CNN Shows Clip Of Wikileaks' "Collateral Murder" Video But Are In Damage Control Mode...

[Turborama]

Run time: 03:17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMCNHC84Y04   Posted on YouTube: April 06, 2010 By YouTube Member: superiorgreen Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: April 06, 2010 By DU Member: Turborama Views on DU: 3908

 
...by quoting the Pentagon 'investigation' and saying this is a reminder of "the kind of nastiness that happens during war".

BTW Barbara Starr says they are not showing the part of the video when they open fire out of respect for the Reuters journalists' families. However, Nabil Nour El Deen, Reuters photographer Namir Nour El Deen's brother, has told Al Jazeera English after watching the footage that it is clearly a crime committed by the US military: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jgqRzwh-fI


ETA This take on it from Reddit:

So CNN finally covers of the Wikileaks video on The Situation Room. They don't mention about the children or the Good Samaritan at all, and they show only the first few seconds before the shooting starts. More analysis in the self-post. It gets worse.

After showing the first few seconds of the wikileaks video, Wolf then turns to "Pentagon Corespondent" Barbara Starr for the rest of the video. Here's some information about Barbara Starr http://crooksandliars.com/2008/04/11/draft-cnns-endless-loop-of-pentagon-propaganda">link 1, http://crooksandliars.com/2007/02/14/barbara-starr-spreads-wh-propaganda-on-iran-bush-will-not-confirm-white-house-blues">link 2.

So remember the Bush-era story about certain military analysts being used to sell the Iraq war? (if not, http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pentagon_military_analyst_program">here's a refresher) Barbara seems to be a continuation of that concept.

Starr then spends the rest of the video (thus the rest of CNN's coverage of the attack) repeating two talking points:
One: Everything is fine. Everything was investigated. The Pentagon's lies about being attacked first are not mentioned.
Two: This happens all the time. Over a hundred journalists have died in Iraq.

To sum up: No mention of soldiers begging to be allowed to fire on the van. No mention of the injured children. No mention of the tank running over a reporter's body. No mention of the Pentagon's proven lies: that the troops were fired upon and that those attacked were clearly insurgents.

Why is CNN doing damage control for the military?

From: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/bmvfb/so_cnn_finally_covers_of_the_wikileaks_video_on/

[metapunditedgy]

1. The CNN story (on their web page) is basically a rehash of the military's talking points.

I think CNN's perspective will be challenged in the next few days...

Bullshit like, "They mistook the journalists' cameras for weapons...."

Well, cameras are a threat to evildoers!

[Mari333]

2. as long as the obama admin does NOT ACTIVELY PURSUE IRAQ AS A WAR CRIME

it will continue to hold a status of 'legitimacy' in people's minds and cnn will think they can continue the propaganda.

altho I think the american public knows perfectly well it is and was a war crime,and are disgusted with the spineless dems who refuse to call it what it really is

and they had a chance to do so. they blew it.

[metapunditedgy]

3. Well, I think the admin could take a middle road, where they criticize

what happened but refuse to prosecute it. But they're not even doing that.

[kas125]

4. But there is no middle ground when it comes to war crimes.

They can't criticize anything while they're protecting war criminals, thus violating the law themselves.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

6. The White House doesn't prosecute war crimes remember? n/t

[JDPriestly]

5. No mention of the merciless shooting of a man writhing on the ground.

Why wasn't that man writhing on the ground picked up, taken for medical care and interrogated?

Why couldn't the soldiers on our side tell the difference between a weapon and a camera? Why did they just assume that the camera was an AK-47?

[KansDem]

11. I saw the video yesterday...

Is that the footage where you can hear the Apache pilot saying something like, "pick up a weapon...just touch a weapon"? I assume the "rules of engagement" say something like you cannot shoot unarmed civilians, but if one is writhing on the ground and just happens to roll over onto a gun of some kind even though he's semi-conscious and in great pain, then you can fire away...

[JDPriestly]

13. That's the part. I don't think that the writhing man was near a weapon.

I could be wrong, but I think the serviceman hiding behind the computer was just reacting out of blood lust and peer pressure.

[bananas]

7. Q: "Why is CNN doing damage control for the military?" A: "$$$"

[ro1942]

8. That was laughable

our news media at work

[truth2power]

9. I said this yesterday; this story is never going anywhere...

I don't believe it was on PBS News Hour last night. Correct me if I'm wrong. I had it on, but wasn't watching at all times. I do know that Gwen Ifill led with some nonsense about something no one cares about.

Ya' know...when WikiLeaks made the announcement this weekend that they were going to release the video, and said, "If anything happens to us..." I was concerned at first, that someone would end up dead by Monday.

But I realize now that I needn't have worried. They don't even have to bother murdering whistleblowers anymore, because our information sources are so controlled that even the most hideous crimes committed by the MIC never really see the light of day.

Do you think the people who SHOULD see this are getting their information from the internet? No. They're watching Fuxx News or The Biggest Loser. End of story! :banghead:

[whatsthebuzz]

10. I used to watch CNN

but recently they have gone downhill in quality. I haven't watched it (besides through video clips like this) for about two months now. Funny that MSNBC showed the clip but CNN didn't "out of respect."

And I can't stand Wold Blitzer because he is so pro-war.

[jimlup]

12. The story dropped of the screen amazingly fast

yet Tiger Woods marital infidelity remains near the top. For those who are just noticing for the first time, the mainstream media is traditionally a cheerleader for the Pentagon. A clear and reasoned explanation can be found in Herman and Chomsky's Manufactoring Consent: The Political Economy of Mass Media

http://www.amazon.com/Manufacturing-Consent-Political-Economy-Media/dp/0375714499

[jrfsl]

14. "f***ing prick"

In the 17 minute video on youtube you can hear someone say "f***ing prick" over the radio (at 03.30)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0

This has been bleeped out in this CNN video (at 0.42), and bleeped out using a sound that's very similar to the beeping of the radio.. this is a cynical editorial choice, as it masks the line without really drawing attention to the fact it's been masked.