Fred, I think your original instincts were the correct ones.
Your "conversion" was premature. The French are admitting culpability.
Don't let the truth of this incident be swayed by the Bloody Flag Waving of White Women Being Raped.
It doesn't sway me, and I am one.
The truth is that the French are behaving badly in Cote'de Ivoire, and this video exposes it.
That the source is a website supportive of the government proves nothing in terms of its validity. FR is a website with a particular political stance. Would original video posted here be dismissed out-of-hand simply because of our perspective on the issues ?
It shouldn't be; rather it should be treated as this video has been: dissected in single frames at critical points, and other sources researched to verify and validate what it purports to be showing.
That's what has happened here. I think the evidence is persuasive that some unit of French soldiers was out-of-control and perpetrated a massacre on unarmed civilian Ivorians, and that this video captures the incident and the aftermath.
Yes, you are quite correct, my 'conversion' was certainly premature. JasonC summary cleared that up for me.