It was during the day, and AFTER most of the heavy fighting. Hardly in the thick of battle.
da: the soldiers were taking heavy machine gun fire, and thought they were returning fire at an enemy forward observer.
There is not a shred of evidence anyone in or near the hotel was firing at them and in fact, most of the shooting had already stopped.
da: As a former tank platoon leader, I can assure you that tank firing at a target IS a split second decision, done on reflex in response to danger. From target sighting to firing the main gun, you have about 8 seconds to get a round off. If you don't - you're dead. I would have done the same thing.
By the soldier who fired the tank's own account, it was not done "on reflex." "I hesitated," he said. He swung his guns towards the hotel and asked his captain's permission to fire. It came ten minutes later. Then he fired.
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Date: 11/4/10 02:10 (UTC)It was during the day, and AFTER most of the heavy fighting. Hardly in the thick of battle.
da: the soldiers were taking heavy machine gun fire, and thought they were returning fire at an enemy forward observer.
There is not a shred of evidence anyone in or near the hotel was firing at them and in fact, most of the shooting had already stopped.
da: As a former tank platoon leader, I can assure you that tank firing at a target IS a split second decision, done on reflex in response to danger. From target sighting to firing the main gun, you have about 8 seconds to get a round off. If you don't - you're dead. I would have done the same thing.
By the soldier who fired the tank's own account, it was not done "on reflex." "I hesitated," he said. He swung his guns towards the hotel and asked his captain's permission to fire. It came ten minutes later. Then he fired.