More killing of wounded!

Sparks

Okay, some captures from the full video to show what I mean. Given that they're captured from an .avi file and that was of an infrared camera, you'll have to go and watch the full thing to see what I mean for much of this because you see more in moving video than on stills.

But anyway, screenshot 1:

This is the two lads talking by the pickup. The one on the right has the unknown object in his right hand. You'll note it's not that heavy, and not that long.

Sparks

Okay, this is damn difficult to decipher from a still. What I was trying to show is that there's a darker strip of cloth hanging from whatever headgear the man on the right is wearing. It's darker and if you watch the video you see it wave back and forth as he moves around. When he crouches behind the tractor after the first man is killed, you see him flick it over a shoulder. That's what Moriarty is interpreting as unpacking a weapon.

Sparks

This is the first lad running across the field with the unknown object. If you look at the back of it or the front, you'll see that there's, well, dangly bits. Watching the video, you'll see that it's cloth (as it moves as he moves and sways about). So whatever that thing is, it's wrapped up and there's no way to tell what it is from a metre away - let alone a kilometer away from a helicopter gunship.
So noone other than those two men knew what was in it.

Sparks

And this is after he's laid whatever it was on the ground and is running back to the pickup.
This is the best look at the object that the apache crew gets.
Also note that it's in plain sight, not hidden. That's a flat field, not a ditch.

Sparks

This is when the two men are talking at the tractor initially. Note please that the tractor is a simple ride-on type without a cab and it's not pulling a trailer, it's pulling a plowshare (see what I meant about the texture of the earth earlier?). There's nowhere to hide any kind of weapon or load anything bigger than a lunchbox.

Sparks

This is the first man being killed (he's in the middle of the explosion from the 30mmHE shells, you can't actually see him).
What I'm pointing out here is something I missed till now - the other man (highlighted here) staggers a bit after the initial explosion (there are several, one from each of the 30mmHE rounds) and slumps to the groun, grabbing at his side with one arm and putting out his other to stop himself falling. (It's far clearer in the video).
So he's already wounded by shrapnel. Before the truck he later hides behind is shot up.

Sparks

This and the next screenshot show the man hiding from the first explosion behind the tractor as he throws clothing over his shoulder. Watching it in video, it's far clearer that it is his clothing and not some cloth wrapped round a SAM launcher...

Sparks

And here's the second screenshot, about a tenth of a second before the first shells hit him, with the cloth now draped back across his shoulder.

sovtek

Originally posted by Moriarty
Pickup-guy and truck-guy certainly cant complain with being killed, they were making an arms/supply drop. They got caught, tough luck. Tractor guy seems to have been transporting other things - the stuff pickup-guy continues to try to frantically unload when tractor-guy gets killed - to the same dropoff point, so he cant complain either.

You're right...none of them can complain...Why!?!
Because they are dead!
Whether they be farmers, insurgents or smugglers...we'll never know. Either way their brothers or cousins are prime recruits.
Military intelligence....go figure.