Source confirms video of Baghdad firefight

WASHINGTON (AP) — A gritty war video circulating on the Internet that shows U.S. troops firing repeatedly on a group of men — some of whom were unarmed — walking down a Baghdad street is authentic, a senior U.S. military official confirmed Monday.


The official said the video posted at Wikileaks.org was of a July 12, 2007, firefight involving Army helicopters in the New Baghdad District of eastern Baghdad.

Among those believed to have been killed in that attack was Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen, 22, and his driver Saeed Chmagh, 40. Two children also were wounded.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the video, said the military could not confirm the identities of the Reuters employees in the film. FULL STORY

Collateral Murder

THE HUTAREE MILITIA RAID

By Chuck Baldwin
April 6, 2010
NewsWithViews.com

Once in a while, someone writes a column that leaves me enviously exclaiming, "Darn! I wish I had written that!" Candidly, I do not often find myself saying that, but I sure did when I read William Norman Grigg's excellent column entitled "Casus Belli" (Latin for "Case for War") on Monday, March 29, 2010. Read his column here (even if you don't read the rest of mine).

Referring to the federal indictment against the Hutaree militia, that alleged members were making preparations for potential armed conflict against law enforcement officers as a "seditious conspiracy," Grigg astutely noted, "If they were acquiring weapons and developing appropriate skills in anticipation of defending themselves against government aggression, their actions--while possibly conspiratorial in nature--don't amount to a crime. This is particularly true in light of our cultural history, in which sedition--agitation to change the existing political order--is our proudest civic tradition."

Grigg then rightly observes, "Government is nothing more than the rationalization and exercise of violence. Everything done by government contains at least the implicit threat of lethal coercion. Thus the indictment's description of Hutaree as 'an anti-government extremist organization which advocates violence against local, state and Federal law enforcement' is a product of rhetorical onanism [from Genesis 38:9--a great analogy, Will]."

As a general rule, government is the most violent force on the planet. If one wants to get a true perspective on the historical record regarding who or what routinely produces the most violence and death, one should pick up a copy of R. J. Rummel's book, "Death By Government." Since the end of World War II, Communist China and Red Russia lead the pack when it comes to death and brutality; however, the US government has inflicted its share of carnage as well. For example, in Iraq and Afghanistan alone, the government in Washington, D.C., has killed over 800,000 civilians (and this figure is a conservative estimate noting the most credible resources possible).

See here and also here. FULL STORY