Dit is een nieuwsupdate over de door Wikileaks gelekte videobeelden uit Irak. In dit bericht: Al Jazeera, The New Yorker, Truthout, The Independent, The New York Times, The Guardian en anderen.
Het hele verhaal
Al Jazeera’s Inside Story bespreekt in ruim twintig minuten het hele verhaal.
De opmerkingen van Glenn Greenwald komen goed to the point:
“I think that the real value of [the release of this video] is that this happens in war, in all wars all the time. This is what war is. I think there’s a real value in having Americans who typically don’t see what our government is doing thousands of miles away in these countries, who are subjected to propaganda about how we’re spreading democracy and liberating people — I think there’s a real value in seeing the inhumanity and brutality of what that means, and being forced to confront it. And I think Americans typically don’t value [this]. [This video release by Wikileaks] triggers real important debates and discussion about what we’re really doing in the world.”
De vraag of het oorlogsrecht is geschonden in dit specifieke incident is niet de meest relevante, zegt Greenwald:
“Whatever opinions we might have about rules of engagement and whether these soldiers were acting correctly, the reality is that we’re leaving a trail of extreme anti-American sentiment and hatred. Exactly what fuelled the terrorism that we’re supposedly trying to combat (…).”
