPG’s (Co-Pilot/Gunner’s) Multi-Functunal Display on the left side of the helicopter.

  25. #5 Video is actually from a OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. And it was filmed at the edge of JRTC at FT. Polk in Louisiana.

  27. Haha.. I was at LSA Anaconda and we saw the donkey love making all of the time. SO it was not just one chance incident that was captured here. Alot of people from our base and the surrounding ones were quite aware of this behavior with alot of the local men. It is funny what men will do without the proper entertainment. Maybe Allah doesn’t like porno but I am almost positive that he would not approve of “Donkey Lovin’. “

  28. I just talked with my Iranian friend about the “Allahu Akbars” in the first video. He said that the tone the praises were chanted in did not sound fearful. He said that they were normal, just quieter, which is understandable for an insurgent.

    Thanks for the videos, I enjoyed them.

  29. As far as the “Donkey lovin” goes, apparently it is a common thing around those parts. I personnaly had the misfortune of witnissing two Afghanis tag-teaming a single sheep. I could have lived without seeing that, but it does make for an entertaining story at parties.

  32. Those observing soldiers in the last video were not good Christians. They should have listened to their president and read the Bible:

    Leviticus 18:23
    ‘Do not have sex with any kind of animal. You would become unclean by doing so.’

    Exodus 22:18
    ‘Any man who has sex with an animal, is certainly to be put to death.’

    Leviticus 20:15
    ‘Put the animal to death as well.’

    Those who find the original Bible too hard to read can resort to the illustrated version at: http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/beastiality/lv18_23a.html

  33. CLARK is a military PR man. listen to this goblet of spin

    “The first video is “my friend from High School”. After he jumped behind the humvee he radioed in where he believed the shot came from. The rest of his unit lit up the van. Three Iraqi’s ran in to the street on foot. His unit chased them down, the sniper that had shot him was wounded in the counter-attack. “My friend Steve(The US Soldier shot) was the combat medic” (everyone loves a doctor) for his unit. He stabilized the Iraqi sniper who shot him (a complete ghandi figure, i call bullshit) and they transported him to a hospital. Steve is one noble guy, to save the life of a man who shot you only minutes before. I can’t even comprehend it.

    I cant comprehend it either. know what, I can’t even believe it. and the only reason I can think of you spouting that BS is because you pull you’re gov. paycheck by leaving crappy pro-war peaceful soldier PR spin on any site that discusses this stinker of a war.

  34. ICALLBULLSHIT? You can’t believe it? The stinker of a war?
    1st. You can’t believe American soldiers are inherently humane people who don’t HATE the people they have to kill? Our proud police men and women don’t HATE the people they have to shoot, in fact, they don’t particularly enjoy doing it. But it is what they have to do sometimes. Same with Soldiers. Their job is to shoot, kill, blow up, and otherwise destroy the enemy until they give up. When they do give up, or are otherwise pacified, Our proud men and women are more than happy to provide humanitarian aid.
    This is what Americans do. We’re your best friend and your worst enemy.

    2nd. Stinker of a war? Yea..Duh..It’s WAR, it sucks. Noone denies that. This current war is only a brutally extended wrestling match compared to the others we’ve fought, and won. What exactly are you whining about? The civilian casualties? Yea, they suck too. But, it’s WAR, it happens. Check history, 40k Germans in ONE bombing campaign back in the day.
    But today, we’re all nice and polite and don’t do that anymore..75-85% of Iraq is fairly peaceful right now. As for the rest.If we really wanted to end this War, we’d only have to nuke 2-3 cities and that would fix the problem right quick.

    But we’re nice humane Americans, so we don’t do that anymore.

    Ohh, and did you know Iraq is currently the fastest growing economy on the planet? Financial advisers do admit the economy could grow faster, but there are some security concerns. But running at 2-4x the growth rate of the US economy, you really can’t complain.
    Or is it ‘We won WW2 faster than this!’. Yea, but we’re rebuilding Iraq at twice the speed with which we rebuilt Germany. With alot fewer casualties, both military and civilian.
    Any war is a ‘stinker’, but this current one is better than most.

  35. keep on crying.. my beef is the calculating bullshit posted by Clark – feeding us some story that it’s his best friend, a medic, saving the guy that tried to kill him. And why would he write that?

    I feel for the kids stuck in the sand over there, and it boils my blood the way they are cynically used, and the above PR spin is just one example.

    economic growth = happy people … ha ha ha… that’s why so many people are on anti-depressants.. cuz they can AFFORD IT .. *Big SMILE*

    jokes aside, iraq is still not at the level of oil production it was before the invasion, and that is what counts, isn’t it? OIL. and bagdad has less than 12 hrs electricity a day. bad guys are blowin up the power lines in the desert that supply all the juice. don’t take my word for it, check out the story here:

    http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/

    read the blog post LOSING THE BATTLE FOR BAGHDAD

    or (Iraq Insurgents Starve Capital of Electricity, December 19, 2006) linked there.

    any war reeks of the corpses of truth stacked high,
    and yet in IRAQ we still practice the BIG LIE

  36. Bullshit you are a fucking retard. I served in this war and the previous one as a combat medic for the 82nd airborne division and both times I cant even count how many times I treated enemy soldiers. I also took there lives as well on many occasions.

    You have no idea what its like over there or what jobs are performed by our troops everyday. Just because you subscribe to some liberal faggity ass blogsite about whether we are winning or losing does not make you an expert on anything.

    It must be nice to comment on the war from the security and blessed ignorance of your moms fucking basement.

    I dare you to spout your bullshit comments to a veterans face and see if theres anyone around to treat your wounds afterward you fuckin loser.

    Shut your mouth you fuckin dicksucker!

  37. I’m sick and tired of listening to people talk about winning or losing the war over here in IRAQ! Just a heads up for all of you civilians…. Us Soldiers over here aren’t focused in on if we are winning or losing this war! We have a job to do and do our best at it! We don’t ask questions as to why we are doing this, it just gets done! So if any one wants to complain about why we are over here, sign up and join us, otherwise leave the fighting to us!

  38. Now that utube have removed these vids is anyone aware if they are hosted elsewhere?

  40. I came to this site because people didnt believe the stories of beastiality were true. I was looking for any of the videos shot from the gard towers of bases in Iraq. They are completly disturbing but very common. It doesn’t stop at beastiality. I dont want to make an assumption that beastiality is accepted in Iraq or Afghanistan but this just happens to be where our cameras are focused at the moment. But better the Sheep and donkeys in Iraq than the poor little boys in Afghanistan. Yes it is true ask any docter who worked in a hospital in Afghanistan. I have no reason to make it up. The truth is alway stranger than fiction.

  41. Video #5 is from 1997-98 was shot from a Helo Kiowa Warrior Scout Attack CHopper in New Mexico… The pilot who shot this video showed it to me back then..,im surprise to see it on the web Lol

  42. so whats the new reason we are in iraq and why are we still at war…..could it be that the government (BUSH)has fucked up and dont know what to do.maybe everyone will figure it out when the war comes over here maybe when u watch your children get murderd and everyone you love dies maybe then everyone will lurn the reality of the governments fuck up and its a shame that one ass hole red neck is responsible for the death of so many ……………………………………….so cant waight for that day.

  43. Hey Anger: I am a proud American Rednecked Veteran and I’m glad that you have the freedom to voice your opinion just like the Liberal Democrat that you probably are. But, let’s get one thing straight. The United Nations unamously voted for and passed ump-teen Resolutions telling one Saddam Hussein to allow weapons inspectors into his country to insure that he was no longer seeking uranium enrichment to build nukes and that he was no longer using VX Gas on his own people. This man thumbed his nose at the entire world. President Bush gave him several opportunities to comply with those U.N. Resolutions, He chose to stall until the U.N. said it’s time for Military Force! Now I know you want to say, ” But, the President said Iraq had WMD’s and we didn’t find any!” You can spin that any way you want. Here’s the facts. Saddam used VX gas against Iran and his own people in a Mass Murder that killed Men , Women and Children almost instantly! He killed hundreds of thousands of people! I’m proud to say that the U.S. handed that Bastard over to the Iraqi people in handcuffs! Furthermore, not you or anybody else could have forseen that surrounding countries would provide the weapons and men needed to send suicide bombers into Iraq to kill anybody and everybody they could and to plant IED’s to kill our fine Sodiers. Now the Insurgents somehow continue to have the weapons and the firepower needed to kill at will while our fine soldiers bust their asses to stop them. War is Hell and we’ve lost a lot of brave young men and I too would love to see this thing over soon. Also, I’m not real happy with some of the decisions the President has made over some problems here at home but I’m not going to dishonor this country or our Soldiers by letting you disgrace him! I think we know who the Asshole was in Iraq, and Mr. Anger I’m sorry to say I can hear the Asshole in You!!!!

  44. umm yeah iraq is really bad considering my brother is in the army and he is leaving friday 12-7-07 and he is only 20 years old and im 11.So i dont know how your going to ask a fukin’ dumb question like the motha fukin one

  46. ICALLBULLSHIT – I am a professional photographer, I have no affiliation with the government other than the fact that I’m a tax-payer. That really is my friend that I grew up with, we were in cubscouts together and we went to the same highschool. You can research his story on-line and everything I said is true. He really did patch up the guy who shot him and I don’t know how he did it. He is a dedicated professional. I would have probably done horrible things had our roles been reversed, I am proud of him and the people like him. To maintain your humanity during a battle is a pretty amazing objectivity.

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