How can the military tell the difference between someone who's an insurgent and someone who's just a bystander?

We here all the time that X number of insurgents were killed in a military strike. But how does the military tell the difference between an insurgent and someone who's just an innocent bystander?How can the military tell the difference between someone who's an insurgent and someone who's just a bystander?They don't...They usually kill whoever is in their way. If the public finds out, they go ahead and apologize.How can the military tell the difference between someone who's an insurgent and someone who's just a bystander?
That's a tricky question.



Counter-insurgency is usually done best by specialised troops, such as the SAS and SBS (in the UK) and Delta (in the USA).



The army is really best used to fight a clearly defined enemy that fights in fairly conventional ways.



You've identified the real difficulty in combatting those who use guerrilla warfare. Even if the bad guys are truly insurgents, often their colleagues will strip any weapons off the dead bodies and then wail about how the military killed x number of innocent civilians.



I'm not saying that the military doesn't kill innocent civilians - they do. Hell, the leaked video from an Apache gunship that appeared on Wikileaks shows that - a number of civilians including respected reporters were killed when they were mis-identified. Two children were injured in the attack.



That particular instance shows another thing about identifying insurgents and innocents - it's best done by someone close by on the ground rather than from afar. But then you have the difficulty of balancing the need to be absolutely sure against the risk to yourself, your colleagues and others.



It's a tricky question with no easy answers.How can the military tell the difference between someone who's an insurgent and someone who's just a bystander?@andrew: unless you've been in the military you cant really give an accurate analysis of that video, otherwise you're just quoting the media and conspiracy sites that just want attention. those reporters werent with civilians: they were following around a group of armed insurgents (hence the several AKs and even a rpg or 2) and failed to notify the military that they were doing so (so if we ran across them we would be able to identify the reporters and make sure they werent harmed). insurgents often film their attacks, so the apache's mistook the reporters for insurgents. thats not the pilots' faults, thats the reporters. its like if someone was robbing a bank and you were folowing them around with a camera, could you blame the cops if you got shot in the process? no, you couldnt. same deal for the van that came up. insurgents often pick up gear from the ones we kill so they can use it in the future. that civilian-if he was one, it cant be proven either way- should have known better than to get in the middle of an engagement, thats just common sense. its like if after that bank robery situation i listed earlier, soemone runs up and grabs the guns the bank robbers were using, do you think the cops are going to shoot them? absolutely! the only 2 innocents killed whos fault it wasnt were the kids, but they were placed in that situation by their dad in the van: it was his fault and his fault alone.



to answer the OPs question: unless you have specific intel (like "we know this guy is a cell leader and he lives here") you can really only react. if someone shoots at you, take them out. if an ied goes off and tehre is 1 guy holding a cell phone or remote control, chances are it was it him. the reason why we're so big on "winning hearts and minds" over there is that the more the civilian populace prefers us over the insurgents (they dotn have to like us...they just have to like us more) the more they'll snitch out the insurgents who are in their town or close by
These people are often killed from such a distance that one cannot tell if they are even native to the area. What we at home are hearing is a load of propaganda to support illegal incursions into sovereign countries.



And we suck it up because that's exactly what we want to hear. No one wants to here that we shouldn't be there in the first place or that we just killed a bunch of innocent people.



And when they kill us they tell their countrymen the exact same BS.How can the military tell the difference between someone who's an insurgent and someone who's just a bystander?When you are hanging with beligerants involved in war you have made a bad choice. Why you ask? You become a beligerant by doing so.

Beligerants using innocents as shields have likely killed the shield.



Hiding in schools, Mosques, Churchs, Hospitals just makes those locations a target. There is no such place called safe. Using any of these as a fire base, depot for food, ammo or barracks makes them a target.



Try reading the Hague and Geneva Convetions.How can the military tell the difference between someone who's an insurgent and someone who's just a bystander?
To paraphrase a line from Full Metal Jacket: If they run they're insurgents. If they stand still they're well-disciplined insurgents.

They say it's people who are engaged in hostile acts. But really merely being near guys who are armed can make one into a target. Safest thing is don't walk around while there's shooting going on.

There is at least one controversial video on YouTube ("Collateral Murder") which shows this happening in Iraq.
Threats are assessed by the weapons that are visible on them. If you are near a war zone and have a weapon or something that can be construed as a weapon you will be fired upon. So the lesson to be learned is do not carry a weapon in a war zone unless you understand the consequences.How can the military tell the difference between someone who's an insurgent and someone who's just a bystander?
Any muslim that runs is an insurgent, any muslim that stands still is a well disciplined insurgent.
They are the guys with the guns or bombs on them, or the al-Quaeda membership card.
Holding a Radio/Weapon is a bad idea.
The insurgent is the guy with the RPG
Shot at him, if he runs he is an insurgent.
they don't
I agree with the "dude" person