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WikiLeaks to Release Video of Deadly US Afghan Attack
Whistleblowing website says it is still working to prepare the film of the bombing of the Afghan village of Garani in May 2009
The whistleblowing website WikiLeaks says it plans to release a secret military video of one of the deadliest US air strikes in Afghanistan in which scores of children are believed to have been killed.
Wikileaks has said it plans to release a video of a US air strike in Afghanistan which allegedly killed many children. (Photograph: public domain) WikiLeaks announced the move in an email to supporters. It said it fears it is under attack after the US authorities said they were searching for the site's founder, Julian Assange, following the arrest of a US soldier accused of leaking the Afghanistan video and another of a US attack in Baghdad in which civilians were killed.
WikiLeaks released the Baghdad video in April, prompting considerable criticism of the US military. It says it is still working to prepare the film of the bombing of the Afghan village of Garani in May 2009.
The Afghan government said about 140 civilians were killed in Garani, including 92 children. The US military initially said that up to 95 people died, of which about 65 were insurgents. However, American officials have since wavered on that claim and a subsequent investigation admitted mistakes were made during the attack.
The video could prove to be extremely embarrassing to the US military and risks weakening Afghan support. The US said it was targeting Taliban positions when it used weapons that create casualties over a wide area, including one-tonne bombs and others that burst in the air. But two US military officials told a newspaper last year that no one checked to see whether there were women and children in the buildings.
The US commander, General David Petraeus, said a year ago that the military's video of the attack would be made public as evidence that the US assault on Garani was justified. But it was not released.
In an email to supporters, Assange said WikiLeaks has the Garani video and "a lot of other material that exposes human rights abuses by the US government".
Last week, it was revealed that US authorities are trying to make contact with Assange to press him not to publish information the Pentagon says could endanger national security. Assange cancelled an appearance in Las Vegas last Friday.
In his email, Assange also calls on supporters to protect the website from "attack" by the authorities following the detention of a US soldier, Bradley Manning, who was arrested in Iraq after admitting to a former hacker that he leaked the Garani and Baghdad videos to WikiLeaks.
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83 Comments so far
Show AllMove along...nothing to see here....baaahh!
"US authorities are trying to make contact with Assange to press him not to publish information"
Press him with what? A bullet?
...Or perhaps just 'collapse' Assange with a Predator drone, assuring full spectrum collateral damage in the area, which is sure to be swarming with other 'terrorists' and a full compliment of children, preferably children of color.
It remains shocking that Julian Assange is not already dead and still schedules public appearances.
Just not yet the right time and place for yet another extra-legal murder.
Or that such a fractional amount of Americans know or even care about his work. That it is rendered inert and of little real consequence except to a hermetic, marginalized contingent of acolytes on the internet?
But no, I've got that wrong.
America is perhaps the only country that has devolved from barbarism to decadence without an intervening period of civilization. Even if 90% of Americans were fully exposed to an unexpurgated video version of the atrocity– a full 60% would stand up and cheer the massacre in support of the 'troops.'
Having said that, why the fascist totalitarian media in America would even bother to suppress the document or rationalize it away, is beyond me.
Americans may now be in such an advanced state of abasement and delusional befuddlement that full disclosure would be meaningless, a blip on the screen. Reality, any reality is questionable, if not instantaneously effaced–folded into the delirium, the haze of unknowing.
But then Lindsay Lohan has a new girl friend.
–Kim Nguyen.
Good points - all of them.
It is indeed the marginalization of "heretic" ideas into marginalized contingent of internet acolytes that has been such an effective tool of in applying the Bernaysean propaganda model to modern media technologies. The Army War College's Guru of World domination, Col, (or Gen?) Ralph Peters, mentions this in his 1997 article that only becomes more chillingly prophetic-in-hindsight every year I re-read it:
http://www.carlisle.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/Articles/97summer/peters.htm
Why all the good commentary and incredibly sharp-witted composition from Vietnamese=USans here recently - either you or Linh Dinh? Are Caucasian-USAn's descending into some kind or retarded or demented state that (like me) they can no longer write clearly in their own language?
"America is perhaps the only country that has devolved from barbarism to decadence without an intervening period of civilization."
One of you has said this before. Are you repeating yourself, your other self, or someone else?
And what makes you think this facile potshot is worth repeating?
Actually, it was Oscar Wilde who reportedly said, "America is the first country to have gone from barbarism to decadence without the usual intervening period of civilization."
It's a particularly apt and relevant observation that never seems to go out of style! YMMV, of course.
I have always heard that it was Georges Clemenceau who said that, but Wilde outscores Clemenceau in number of Google hits.
So it must be Wilde.
Regardless of who said it first, it certainly appears to be true. Yesterday CD linked to Jon Stewart's very pointed connect-the-dots monologue about the differences between Obama's promises and his reality, going so far as to imply (their very real) resemblance to Bush policies and behavior. The reactions of the audience were very interesting. At the first jibe, just laughter. At the second, laughter with some hesitation ("surely he's not mocking Obama?!"). And on down to near-silence at the final Obama jibe -- was new thought being generated? Then palpable relief in more laughter in response to a Sarah Palin joke.
Was it not always in history, only the character of the court jester who could still survive after saying that the king was in his all together? The truth can be so painful to some that it can only be served with some humour to help it go down especially with those addicts of lies and packaged reality who are in constant denial.
It was Oscar Wilde.
Please forgive my laziness not to formally cite the provenance of the phrase. I have come to take it for granted that this jewel of a remark is now thoroughly in the 'public domain,' despite it being uniquely sui generis.
The paraphrase I used has now become so commonplace that it has become almost 'boilerplate,' not always necessitating formal citation and the use of quotation marks. As such, it is infinitely malleable in its utility which attests to the fact it has been attributed to others.
It is so conveniently apropos– and its truth so patently unassailable– that it can be used profligately to great effect, almost classically, much like 'salt and pepper' in all matters culinary
Such is the enduring genius of Wilde, that so many of his most felicitous utterances have moved into common parlance and become generalized axioms beyond the ossified conventions that he loathed and the the need of explicit scholarly regulation.
Nothing would have pleased him more.
The idiot above who superciliously deemed the remark 'facile,' only did so as he believed it may have originated with me. Not knowing, out of ignorance and a misspent desire for revenge, that it was Wilde– he lacked the élan and the taste to appreciate the phrase on its own terms.
Such is the classic example of a petty mind whose base motivations here stand revealed.
Vashkarkim, incorporating the works of others into your own work and then calling it "boilerplate" has also been done before, by the plagiarist Ruth Shalit.
As for calling the quote a "facile potshot" because I thought it originated with you, it is true that I find the hatred that drives your jihadist eloquence distasteful. As to my statement however, I will employ a reverse 'Pierre Menard' defense: When written by Wilde the statement was trenchant and topical. Now, over a century later, reincarnated (twice) without attribution as part of bombastic screeds against America, it is a pale imitation of itself.
And that would be Borges' character, 'Pierre Menard'. Appropriate for the occasion, I think.
Thank you for supplying the attribution (and quotation marks) that Vashkarkim did not.
Actually the writer meant to say "suppress" but his boss pressed him to say press as they are part of the press.
Your terms are confused. The term neo-liberal, in economic parlance, means neo-laissez faire, that is, anti-welfare state, anti-govermental regulation. In classical economics, "liberal" means laizzez-faire. It does not mean "liberal" in the American sense of the term, that is, half-assed pseudo-left. The "neo-liberals" worldwide, and especially in Europe, are interested in dismantling the social welfare states set up in the 50s and 60s, and they've been, unfortunately, fairly successful thus far, in spite of the fact that global capitalism is on the brink of systemic collapse.
Our secrets keep us sick. Truthfulness and decency are anathema to the military. War is the intentional perpetration of atrocities. Those who support war are evil. Do not listen to their self justifying lies. To participate in or support war in any way is to be an accomplice to destroying the possibility of life based on truth and mutual humanity. Soldiers are killers, plain and simple. No wonder they have "psychological" problems on returning from war. They have forfeited their souls to the Moloch of War.
Following Barack Obama down the road of calling people "small" and "evil" in the name of peace (see Nobel acceptance speech) is not the best path for furthering human recognition and dignity (mutual humanity). No -- Soldiers are not "killers, plain and simple", they become Soldiers for many diverse reasons, some of them, yes, heroic; "supporting war in any way is to be an accomplice to destroying the possibility of life...": No! again: for the optimum of human existence, it is not a matter of peace lording over war, but a matter of the how's and why's of how and why peace and war are conducted. The fact the current war bahavior is conducted in an immoral fashion is one of the keys for stopping the catastrophe of the current World Oil War; once the Military sector and it's adherents break through the Matrix of lies and deceptions at the foundation of the World Oil War, Soldiers will become on of the strongest forces for bringing a halt to the catastrophe (see Iraq Veterans Against War, Veterans For Peace, Winter Soldiers, etc...).
Well, neo-cons may love "increased regulation" of the masses but not, methinks, of themselves or BigCorps!
Bless Wikileaks and all its supporters.
Julian Assange is a real journalist and a hero of the People for standing up to the imperial might of the US to bring us the truth.
mr. Assange, you are an inspiration to all who ask "what can one person do?"
He is an international, styleish, James-Bondesque-Villain of Good! I look forward to the video, and another donation is being sent out!
A pity that only a fraction of a fraction of the population will be aware of this, let alone give a toss.
I actually listened briefly to an NPR report about how the US was building all of this wonderful infrastructure in Afghanistan and how terribly poor the local infrastructure was. It almost made me wretch - and this was NPR. I had to turn the dial it was so bad.
Turn back the clock over 100 years and it was the British Empire that attempted to conquer what is now Afghanistan and the lawless Northwest Frontier Provinces. The British imperial administrators highlighted the same things:
How desperately poor the local "Taleban" tribes people were, how poorly they treated their women, how they adhered to old-fashioned and fundamentalist religious values, how they were backward and so on.
They, like the US Empire, justified their slaughters and losses of their own men, by emphasizing how they were bringing the glories Western Civilisation to the poor wretched savages and how it was for their own good. Things did not really work out well for anyone then and it appears just the same now.
The parallels are disturbing
"and this was NPR..."
You are dating yourself. It has been at least 15-20 years since NPR was anything BUT a shill for the US war establishment. Their offices in NW DC shold be direct-action target priority No. 1.
And to think that at one time, the DSA's Michael Harrington had a daily commentary on NPR. You cound even occasionally hear a commentary from Mumia Abu-Jamal on NPR too.
Now I'm dating myself!
SaboCat, I know exactly what you mean. Because of that I usually never listen to NPR or corporate funded so-called public radio or TV. I just happened to listen to it briefly this morning. I usually listen to KPFA.
It just highlights the total lack of quality information on the "public" airwaves here in propaganda land and it never ceases to disturb me. I keep telling myself it is nothing personal, it is just business
I'm only exposed to NPR occasionally myself, and it is deeply disturbing how they are no longer even subtle in their strict hewing to the official US (and Israeli) line.
I'm not exactly sure what you mean about it being "nothing personal". Of course it is nothing personal, it is about making sure the masses can only possibly view things in narrow, officially defined ways.
"Nothin' personal, its just business" is a line from the Godfather. Since I reckon the US govt. is controlled by the 5 families of the Corporate Mafia I use this line often as a sort of joke. However sometimes I feel it is too close to the truth to be a joke.
"US authorities are trying to make contact with Assange to press him not to publish information the Pentagon says could endanger national security."
Uh, how could that endanger our national security? By exposing how evil and corrupt we are, which might make people mad at us -- as we got mad at the evil Nazis and Japanese in World War II, which obviously endangered THEIR "national security," especially the "security" of hundreds of thousands of noncombatants in Dresden, Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Is that what the Pentagon is afraid of: that people "over there" might come and blow up our missile dumps and drone aircraft, etc., so that those things don't go over there and kill THEM?
Will this game, this insanity never end: it's OK for us to go and blow up anyone we want, anytime we want, but, let those people fight back against our murder and we label them "insurgents," and use that to justify their TOTAL extermination.
Does no one else see what's wrong with this picture?!
As Chomsky once said, in his usual understated dry manner: "They should be choking to death on their hypocracy."
I posted this on another thread, but it seems apropos here, also.
---------------------------------------------
As pointed out above, the average "Muslim in the street" is no different than the "man in the street" in the US, Russia, England, or anywhere else. He just wants to be left alone, to live in peace, to have work and a home for his family where the roof doesn't leak. He wants decent food, clean water, and medical facilities where he can take an ailing family member.
He does not want to be subjected to kicked in doors, missiles from above, being shot in the street for no more reason than that he is in the street and therefore a target.
Islam is not a violent religion. It forbids war except in case of self defense and even then forbids war on women, children and the aged. Most Muslims are as sick and tired of Islam being used as a political football as we are of our religious right using "Christianity" as a weapon of control and war.
Fair is fair, however. Muslims object to invasions of their countries, occupation of their land and rape of their resources just as much as we would, were the situation reversed. They will fight in self defense of their country just as we would. That does not make them insurgents, but patriots, fighting against terrible odds to rid themselves of the occupiers. I hope we would do the same thing. The enemy would no doubt call us "terrorists" and "insurgents." We would call ourselves patriots. And, we would use every dirty trick we could think of to even the odds against a much more powerful and well armed foe.
Think about it.
mispost...
where do we send contributions to wiki leaks? or will we be arrested for giving "material support" to an enemy against whom we have never declared war? need an address, phone number, etc.
Go to Wikileaks.com and look in the upper left column.
"...or will we be arrested for giving "material support" to an enemy against whom we have never declared war?" –(johnny u)
–Maybe not now, but in the unremitting ramping up of all things unconscionable in America, you could almost take that to the bank.
The adage, "Not, if, but when,"seems to hold sway here.
The pace of applied atrocity in America has never been more exigent or advanced. There is no sign of easement anywhere, only unmitigated accelerations on all fronts.
America doing what it does best. With state of the art technology, too!
Comfort yourself.
Unlike the Afghan children–who never had the option to be "arrested" before they were incinerated–the violation of civil rights' you suffer may qualify for a class action lawsuit. This may even be adjudicated in the august chambers of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Now how comforting is that! Ghouls, blood gnomes and fascists in robes rendering 'justice.'
What a blessing is life in America!
True, but that is only a temporary condition. Once Obama brings about the Change We Can Believe In, everything will be better and we will go back to Norman Rockwell's America. I know this will happen because if it doesn't, that would imply that the Messiah is a lying sack, and we all know that he would never lie. It must be Bush's fault ... or Reagan's ... or Nixon's ... or Warren Harding's, ... or somebody else. Anyone but our Nobel Peace Prize winner. He was a community organizer, you know.
"...will we be arrested for giving "material support" to an enemy against whom we have never declared war?"
Eventually.
The trickle of real information that comes to us from wikileaks only hints at the vast reservoir of filth hidden behind the dam of government secrecy.
These videos ought to be available under the FOI act. Why is it that this now longest of US Wars is an afterthought? Because we are not seeing the real war.
Aimlow Joe was here
http://www.aimlow.com
"In his email, Assange also calls on supporters to protect the website from "attack" by the authorities"
How do we help protect the website?
Supporters want to know.
Well, my curiosity is certainly piqued.
Bear in mind, though, that the video could show US troops in Apache helicopters dropping flaming napalm-dipped Afghan infants into a crowded children's zoo, and there will still be no end of "experts" urging the rest of us not to believe our lyin' eyes.
Whatever it shows will be obliterated in the fog of expert apologists parsing it down to suspect editing, and defending whatever it shows as perfectly within the Rules of Engagement.
("Yeah, maybe it WAS a pacifier-- but in the heat of battle, it sure looked like an RPG! And do you know how easy it is to tuck a rocket launcher into a stroller?")
Thank you.
I suppose it's a form of denial and attempt to temper further hurt until a new form of personal behavior is achieved that so many CD commentators choose to diminish the importance of what could be a "small but significant difference." As Margaret Mead is commonly quoted as saying something like "...indeed, it is only small groups of people that accomplish/instigate major changes" -- Small But Significant Differences is a "law" of organic development that is currently building the new foundation for physical therapies (with beginnings in psychology) and human development via Feldenkrais and Feldenkrais based methodology's. Hope is that more and more CD commentators and the like will discover this Principle Of Truth, thus taking the next step in developing the human conversation and actions needed for overcoming our fascist strain.
Not to get too far off thread, PT, but I'd like to look further into this concept/principle of truth -- can you refer me to a place to start?
Driving home the final nail. Not much more need be said.
If anything, the ghoulish apologia everyone knows is sure to follow, is more vile than the atrocity itself.
How many more times?
Sadly, many, I trust.
There is more room for such ghoulish apologias in THIS erstwhile gehenna than can be dreamt of in our philosophies...
Obedient Servant
I think the bigger concern is not so much whether people will believe it but whether or not the corporate media will see fit to cover this explosive story once this video is released by Wikileaks in order for the American public to see the latest government scandal unfold before their eyes. This is somewhat reminiscent of the atrocities told by those who were on the Gaza flotilla and who, like Paul Larudee and Ken O'Keefe, were beaten up by Israeli thugs. Their stories and others were told but only on the Internet as the mainstream media basically ignored what happened to them. In a similar vein, if and when this video is finally aired by Wikileaks, will the press and television networks rise to the occasion by reporting on what looks to be a monumental event? Unfortunately, one should not bet the next mortgage payment that our less than intrepid media will finally discover what their job entails by actually showing or reporting, as The New York Times masthead claims, all the news that is fit to print.
An interesting profile of Assange and his organization appeared in The New Yorker recently.
Which issue?
June 7, 2010
good. it's called transparency. how can a democracy flourish without an informed electorate? now we have to overcome Rupert's smear
Bradly Manning had a tough decision and however the military views this, he is a man of conscience. He is a warrior.
The time of the great revealing. Let it come.
This is quite a melodrama.
With very high stakes for everybody.
It's been most amazing to me, that for eight years the MIC mafia has prevented evidence like this from seeing the light of day. Now, because of the redundancy of packet data on the net, it's hard to contain several servers in different countries.
I think the boy is on to something here. I call him "Max Headroom" after the jittery TV character who got uploaded into cyberspace by accident, because that's what he sounds like in the skippy interviews where he's video conferencing in, instead of appearing in person. In the TV show Max Headroom, (who looks kinda like him), the last thing Max saw in the real world was a warning sign that said: "Max Headroom 6 feet four" as the vehicle he was on top of didn't clear the overhead in the parking garage. Max was a programer, and his equipment saw that last moment and uploaded it into his persona on line, making the mistake that that last image was his identity. Authorities were shocked to find they couldn't get rid of the spreading program Max Headroom which psychotically showed up in the damned places screwing up their plans of a totalitarian state.
We all need to contribute financially to wikileaks and to verbally express support for Julian where ever we can. Appeals to hacker sites are critical, as they are the gatekeepers of what is restored or destroyed in the Unix on-line world, which is what most telecommunications are based on (the outgrowths of AT&T's original Unix).
The good news is: There is an army of UNIX "Good Guys in White Hats" in the Unix world (of which you are now using) that do nothing but continue to improve the impartiality and integrity of data trucking down the internet. They do this for free, in the "open source" environment. They do not work for the government.
Protests don't work in this police state. But Watergate "deepthroats" do. This leak redistribution like wikileaks, is the only hope of restoring democracy in a free and transparent republic, imho.
This is the only chance we will get. This is our one shinning jewel of truth in these horrible Dark Ages that we find ourselves in.
Dedicate yourselves to doing something this time.
Fraternally,
TJ