Why so many conflicting re: shooting...John roberts just said on CBS

[Ripley]

National Guard shot and killed Army corps of Engineer guys, in a tragic mistake, thinking they were looters.

Unreal. I'm really worried about this now.

[bemildred]

1. Let me guess. Were they black? nt

[Ripley]

3. Don't know...but it was surreal listening to Roberts...

He could have substituted Marines for NG and insurgents for looters and the story would have just been one more out of Iraq.

BUT IT'S 6 FUCKING HOURS FROM MY HOUSE!!

[bemildred]

5. Surreal is the right word, tending off into paranoid-schizophrenic. nt

[jaxx]

2. Just heard also, engineers shot

That's the trouble with shoot to kill........they always end up killing the wrong people.

[liberalhistorian]

4. How in the fuck

could they have mistaken Army Corps of Engineers workers for looters, especially when they were ON A FUCKING BRIDGE? What the fuck "looting" could they have done on a goddamned BRIDGE????

Of course, if they were black, then that's understandable, we all know blacks are major looters. :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :mad: :mad:

[leeroysphitz]

6. Yes and they all look alike too, don't they? (sarc) n/t

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Having worked with the Army Corps,

They probably looked like average tradesmen, clean and neatly dressed but in jeans and tees or work shirts --- no uniforms or military insignia. Of the ones I worked with directly (a crew of 8) one always was packing because we were working in low income communities. He was a tad paranoid but I didn't have the authority to tell him to remove the weapon.

So if these were blue collar looking black guys on a bridge with guns? I'd guess shoot-on-sight was the better-safe-than-sorry approach.

Can the situation get any more FUBAR?

[Ripley]

7. I swear I heard him say NATIONAL GUARD SHOT AND KILLED

.. are they now saying it was NO police? Does anyone have an eyewitness account?