I’ve blogged about Wikileaks here before and, despite usually focusing on Irish issues, think it’s worthwhile to do so again now.
Updated: MSNBC coverage at the bottom.
Today they released a video showing US helicopters attacking a group of people in Baghdad in 2007. Two Reuters journalists were murdered and two children seriously wounded in the attack. It appears 12 people died as a result. On the right the son of Reuters journalist, Saeed Chmagh, grieves for his father.
Since the murders Reuters have been seeking the videos under the FOI Act but have been continuously refused.
The US government has lied about the incident consistently, claiming all those killed and wounded – including the children and journalists – were “insurgents”.
The video was released at 4pm today our time after being leaked but the western media is relatively quiet on it. Al Jazeera is leading with it. MSNBC’s Dylan Rattigan Show seems to be the only US network program going to give it a push. The Guardian and BBC each have something small and the HuffPo has some useful paragraphs;
None of the members of the group were taking hostile action, contrary to the Pentagon’s initial cover story; they were milling about on a street corner. One man was evidently carrying a gun, though that was and is hardly an uncommon occurrence in Baghdad.
Reporters working for WikiLeaks determined that the driver of the van was a good Samaritan on his way to take his small children to a tutoring session. He was killed and his two children were badly injured.
…but there’s very little else from the Western media, as far as I can see. Nothing from the Irish outlets yet.
Maybe when the newspapers go live with tomorrow’s edition we’ll see some more stories. Maybe I’ve missed something, maybe I think this is bigger than others do. Maybe I’m too trusting of Wikileaks, the BBC – typically conservatie – in particular, seems very wary of the authenticity.
No Wikileaks release has ever been shown to be a fake.
The video is below.
Here’s an interview Wikileaks editor Julian Assange did with Al Jazeera.
Contextual information on the attack can be found here and here. Quotes;
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.
You can donate to Wikileaks via this link.
They also have a similar video from Afghanistan which they’re due to release soon.
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So if it’s ‘murder’ where’s the motive? There’s no motive for intentionally killing a Reuters journalist and firing on kids. If the victims are identified as innocents, it’s clearly a mistake.
Fog of war, something most armchair generals/jihadists wouldn’t understand having never lifted a finger to help with anything other than setting a McDonald’s on fire.
Murder is the intentional and unlawful killing of another person. This was murder as the killing of an individual was done without following the rules of engagement – the laws of war in this case. I know what fog of war is, I know it applies in this context, it does not exclude it being murder.