Leaked Video Spurs Denial of Responsibility for Iraq
War
"In
the Vietnam War, it was photography that finally broke down the web of lies. Today,
its video on the Internet. Now as then, the discussion about the war is taking
place far too late - tens of thousands of human lives too late."
Millions
around the world are at this moment gaping at a black and white video [see
below] that shows the brutal murder of twelve people in Iraq, accompanied by
the vulgar, and dehumanizing slang of soldiers. Once again, the images have set
in motion a wave of indignation over late-in-coming but long-known facts.
Right
from the beginning, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan exacted a toll of
thousands of innocent lives. In both places, women and children have come under
incessant fire. But these horrors are the predictable consequences of a guerilla
war. It is a battle against an enemy that has emerged from the local population
and can blend right back again. The line between civilians and combatants is
blurred. One would have to tenaciously believe the propaganda of the military to
think that these wars aren’t messy, and that overworked soldiers won’t
inevitably make fatal errors.
Now
begins the process of denial, which accompanies all modern military
engagements. This is simply because every nation engaged in war is burdened by a
moral responsibility for the dead - so they are only too eager to be propagandistically
lied to.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
In
the Vietnam War, it was photography that finally broke down the web of lies. Today,
its video on the Internet. Now as then, discussion about the war is taking
place far too late - tens of thousands of human lives too late. There are
always arguments for and against war, but they should be exchanged at the outset
for something very different: namely, with the knowledge that as governments, as
nations, and as democracies, we are responsible for these deaths - even those of
the innocents.
