WikiLeaks has just published video of US Military killing 12 individuals in Iraq, two of whom were later revealed to be staff members of the Reuters news organization. Wikileaks has previously been labeled a “muckraking” website by some in the press, and indeed the graphic video is presented by the site as an “indiscriminate” killing, when it clearly appears to be a grave and horrible mistake — there was a clear military procedure followed. Warning, the following video is graphic in nature.

In the past few weeks, the Pentagon has been waging battle on a whole new front: classified information that ends up on the Internet. A primary target this brave new war is a website called WikiLeaks is a website that, according to the NY Times, is viewed as a real threat to national security, according to the Pentagon. Now we have a much clearer understanding of why WikiLeaks is considered a threat.

In the following video, US Military in an Apache helicopter gravely mistake a group of Iraqi men for insurgents (what appears to be a camera is viewed by those in the helicopter to be a RPG.) Warning, the video below is graphic in nature.







The video is presented thusly:

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.

While in some respects, WikiLeaks should be lauded for getting information out, the way that this is presented goes beyond responsible. “Indiscriminate” implies hit-or-miss or thoughtless. But this video clearly demonstrates that not to be the case. The military personnel recorded on the tape audibly mistook the camera for an RPG, a weapon that can, and has, taken down Apache Helicopters. While this is a horribly sad and terrible instance of the horrors of war, the military personnel were clearly fearing for their own lives. Not to diminish the tragedy, but to present it as indiscriminate reveals a larger agenda that belittles everyone involved.

It is easy to explain why things worked out or didn’t go according to plan in hindsight. But the brave men and women put their lives on the line, and often don’t have the time to consider every possible angle. Put another way, what if that were an RPG and they took more time to consider the options – they could have very likely ended up dead. War is hell, and to pretend that this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often, or to claim that the actions took were indiscriminate, is an affront to every member of the US Military.

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