Marines Fake Gunfight, Fool Surveillance Drone, and Almost "Get Away With Murder"

It looks like the Marines who killed Hashim Ibrahim Awad and have been under investigation for eight months managed to play-act visuals, sound and thermal imprints to fool a military surveillance drone and cover up murder. From Wired:

"These are people who every day deal with such things and understand how the images are gathered, as much as understand other tactical and weapons issues," says defense attorney David Brahms...

The case is remarkable for the fact that the killers nearly got away with their alleged crime right under the eye of the military's sophisticated surveillance systems. According to testimony, at least three times the warriors took deliberate, and apparently effective, measures to trick the unmanned aerial vehicles - UAVs in military parlance - that watch the ground with heat-sensitive imaging by night, and high-resolution video by day.

The images are routinely translated into PowerPoint presentations, systems manufacturers say. The PowerPoint of this particular killing was nearly accepted as proof of a "good shoot" until one of the troops, Navy hospitalman Melson Bacos, stunned investigators with a confession, according to the testimony of Special Agent James Connolly with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or NCIS.

More at the link. [Via]