3 ms·
The following paragraph is incredibly stupid. The telling comparison tells nothing at all; the impact of abu graihb pictures vs. american-gunship-massacre-video
by fgf 16y ago
The following paragraph is incredibly stupid. The telling comparison tells nothing at all; the impact of abu graihb pictures vs. american-gunship-massacre-video was not controlled by those who released them.
"A telling comparison can be made between WikiLeaks’ publication of the Iraq Apache helicopter attack video last April and The New Yorker’s publication of the Abu Ghraib abuse photographs in an article by Seymour Hersh in May 2004. Both disclosures involved extremely graphic and disturbing images. Both involved unreleased or classified government records. And both generated a public sensation. But there the similarity ends. The Abu Ghraib photos prompted lawsuits, congressional hearings, courts martial, prison sentences, declassification initiatives, and at least indirectly a revision of U.S. policy on torture and interrogation. By contrast, the WikiLeaks video tendentiously packaged under the title “Collateral Murder” produced none of that– no investigation (other than a leak investigation), no congressional hearings, no lawsuits, no tightening of the rules of engagement. Just a mild scolding from the Secretary of Defense, and an avalanche of publicity for WikiLeaks"