The WikiLeaks release of the chilling video “Collateral Murder” in April was one of the most significant news events of 2010. The footage shows the US Apache helicopter, “Crazyhorse 18,” slaughtering Iraqis in Baghdad in 2007. One of the first nine victims worked for the Reuters news agency. When the driver of a minivan arrives and tries to pick up the dead and wounded, the helicopter opens fire again killing a second Reuters journalist and two other men including the driver. The radio in the cockpit crackles with the news that two children in the van have been badly wounded. “Ah damn,” says a voice from the helicopter. And then: “Well, it’s their fault for bringing their kids into a battle.”
The release of the secret US military video propelled the website WikiLeaks into the headlines. Reuters had been trying without success to get the footage from the US government for nearly three years and now, here it was for all to see on YouTube. Soon, more than 10 million people had watched it. Three months later, WikiLeaks was back in the headlines with the release of more than 76,000 secret US military field reports from Afghanistan. They depicted the grim realities of six years of bloody war. Britain’s Guardian newspaper described the war logs as providing “a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and NATO commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency.”
In October, WikiLeaks struck again, releasing almost 400,000 secret US war logs from Iraq. They revealed that the US military had ignored hundreds of reports of prisoner abuse, rape, torture and murder by the Iraqi police and military. The Guardian wrote that the reports “describe prisoners shackled, blindfolded and hung by wrists or ankles, and subjected to whipping, punching, kicking or electric shocks.” The Iraq war logs also revealed that US forces killed almost 700 Iraqis who came too close to American checkpoints. The victims included pregnant women and people suffering mental disturbances.
On November 28, WikiLeaks began releasing diplomatic cables from 270 US embassies and consulates. The cables confirm what critics have long suspected—that US officials routinely lie, for example, about military actions such as the secret American bombing of Yemen and US special forces operations in Pakistan. The cables show that the US threatens foreign governments who try to investigate or prosecute Americans. US officials warned German authorities, for example, not to enforce arrest warrants against 13 CIA officers involved in the 2003 kidnapping of Khaled El-Masri, a German citizen who was flown to Afghanistan where he was repeatedly beaten and drugged. It took several months for the Americans to discover the man was not a terrorist. The US also pressured Spain not to pursue the torture of a Spanish citizen at Guantanamo or the killing by US forces of a Spanish journalist in Baghdad.
The cables demonstrate the close relationship between the US government and multinational corporations. For example, they suggest the US supported the drug company Pfizer in its successful efforts to head off a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit in Nigeria for testing an antibiotic on about 100 sick children without the consent of their parents. Eleven children died while others suffered brain damage, paralysis and deafness. US diplomats also held meetings with executives from Shell Oil in which they discussed sharing information about anti-Shell militants in the Niger Delta.
If the WikiLeaks leaks were the big story of 2010, they promise to continue making news in 2011. As the steady release of diplomatic cables continues to expose the dark side of US imperialism, WikiLeaks says it will expose skulduggery in the inner workings of a big American bank.
The 9/11 terrorists attacked the centres of US capitalism in New York and the US military in Washington. Now, WikiLeaks threatens to do the same with potentially devastating effects.
This article appears in Dec 30, 2010 – Jan 5, 2011.
My New Year’s Resolution is not to waste any more time on left wing nincompoops, but it’s not Jan. 1 yet, so I am still allowed.
“WikiLeaks exposed US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, and revealed the dark side of imperialism.”
Bruce, the dark side of imperialism? Really? In Iraq and Afghanistan? Imperialism is the policy of acquiring and holding colonies. How many Americans are in Iraq?
The war in Iraq was not an Imperialistic war. Iraq is not a colony of America.
Instead, the invasion of Iraq, the overthrow of the Baathist dictatorship and the establishment of a fragile democracy is one of the biggest accomplishments in military history.
Hey Yorkke (whoever you are), here’s hoping you’ll also adopt a New Year’s Resolution to eschew name calling as a substitute for logical arguments. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_calling
The argument you do advance, namely your own, home-made definition of imperialism as “the policy of acquiring and holding colonies,” may apply to colonialism in the 19th century, but is no longer a complete definition in the 21st century.
Check out any dictionary definition you choose. The Oxford Canadian gives these definitions: “a policy of acquiring dependent territories or extending a country’s influence over less developed countries through trade, diplomacy etc.; the domination or attempted domination of another country’s economic, political, or cultural institutions, without actually seizing governmental control.”
Or if you prefer a US definition, here’s one from the American Heritage Dictionary:
“The policy of extending a nation’s authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations.”
Here’s a comprehensive definition from David McNally as quoted in the 2010 book “Imperialist Canada” by Todd Gordon (pg. 26):
“Imperialism is a system of global inequalities and domination — embodied in regimes of property, military power and global institutions — through which wealth is drained from the labour and resources of people in the Global South to the systematic advantage of capital in the North.”
I feel no need to respond to your assertion that the illegal invasion of Iraq etc. “is one of the biggest accomplishments in military history.” That’s easy to say but you should remember the logical rule: he/she who asserts must prove.
Stop 100 people on Barrington Street and ask them what they know about Wikileaks.
How many will mention the alleged rapist? (Sweden has quite a different legal system from that in UK,Canada, USA and that explains the twists and turns in the allegations from two women and how such allegations are investigated)
I thought the most interesting leak was the one pertaining to how pissed the Chinese are with their crazy,starving, 500 calories a day, miniscule power bill, blowhard neighbours.
As for the impending revelations about Bank of America, I look forward to hearing why the CEO never told the Obama enforcers to piss off when they threated to replace him and his board if they backed out of the deal to take over Merrill Lynch when the Feds and the CEO knew that Merrill was bust and not worth one cent. Due diligence revealed it was a lousy deal but the Feds told the CEO they’d chop him and the board if they did not complete the deal and flush billions of shareholder equity down the drain.
Or maybe the story is already out, I just read an article about a banker who lied about his ownership and injection of cash to get TARP money.
Or maybe the story is about the banks which were forced to take the TARP money after telling the Obama enforcers that they did not need, nor want, the money.
Or will the story be about all the Democrats on the boards of Fannie & Freddie who sat back while banks lent money to unemployed minorities to buy houses they could not afford because Bill clinton wanted them to live the ‘American Dream’ in run down rust belt cities.
Or, perhaps it will be about the the Democrats who took big donations from bankers.
Wikileaks – bringing new meaning to ‘raping the public’
The Iraq War is all about oil not about WMDs . Also secrets risks lives not save lives .
I refer to your last paragraph”The 9/11 terrorists attacked the centres of US capitalism in New York and the US military in Washington. Now, WikiLeaks threatens to do the same with potentially devastating effects.” 9/11 terrorists killed innocent Americans and they and their supporters deserve our utmost contempt. You make it sound that 9/11 is justified because it was an attack on US capitalism and the US military. Your editorials typically include statements that make no sense and this was one of them.
I believe the biggest story of 2010 is the fact that the Swiss Banks threw wikileaks & Julian Assange’s asset out of the country.
Think about it…
This Banking haven of Dictators, military Strongmen, Drug dealers from all over the world have assets protected by Swiss banking laws !
& they protected the stolen Eurpopean assets the Nazi’s put in Swiss Banks care for over 50 years…yet they boot out a guy & his whistle blowing company… because he gave (in their opinion) a false address ! ! !
If no one else can see the power of the bankers as opposed to the so called power of any one else including the worlds Gov’s, don’t worry about the miltary, or say American Governments being out for you…its the Banks that have the real power !
As soon as wikileaks said they had dirt on the banks & would release it in 2011, Paypal dropped them, the credit card companies dropped them, no one else notice that !?!
Yeah , sure ‘their’ story is they don’t want to be seen to piss of the Americans, but there’s all kinds of countries & people who have & are pissing off America, & its just anohter day…but piss of the banks & look what happens .