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Impossible to Ignore Wikileaks Tape
Apr 07, 2010
"Well, it's their fault bringing their kids to a battle."
Those words, spoken by a faceless soldier, echo from a classified US military video released by the site Wikileaks.org. The release comes on the heels of the revelation of a cover-up in Afghanistan--and the anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, as well as the anniversary of his "Beyond Vietnam" speech.
King spoke to the Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam, saying "It should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam."
Hearing allegations that special forces troops in Afghanistan may have dug the bullets out of their pregnant victims bodies to hide evidence, hearing airmen on the Wikileaks tape begging "Come on, let us shoot!" and hearing the editor of Wikileaks say that the shooters talked in the way that people do when they're playing video games--it reminded me of King's words.
He told the truth about war: that it is horrible, that it does poison your soul. Dr. King also said, in a different speech, that there is such a thing as being too late when it comes to speaking up against your goverment doing wrong.
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© 2023 Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders interviews forward-thinking people about the key questions of our time on The Laura Flanders Show, a nationally syndicated radio and television program also available as a podcast. A contributing writer to The Nation, Flanders is also the author of six books, including "Bushwomen: How They Won the White House for Their Man" (2005). She is the recipient of a 2019 Izzy Award for excellence in independent journalism, the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for advancing women's and girls' visibility in media, and a 2020 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship for her reporting and advocacy for public media. lauraflanders.org
"Well, it's their fault bringing their kids to a battle."
Those words, spoken by a faceless soldier, echo from a classified US military video released by the site Wikileaks.org. The release comes on the heels of the revelation of a cover-up in Afghanistan--and the anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, as well as the anniversary of his "Beyond Vietnam" speech.
King spoke to the Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam, saying "It should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam."
Hearing allegations that special forces troops in Afghanistan may have dug the bullets out of their pregnant victims bodies to hide evidence, hearing airmen on the Wikileaks tape begging "Come on, let us shoot!" and hearing the editor of Wikileaks say that the shooters talked in the way that people do when they're playing video games--it reminded me of King's words.
He told the truth about war: that it is horrible, that it does poison your soul. Dr. King also said, in a different speech, that there is such a thing as being too late when it comes to speaking up against your goverment doing wrong.
Laura Flanders
Laura Flanders interviews forward-thinking people about the key questions of our time on The Laura Flanders Show, a nationally syndicated radio and television program also available as a podcast. A contributing writer to The Nation, Flanders is also the author of six books, including "Bushwomen: How They Won the White House for Their Man" (2005). She is the recipient of a 2019 Izzy Award for excellence in independent journalism, the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award for advancing women's and girls' visibility in media, and a 2020 Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship for her reporting and advocacy for public media. lauraflanders.org
"Well, it's their fault bringing their kids to a battle."
Those words, spoken by a faceless soldier, echo from a classified US military video released by the site Wikileaks.org. The release comes on the heels of the revelation of a cover-up in Afghanistan--and the anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, as well as the anniversary of his "Beyond Vietnam" speech.
King spoke to the Clergy and Laity Concerned about Vietnam, saying "It should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam."
Hearing allegations that special forces troops in Afghanistan may have dug the bullets out of their pregnant victims bodies to hide evidence, hearing airmen on the Wikileaks tape begging "Come on, let us shoot!" and hearing the editor of Wikileaks say that the shooters talked in the way that people do when they're playing video games--it reminded me of King's words.
He told the truth about war: that it is horrible, that it does poison your soul. Dr. King also said, in a different speech, that there is such a thing as being too late when it comes to speaking up against your goverment doing wrong.
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