Gates criticizes leaks group for war video - latimes.com
source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sc-dc-gates-video14-20100413,0,4550653.s...
-
-
- CaptSutter
- added this
LIMA, Peru — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Tuesday took a swipe at the website that released secret military video footage of a 2007 incident in which civilians were killed.
Gates said the videos released by the group WikiLeaks were out of context and provided an incomplete picture of the battlefield, comparing it to war as seen "through a soda straw."
"These people can put out whatever they want and are never held accountable for it," said Gates, speaking to reporters while in route to Lima, Peru. "There is no before and no after. It is only the present."
The website last week released classified video of a 2007 incident in Iraq in which two Reuters news agency employees and several other civilians were killed or wounded by an Apache helicopter whose crew mistook them for insurgent fighters.
The video ignited international outrage for showing the helicopter crew praising one another's shooting and seeking more human "targets." The incident was investigated previously by the military and crewmembers were found innocent of any wrongdoing. Reuters had been turned down in prior efforts to obtain the video.
Nonetheless, Gates told reporters that the videos were akin to looking at war through a narrow lens and said that millions who have viewed it on YouTube and elsewhere could not understand what was going on before or after the airstrikes incidents.
"That is the problem with these videos," Gates said. "You are looking at the war through a soda straw and you have no context or perspective."
U.S. officials have said that the journalists were walking with or near people who were armed and in the proximity of a firefight.
WikiLeaks organizers could not be reached Tuesday to comment on Gates' charges. The group's web site includes the 2007 video in a presentation it has titled "Collateral Murder." WikiLeaks said this week it may soon release another video, of a 2009 U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan that killed nearly 100 civilians.
The WikiLeaks web site lists no staff members, but names its supporters, which includes several media companies, the Los Angeles Times among them.
Gates said the videos released by the group WikiLeaks were out of context and provided an incomplete picture of the battlefield, comparing it to war as seen "through a soda straw."
"These people can put out whatever they want and are never held accountable for it," said Gates, speaking to reporters while in route to Lima, Peru. "There is no before and no after. It is only the present."
The website last week released classified video of a 2007 incident in Iraq in which two Reuters news agency employees and several other civilians were killed or wounded by an Apache helicopter whose crew mistook them for insurgent fighters.
The video ignited international outrage for showing the helicopter crew praising one another's shooting and seeking more human "targets." The incident was investigated previously by the military and crewmembers were found innocent of any wrongdoing. Reuters had been turned down in prior efforts to obtain the video.
Nonetheless, Gates told reporters that the videos were akin to looking at war through a narrow lens and said that millions who have viewed it on YouTube and elsewhere could not understand what was going on before or after the airstrikes incidents.
"That is the problem with these videos," Gates said. "You are looking at the war through a soda straw and you have no context or perspective."
U.S. officials have said that the journalists were walking with or near people who were armed and in the proximity of a firefight.
WikiLeaks organizers could not be reached Tuesday to comment on Gates' charges. The group's web site includes the 2007 video in a presentation it has titled "Collateral Murder." WikiLeaks said this week it may soon release another video, of a 2009 U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan that killed nearly 100 civilians.
The WikiLeaks web site lists no staff members, but names its supporters, which includes several media companies, the Los Angeles Times among them.
-
- groups:
- Community, Afghanistan News
-
- tags:
- Afghanistan, War on Terror, War Crimes, Gates
-
-
CaptSutter
-
A rather pitiful defense. You don"t understand, you don't have the full picture, by the way I am the reason you don't have the full picture.
- 2 years ago
-
CaptSutter
