Military can't find its copy of Iraq killing videoWhat's that? one more time? Oh, well, OK then; I'll believe it... I haven't renewed my Journalist's Utter Wuss License this month yet; I need a few more toady credits with the military...
PAULINE JELINEK and ANNE FLAHERTY
AP News
Apr 06, 2010 20:37 EDT
The U.S. military said Tuesday it can't find its copy of a video that shows two employees of the Reuters news agency being killed by Army helicopters in 2007, after a leaked version circulated the Internet and renewed questions about the attack.
Capt. Jack Hanzlik, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said that the military has not been able to locate the video within its files after being asked to authenticate the version available online.
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Dog-DAMN, where do our so-called journalists come from these days? Why didn't they call "bullshit" the moment the brass made their dog-ate-my-homework statement?
UPDATE: The Wikileaks site Collateral Murder contains the full-length documentary. Ugh.
Now that beggars belief.. THat the military claims to have lost the footage is bad enough, that journos aren't stomping on them is quite another
ReplyDeletejams, I'm sure you've seen the video. It's truly chilling. An Apache gunship (American helicopter) calmly... there's no other word for it, "calmly" ... wastes a dozen people on the ground, calling them insurgents, calling the AP photographer's video camera an RPG launcher. The 'copter circles the area, directing fire at a van containing (among other people) two young children, because the van's adult occupants may be trying to save the life of the AP personnel who were wounded.
ReplyDeleteI grieve for my country. I grieve for Afghanistan. And I grieve for journalism. It shouldn't be this way.
Correction: Iraq. There are separate incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan at issue; I momentarily confused the two. I grieve for them all: why is the U.S. still there, years after it has become apparent that the original justification (especially for going to Iraq} was a set of bald-faced lies? Why?
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what happens when you indoctrinate people into believing that the "enemy" is not human.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way, from overhead, you can't tell the difference between an RPG and a camera with a telephoto lens. Shooting a plumber carrying a pipe on his shoulder I could understand, but not a camera.
There were too many journalists killed for me not to suspect that is was "policy", that the media was identified as a "problem".
Gunsight camera footage is classified material. It is signed in and out. There was a stink at the time by Reuters, so there is almost zero possibility that it was lost.
Welcome to MAC-V - same crap different war.
Bryan, some military types on one thread I was reading seemed to have the consensus that actual gunsight cameras on Apaches produce video of much better quality than the leaked film. I noticed more than once that the gunner appears able to zoom the camera. OT1H, there were indeed people on the ground with AK-47s... no surprise, the photojournalists among them were surely pursuing a story on the war. OTOH, even at this low video quality, even an untrained civilian... me... could tell an AK-47 from a camera, and I can't imagine an RPG launcher is less distinguishable, especially if the gunner is getting higher quality gunsight camera shots.
ReplyDeleteDo the military commanders not have some idea how much lies like this one damage their credibility with the public?
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Do the military commanders not have some idea how much lies like this one damage their credibility with the public?
ReplyDeletedo you really think they care?