WikiLeaks - back with the worst the US military has to offer

David Heath
Tuesday, 06 April 2010 18:02

Opinion and Analysis

As WikiLeaks slowly assembles the funding needed to operate for another year, newly breaking material is appearing on the site.

At the time of writing, front-and-centre on the WikiLeaks website is a video showing a US Apache helicopter attack on what turned out to be two Reuters journalists and a group of civilians. 

According to the description to the video, "Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded."

The video, running for 17:47 is very chilling and should NOT be viewed by those of a sensitive disposition as it contains very confronting, real footage of people being killed.

The two helicopter pilots, insisting to their commanders that the have observed six people with AK-47s and one with a RPG (rocket-propelled grenade launcher) were then authorised to engage 'the enemy.'

In fact, none had any weapons and the RPG was in fact a camera with a typical photojournalists' lens of about 30cm length.  Further information is available on the sister site - Collateral Murder - set up for this particular information release.

Parts of the US Government have come in for particular attention recently, including the recent release of a long report detailing counter-intelligence plans to 'nullify' WikiLeaks.  Clearly (and fortunately), since the report's completion in March 2008, little has been accomplished.

WikiLeaks is precisely the kind of resource that could not exist without the Internet; there is simply no other way to cheaply, anonymously and widely disseminate the kind of information that governments and big-business would rather keep to themselves.

WikiLeaks is also the kind of resource that Australia's Internet censorship regime would target.  In particular, the video with which this story opened would certainly be refused classification should it be submitted to the Classification Board, as other video fragments of a clear public interest that include death have also been refused.

Currently, WikiLeaks has raised approximately $370,000 out of the $600,000 required for operations in 2010 and is still actively soliciting donations.