Iraq Video Brings Notice to a Web Site

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

De discussie zou dus eigenlijk moeten gaan over het nivo van de training
  van de soldaten én over de rechtmatigheid van de aanwezigheid van de
soldaten.
In dit specifieke geval met de nadruk over het eerste.
Andere beelden die in deze context bij me opkomen zijn mensen die in hun
eigen huis tegen de grond worden gehouden met schoenen in de nek, nadat
de voordeur met geweld werd verwijderd.

Groet / Cees

April 6, 2010
Iraq Video Brings Notice to a Web Site
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/07wikileaks.html
By NOAM COHEN and BRIAN STELTER

Three months ago, WikiLeaks, a whistleblower Web site that posts
classified and sensitive documents, put out an urgent call for help on
Twitter.

“Have encrypted videos of U.S. bomb strikes on civilians. We need super
computer time," stated the Web site, which calls itself “an intelligence
agency of the people.”

Somehow — it will not say how — WikiLeaks found the necessary computer
time to decrypt a graphic video, released Monday, of a United States
Army assault in Baghdad in 2007 that left 12 people dead, including two
employees of the news agency Reuters. The video has been viewed more
than two million times on YouTube, and has been replayed hundreds of
times in television news reports.

The release of the Iraq video is drawing attention to the once-fringe
Web site, which aims to bring to light hidden information about
governments and multinational corporations — putting secrets in plain
sight and protecting the identity of those who help do so. Accordingly,
the site has become a thorn in the side of authorities in the United
States and abroad. With the Iraq attack video, the clearinghouse for
sensitive documents is edging closer toward a form of investigative
journalism and to advocacy.

“That’s arguably what spy agencies do — high-tech investigative
journalism," Julian Assange, one of the site’s founders, said in an
interview on Tuesday. “It’s time that the media upgraded its
capabilities along those lines.”

Mr. Assange, an Australian activist and journalist, founded the site
three years ago along with a group of like-minded activists and computer
experts. Since then, WikiLeaks has published documents about toxic
dumping in Africa, protocols from Guantánamo Bay, e-mail messages from
Sarah Palin’s personal account and 9/11 pager messages.

Today there is a core group of five full-time volunteers, according to
Daniel Schmitt, a site spokesman, and there are 800 to 1,000 people whom
the group can call on for expertise in areas like encryption,
programming and writing news releases.

The site is not shy about its intent to shape media coverage, and Mr.
Assange said he considered himself both a journalist and an advocate;
should he be forced to choose one, he would choose advocate. WikiLeaks
did not merely post the 38-minute video, it used the label “Collateral
Murder” and said it depicted “indiscriminate” and “unprovoked” killing.
(The Pentagon defended the killings and said no disciplinary action was
taken at the time of the incident.)

“From my human point of view, I couldn’t believe it would be so easy to
wreak that kind of havoc on the city, when they can’t see what is really
going on there," Mr. Schmitt said in an interview from Germany on Monday
night.

The Web site also posted a 17-minute edited version, which proved to be
much more widely viewed on YouTube than the full version. Critics
contend that the shorter video was misleading because it did not make
clear that the attacks took place amid clashes in the neighborhood and
that one of the men was carrying a rocket-propelled grenade.

By releasing such a graphic video, which a media organization had tried
in vain to get through traditional channels, WikiLeaks has inserted
itself in the national discussion about the role of journalism in the
digital age. Where judges and plaintiffs could once stop or delay
publication with a court order, WikiLeaks exists in a digital sphere in
which information becomes instantly available.

“The most significant thing about the release of the Baghdad video is
that several million more people are on the same page,” with knowledge
of WikiLeaks, said Lisa Lynch, an assistant professor of journalism at
Concordia University in Montreal, who recently published a paper about
the site. “It is amazing that outside of the conventional channels of
information something like this can happen.”

Reuters had tried for two and a half years through the Freedom of
Information Act to obtain the Iraq video, to no avail. WikiLeaks, as
always, refuses to say how it obtained the video, and credits only “our
courageous source.”

Mr. Assange said “research institutions” offered to help decrypt the
Army video, but he declined to detail how they went about it. After
decrypting the attack video, WikiLeaks in concert with an Icelandic
television channel sent two people to Baghdad last weekend to gather
information about the killings, at a cost of $50,000, the site said.

David Schlesinger, Reuters editor in chief, said Tuesday that the video
was disturbing to watch “but also important to watch.” He said he hoped
to meet with the Pentagon “to press the need to learn lessons from this
tragedy.”

WikiLeaks publishes its material on its own site, which is housed on a
few dozen servers around the globe, including places like Sweden,
Belgium and the United States that the organization considers friendly
to journalists and document leakers, Mr. Schmitt said.

By being everywhere, yet in no exact place, WikiLeaks is, in effect,
beyond the reach of any institution or government that hopes to silence it.

Because it relies on donations, however, WikiLeaks says it has struggled
to keep its servers online. It has found moral, but not financial,
support from some news organizations, like The Guardian in Britain,
which said in January that “If you want to read the exposés of the
future, it’s time to chip in.”

On Tuesday, WikiLeaks claimed to have another encrypted video, said to
show an American airstrike in Afghanistan that killed 97 civilians last
year, and used the opportunity to ask for donations.

WikiLeaks has grown increasingly controversial as it has published more
material. (The United States Army called it a threat to its operations
in a report last month.) Many have tried to silence the site; in
Britain, WikiLeaks has been used a number of times to evade injunctions
on publication by courts that ruled that the material would violate the
privacy of the people involved. The courts reversed themselves when they
discovered how ineffectual their rulings were.

Another early attempt to shut down the site involved a United States
District Court judge in California. In 2008, Judge Jeffrey S. White
ordered the American version of the site shut down after it published
confidential documents concerning a subsidiary of a Swiss bank. Two
weeks later he reversed himself, in part recognizing that the order had
little effect because the same material could be accessed on a number of
other “mirror sites.”

Judge White said at the time, “We live in an age when people can do some
good things and people can do some terrible things without
accountability necessarily in a court of law.”

Somniferous
Everywhere
April 6th, 2010
11:52 pm
Firing on the van was a war crime under Ch. II, Art. XVIII of the First
Geneva Convention, which deals with the treatment of wounded parties,
including [but not limited to] combatants.
  Recommend  Recommended by 133 Readers
4.
HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)
Thomas Payne
Cornelius, NC
April 6th, 2010
11:52 pm
To suggest that this incident is rare would be false. This is a perfect
example as to why tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have been killed
in this fiasco of a "war". This is what is hidden from us by the
mainstream media. It is only through freedom loving and truth-loving
Wikileaks that we see the ugly face of America. This is why there are so
many whose hate for us grows stronger day-by-day.
  Recommend  Recommended by 133 Readers
2.
ash
los angeles
April 6th, 2010
11:52 pm
I just made a donation to Wikileaks. Perhaps, NYT, if you *really*
challenged the narrative of the military-industrial-complex, I might
consider paying for your content. But why should I pay for a corporate
and US gov't lackey?

I'm a US citizen: US out of Iraq and Afghanistan, NOW!
  Recommend  Recommended by 129 Readers
17.
Damian Lataan
Verdun, Australia
April 6th, 2010
11:52 pm
This article is both a classic piece of distractive propaganda with a
dash of sour grapes thrown in. Rather than talk about the horrendous
crime that has been committed, the writers attempt to shoot the
messenger - in this case Wikileaks - by suggesting that Wikileaks is
merely attempting to big-note itself by releasing the film. I say; 'Good
on 'em!' If the mainstream media won't report important stuff like this,
then let Wikileaks do it for them.
  Recommend  Recommended by 127 Readers
10.
bgeorge
new york, ny
April 6th, 2010
11:52 pm
The video is stunning and is a very big deal. It is mind changing and is
exactly the type of work we need the NY TIMES to be doing. Please,
please start doing the job we all need you to do. Uncover the
purposefully hidden reality, guys. Stop skimming the surfaces. Be the
newspaper you purport to be.
  Recommend  Recommended by 123 Readers
11.
HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)
kinetic
LI,NY
April 6th, 2010
11:52 pm
Thank you, WikiLeaks, for providing the world with the truth.

Mr. Assange, you are an extremely courageous man and in light of this
video, I hope for your continued safety and well-being.

  Recommend  Recommended by 114 Readers
14.
Gordonbuilders
Atlanta
April 6th, 2010
11:52 pm
Stand up for wikileaks. They are heros. Secrecy is the enemy of
democracy, and our government will never let go of their obsession with
secrecy.
The military says wikileaks is a threat to operations, but we know that
they are only a threat to sneaks and liars. Secrecy is most commonly
used today to hide scurrilous acts from the people, not to keep anything
from any enemy. Did the victims of waterboarding not know it was being
done to them? No doubt they told all their friends if they survived. But
who told the American people? We would still not know if it were not for
some careless kids getting carried away. I say secrecy is one of the
greatest threats Americans face, and we should all be giving money to
wikileaks for the good of our democracy.
  Recommend  Recommended by 95 Readers
6.
Not Surprised
NYC
April 6th, 2010
11:52 pm
Leave it the the Times to spin the news to focus on the website itself
and not what's being shown in the video itself. Where's that article?
  Recommend  Recommended by 92 Readers
16.
Paul
San Francisco
April 6th, 2010
11:52 pm
Nice take from a journalism perspective, but how about an article about
the apparent failure of the Apache crew to follow the rules of
engagement, and the apparent Army coverup investigation. Is this an Iraq
Mai Lai? If not, why not? Is this SOP? More, more.
  Recommend  Recommended by 81 Readers
21.
Tim Tait
Providence, Rhode Island
April 6th, 2010
11:52 pm
I watched the video, and I'm sick to my stomach. The invasion and
occupation of Iraq is criminal, and one day I hope justice is served.

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