Collateral Murder

[hobbit]

ameratsu said:

Sqrl said:

Yeah I have to say these guys are guilty of only one thing from this video - saying some pretty callous things about a very awful situation

I'll finish by saying I do actually think things like this should not be made public. The amount of damage, in terms of morale as well as propaganda, that the video can do is immense. With that said issues like this must be dealt with, and if they aren't handled properly in a discrete fashion sometimes a public airing is the only way.

 

I completely disagree with this point. Subduing this sort of thing and measures like preventing photography/coverage of fallen American soldiers returning home is simply an effort to make war look tactical and sterile when it isn't. Americans just as much as everyone else in the world should be aware of questionable events like this. Wikileaks is doing the public a service by releasing this.

Just think of any terrorist incident in modern history. It is always brought to light, thoroughly investigated and details are often overwhelming. Failures on the part of the military that result in civilian deaths need to be investigated and disclosed like we expect in those circumstances. Covering it up only to have it spill over like this hurts the image of the US and completely undermines what the US is supposed to stand for. 

For the record, my primary issue is with the way they're conducting themselves (complete callousness, like they're playing a video game honestly) and saying over the radio that the van was "picking up bodies and weapons" when they were trying to pick up a single wounded journalist along with the ensuing coverup.

coverup? what are you talking about? This story was reported on by the NewYorkTimes and Reuters the day after it happend. The military even showed the video to Reuters.