Warning Graphic: The Full Iraqi Burning Bus Video

first published on December 19, 2015 by Funker

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An older video of a bus attempting to run a checkpoint in Iraq. Here’s the entire video mainstream media didn’t bother to show you.

In the media edits of this video all you see is this: A bus is rolling down the road, and a group of Marines absolutely destroy it. Once the bus stops, two men jump out of the flames, and they are both cut down. While the Marines are killing the guys retreating, you can hear other Marines yelling “CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE!” Of course, this looks incredibly bad for the Marines involved.

Let’s take a look at the full video though, with the extra 4 minutes of footage the media removed in order to paint their picture.

Note: Continue reading below this video for an in depth review of the actions. There will also be a TL;DR for those of you that are lazy.

Warning: This video contains graphic images and content that may not be suitable for all viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.

Now it’s important to note that the editorial staff at Funker530 is in the business of calling spades, spades. If we see some stuff that isn’t right, we will be among the first to call it out. With that in mind, here is an in-depth “What I saw,” from the perspective of a Marine Infantryman. Take it or leave it, it’s the reality of the situation.

I am not one hundred percent positive which unit this is. When you search it on Youtube, you get several different stories. One says that it’s the 24th MEU, another says it’s the 1st Mar Div, and another states that it is specifically 3rd Battalion 7th Marines. I’m sure in the comments section of this video, that information, and a full story from an individual who was there will appear, but until then here’s what I’m seeing from my armchair.

Five Seconds: The first thing we see is a burning bus being lit up by machine gun and rifle fire, as it drives towards what appears to be a check point. It is fully engulfed in flames, and comes to a rolling stop at 11 seconds. According to the rules of engagement, and the escalation of force procedure in place, that tells us the bus ignored verbal, and visual signs to stop. It also ignored warning, and disabling shots before the .50 cal was brought into the situation.

25 Seconds: The bus door opens, and the Marines begin to fire at the exiting individuals. The first individual to exit the bus is brought down immediately, the second begins sprinting towards what appears to be a sentry post. He is brought down by .50 cal fire. At 30 seconds, in the background we can hear Marines screaming to cease-fire because the individuals appear to be unarmed.

After the brief action ends, we hear someone again yell, “Cease [email protected]#in Fire,” followed by two separate individuals with a thick accent screaming “You [email protected]#in Murderers!” This is where the media cut ends (around 1 minute), and we don’t get to see the rest of the actions taken by the Marines.

So at the 1 minute mark what are we looking at? We see a bunch of Marines, shoot up a civilian bus that catches on fire. When two individuals try to escape the bus, they are quickly cut down by the US Marines, who are obviously murderers. The War in Iraq is unjustified. The United States is overseas killing a bunch of civilians, and clearly these Marines are a bunch of psychotic murderers recruited out of insane asylums and maximum security penitentiaries.

Or are they?

1 minutes 45 Seconds: We are now 45 seconds passed the point at which the media has shown. US Marines are rushing to the vehicle after another person inside is heard calling out asking if he can exit the vehicle safely. Marines are handing off their rifles, completely disregarding any danger they may be in, and pulling the wounded away from the burning vehicle. At 1:45 on the dot, an explosion is heard, and multiple rounds start cooking off from inside of the bus.

2 Minutes 20 Seconds: The Marines begin evacuating the injured to their corpsman for treatment. A lot of ammunition can be heard cooking off from inside of the “civilian” bus, as the unit leader is telling his Marines to hurry up, because the cook-offs are becoming a threat.

For the next four minutes of the video, we see the Marines taking action to treat the casualties from the bus. The unit leader files his report, describing the injuries of two men, and the KIA from the guard shack. It is worth noting, that we are hearing a steady stream of rounds cooking off from the “civilian” bus until the 3:30 mark of the video.

6 Minutes 2 seconds: The Marines move to the bus, after it has finished cooking off rounds, to search the area. At 6:10 seconds the camera pans in on a pistol, which is then recovered by one of the Marines, after he kicks it out of the fire.

Note the placement of this pistol in relation to the bus. As the first man exited the bus he was immediately cut down. It is my firm belief that this man was holding the pistol, which caused the Marines to open fire, and he dropped it near the front wheel of the bus. Other Marines on scene did not see what the shooters saw, so they screamed cease-fire, and the media used this to spin their web.

You cannot always believe what you see on the news. There is absolutely no way that the single pistol shown in this video, was the only weapon on the bus. Judging purely off of the length of time the bus continued to cook off ammunition, I would guess that there were several more weapons inside, and the individuals intended to do harm. However the media did not show you this, because they were trying to tell a specific story.

TL;DR

The Marines were justified in the shooting of the bus. After the media cut ends, the bus starts cooking off a lot of ammunition. Based off of the duration of time the ammunition cooks off, it’s a safe assumption that there were more weapons inside of the bus.

The Marines do the right thing and treat the enemy. Once the bus is no longer considered a danger they approach, and find one in-tact weapon. Based on the placement of the pistol, it is safe to say one of the first two men out of the bus was holding it, prompting the Marines to open fire. Other Marines did not see the weapon, so they screamed cease-fire. The Marines shooting ignored the commands because they saw a threat the rest of the guys on the ground did not.

The shooting was justified.