"Krieg vertiert." (Egon Bahr)
WikiLeaks, who published that video after Reuters was driven away by the Pentagon when they demanded release of the material on basis of the freedom of information act (
http://www.collateralmurder.com/ ), said that they prepare another video anytime soon, showing the intentional killing of civilians by soldiers.
I repeat this, since I mentioned the same incident in the other thread about WikiLeaks.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by WikiLeak
5th April 2010 10:44 EST 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.
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It is not only an issue of how war cripples the psyche of those participating in it. It also is about lowered standards for recruitment in order to copensate the fallen interest for joining the armed forces since the Iraq wear began. This fallen interest is both a conseqeunce of fallen wages (especially the air force suffers a shortage in qualified pilots who preferred to join civilian compnaies fpor getting better payment), and the ongoing war and the risk to be sent to Iraq. The fallen levels of character fitness and general social competence and education has been pointed out by US journalists repeatedly in the past 5 years.
The coverup by the pentagon is unexcusable, because this was no mistake being made, but an intentional act of murder.
The crews must face court martial for committing war crimes. I personally would line them up on the wall - last but not least as an examplary call to maintain discipline.