Collateral Murder
WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.
The military did not reveal how the Reuters staff were killed, and stated that they did not know how the children were injured.
After demands by Reuters, the incident was investigated and the U.S. military concluded that the actions of the soldiers were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own "Rules of Engagement".
Consequently, WikiLeaks has released the classified Rules of Engagement for 2006, 2007 and 2008, revealing these rules before, during, and after the killings.
WikiLeaks has released both the original 38 minutes video and a shorter version with an initial analysis. Subtitles have been added to both versions from the radio transmissions.
WikiLeaks obtained this video as well as supporting documents from a number of military whistleblowers. WikiLeaks goes to great lengths to verify the authenticity of the information it receives. We have analyzed the information about this incident from a variety of source material. We have spoken to witnesses and journalists directly involved in the incident.
WikiLeaks wants to ensure that all the leaked information it receives gets the attention it deserves. In this particular case, some of the people killed were journalists that were simply doing their jobs: putting their lives at risk in order to report on war. Iraq is a very dangerous place for journalists: from 2003- 2009, 139 journalists were killed while doing their work.
For further information please visit the special project website www.collateralmurder.com
Just to make a point and to better understand how deadly the weapon used on the Apache Helicopter in the above COLLATERAL MURDER video, here is a Helicopter Gatling Gun demonstration. I usually don't get too upset or overly emotional concerning events like this, but...I will say this: "It's just fucking disgusting to me seeing Human Beings being mindlessly slaughtered & people think it's OK, well it's NOT." - NUFF SAID!
An interesting parallel to the event of this release was the revelation that US combat forces did in fact cover up their slaying of innocent women - including at least one pregnant one - by carving the bullets out of their bodies. To date, this information has ironically been overshadowed by discussions about the engagement in the video. In other words, something dreadful which happened in the "bad war" in Iraq a couple of years ago has effectively buried a travesty that happened in "the good war" quite recently.
ReplyDeleteMy comment is by no means meant to belittle the work Wikileaks is doing, though. Just food for thought.
"davidly said...buried a travesty that happened in "the good war" quite recently."
ReplyDeleteGood comments davidly. That's what the blog is here for..."food for thought" as you say.
I do have a question for you though...what good war? There is no such thing that I know of? Could you elaborate?
Take care and ty for your imput.
DS888
I used the quotation marks both to signify that it has been, albeit qualified by comparison, referred to as such, and to indicate is dubiousness.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would never refer to a war as good. Nor would I refer to one of two political parties as the lesser of two evils, which is kind of how those who have called military action in Afghanistan "the good war" attempt to flavor it. Indeed, you will always see it in quotation marks. Maybe I should have wrote ""the good war"";-)
Thanks for the dialogue.
NP davidly. Ty. I get it now. I wasn't sure that you were referring to Afgan. Sort of thought you were being cynical though. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. Your thought's and comments are always welcome here. Take care.
DS888