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WikiLeaks: video - Keep shoot'n
WikiLeaks has released a classified US military videoThe actions of the soldiers were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own "Rules of Engagement".
"It's their fault bringing their kidds to battle"
Those "Rules of Engagement" are applying now for Afghanistan too, ensuring lots of new 'friends'....
Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle: when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.
There will always be accidents under that rather horrible term "friendly fire" but this is quite something else. It happens too often and in Afghanistan as well. Bordering on the gung ho.
Originally posted by rjhowie:
An over simplification by far there Jaybro. I watched the video and there was an arrow superimposed to indicate a well known photographer. What was disturbing was the voices of the air crew who thought it some kind of light hearted sport.
I watched the video, too. I wonder if the sportsmen saw the arrow indicating a well known photographer. Frankly, what was disturbing was people being killed. Were you ever involved in a war? Me, either.
I'm satisfied that the video was released, however.
My short answer would be "no", simply because this isn't journalism but disseminating leaks with some editorial comments. Leaks are part of many news articles, but who is leaking and why?
This is not to say that Wikileaks doesn't have a role to play.
The rest is, tragic, but inevitable given the situation there.
Originally posted by jax:
What I kind of enjoyed was the comparison of the front pages of CNN and Al Jazeera after the news broke.
Since you are mentioning CNN it reminds me of this:
Investigation shows US military covered up execution of pregnant women in Afghanistan
while
CNN reported the story with the headline, "Bodies found gagged, bound after Afghan 'honor killing.'"
CNN quoted a U.S. official as saying the women had been shot "execution-style" and that the killings had "the earmarks of a traditional honor killing."
Originally posted by Redem:
Tragic as it may be, the only problem I have with the video is the attack on the van. It is a clear breach of the geneva conventions to attack anyone rendering medical assistance, unless they are also clearly attacking your troops.
It's obvious that Rules of Engagement have priority over the Geneva or any other international conventions.
At least as long as they are our Rules of Engagement.
Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle: when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.
In both Iraq and Afghanistan we'll have set up regimes that will founder for years on a bed of violence. Disgusting.
Originally posted by Krake:
It's obvious that Rules of Engagement have priority over the Geneva or any other international conventions.
At least as long as they are our Rules of Engagement.
The RoE given amount to orders, they do not amount to law, the geneva conventions do. They are legally binding upon signatories, and confer protection upon both civilians, injured combatants, and medical personnel. If the RoE breaches the conventions, they are still illegal acts.
Although, we know how much esteem the US military shows international law, at times. Torture and mistreatment of prisoners is also prohibited.
It is a pity that the US military shows no willingness to hold themselves rigidly to the standards they would demand of others.
Originally posted by Jaybro:
Speaking of rules of engagement, I'm puzzled about who gave the ok to attack the group.
Whoever their local commander was, presumably.
It serves to provide evidence of their actions if such is needed, as well as providing a wealth of data to mine for improvements to training and combat techniques.
Originally posted by Jaybro:
In both Iraq and Afghanistan we'll have set up regimes that will founder for years on a bed of violence. Disgusting.
Disgusting, to say the least.
A male relative of the victims of the raid who watched them bleed to death told CNN in an interview published on Tuesday that the attacking force "did not allow him to take the wounded to the hospital".
A similar account was given by family members to a United Nations investigating team, as reported by Starkey in the Times on March 16. The family members said the police commissioner and the 18-year old girl who were killed died hours later and might have survived had they been taken to a hospital immediately.
US and Afghan forces refused to get them to a hospital immediately, according to their account.
source
Originally posted by Redem:
The RoE given amount to orders, they do not amount to law, the geneva conventions do. They are legally binding upon signatories, and confer protection upon both civilians, injured combatants, and medical personnel.
Geneva convention, my ass.
Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle: when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.
Originally posted by Independent:
Iceland has passed a sweeping reform of its media laws that supporters say will make the country an international haven for investigative journalism. The new package of legislation was passed unanimously at 4am yesterday in one of the final sessions of the Icelandic parliament, the Althingi, before its summer break.
Created with the involvement of the whistleblowing website Wikileaks, it increases protection for anonymous sources, creates new protections from so-called "libel tourism" and makes it much harder to censor stories before they are published.
"It will be the strongest law of its kind anywhere," said Birgitta Jonsdottir, MP for The Movement party and member of the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, which first made the proposals. "We're taking the best laws from around the world and putting them into one comprehensive package that will deal with the fact that information doesn't have borders any more."
To an extent, Iceland is in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Economic_Area">European Economic Area</a>, EU laws will impact Icelandic laws.