April 5, 2010
Notes

Wikileak’s Video of US Military Attack on Reuters Journalists: "All Right, Ha, Ha, Ha"

Saeed 1 Saeed 2

Saeed 3 Saeed 4

It would be a little easier attributing the US military’s Baghdad killing of Reuters photographer Saeed Noor-Eldeen, and his driver, Saeed Chmagh, to the fog of war of it weren’t for a.) the sadistic, macho tone (as demonstrated in the second frame above), and b.) the lack of any ownership of the mistake (as you can hear on the video, read in the last frame, and understand even better when the order is cancelled to transfer the wounded girl to a US base).

As it is, the spellbinding and grotesque visual narrative, playing out over a riveting 17 minutes and 47 seconds, takes the concern over virtual-war (whether via helicopter, or via drones controlled from thousands of miles away), as well as the troubling parallel with war-based video games, to a whole new level.

Video via MaddowBlog.

(screen grabs from Wikileaks video)

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Michael Shaw
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