The Apache video was edited to show the chain of events that led to the killing of a bunch of journalists. I agree that the rules of engagement were followed, but I don't believe permission to fire would have been granted if the guys in the helicopter hadn't been so scared and hadn't embellished their account of the people on the ground.
Are you claiming that the film was propaganda because we were shown that there were children killed? Or because we were told that those children were not given access to top quality medical care after they ended up accidental casualties?
If it's propaganda to include such information, then it's surely propaganda to omit it, which is what the US did by classifying it.
As for the leaked information putting lives at risk, Wikileaks offered to let the US Government redact any information it saw fit to. This offer was refused.
It seems odd that a government that negotiates with thugs, warlords, torturers, criminals, etc., all over the world, and let that one guy flee with $42M in US cash, will ceremoniously refuse to "negotiate" in a way that would have removed any chance that the leaks would have caused ANY harm whatsoever.
This is at best hypocritical and at worst stupid. I should be honest it irritates me to hear anyone say "we don't negotiate with terrorists" because so much of what the US does is identical to terrorism -- dropping bombs from very high altitudes into the middle of civilian areas, etc.
The realization I've made after reading the leaks is that the US is a propaganda state every bit as much as North Korea. The only thing we have in our favor is a far more favorable mix of natural resources, etc, so we simply had to deal with $5/gallon gas instead of being called upon to make tea out of pine needles by our illustrious leader.
There's an easy way to avoid ambushes: Send the troops home. The only rationale for staying is to essentially convert the territories into the 51st and 52nd US states. Already we've tolerated ethnic cleansing, etc., and things are far worse under US rule than they were under Saddam or the Taliban. We need to be honest with ourselves about this and decide if we really want two more states at the expense of so many indigenous lives. We should not be pretending that we can wage sterile war with smart bombs and that we're fighting against evil. We're simply taking valuable land. It's neither sterile or smart.
On balance the US has caused far more suffering in the past decade than the Taliban, and perhaps the leaks will allow the public to realize what is going on and call for it to stop. So maybe you're right, maybe Manning would emerge a folk hero, reveal one or two more key tidbits, and run for office himself from behind bars.
My favorite line from Sun Tzu is where he describes how a strong nation has children playing along its borders and a weak nation has soldiers lined up. Ever since George W. Bush took office we've been acting like a weak nation.
Sure the leaks were embarrassing. So fix the major security holes in military IT systems, apologize to the allies that were embarrassed, and move on.
Are you claiming that the film was propaganda because we were shown that there were children killed? Or because we were told that those children were not given access to top quality medical care after they ended up accidental casualties?
If it's propaganda to include such information, then it's surely propaganda to omit it, which is what the US did by classifying it.
As for the leaked information putting lives at risk, Wikileaks offered to let the US Government redact any information it saw fit to. This offer was refused.
It seems odd that a government that negotiates with thugs, warlords, torturers, criminals, etc., all over the world, and let that one guy flee with $42M in US cash, will ceremoniously refuse to "negotiate" in a way that would have removed any chance that the leaks would have caused ANY harm whatsoever.
This is at best hypocritical and at worst stupid. I should be honest it irritates me to hear anyone say "we don't negotiate with terrorists" because so much of what the US does is identical to terrorism -- dropping bombs from very high altitudes into the middle of civilian areas, etc.
The realization I've made after reading the leaks is that the US is a propaganda state every bit as much as North Korea. The only thing we have in our favor is a far more favorable mix of natural resources, etc, so we simply had to deal with $5/gallon gas instead of being called upon to make tea out of pine needles by our illustrious leader.
There's an easy way to avoid ambushes: Send the troops home. The only rationale for staying is to essentially convert the territories into the 51st and 52nd US states. Already we've tolerated ethnic cleansing, etc., and things are far worse under US rule than they were under Saddam or the Taliban. We need to be honest with ourselves about this and decide if we really want two more states at the expense of so many indigenous lives. We should not be pretending that we can wage sterile war with smart bombs and that we're fighting against evil. We're simply taking valuable land. It's neither sterile or smart.
On balance the US has caused far more suffering in the past decade than the Taliban, and perhaps the leaks will allow the public to realize what is going on and call for it to stop. So maybe you're right, maybe Manning would emerge a folk hero, reveal one or two more key tidbits, and run for office himself from behind bars.
My favorite line from Sun Tzu is where he describes how a strong nation has children playing along its borders and a weak nation has soldiers lined up. Ever since George W. Bush took office we've been acting like a weak nation.
Sure the leaks were embarrassing. So fix the major security holes in military IT systems, apologize to the allies that were embarrassed, and move on.