Thinking soberly about the WikiLeaks video
1) We don’t know much about what preceded the video. See this article addressing the legality of what apparently transpired.
2) These guys carrying AK-47s and (possibly) an RPG (reports now suggest it was the video camera of the Reuters reporter) were probably looking for a fight, and may have already been engaged in combat with U.S. soldiers.
3) The attitudes of the soldiers are part of the evil of war, in which dehumanization of the enemy is necessary in order for killing to be carried out.
4) All that said, we shouldn’t have ever been involved with that conflict in the first place.
5) War is hell, and we’ve got to do a much better job of keeping hell on a leash by holding our government and military accountable for the wars we bring on the world.
6) The worst part is the cover-up and the undeniable distortion of the U.S. military’s response. It took WikiLeaks to break this story, but don’t imagine that the citizens of Iraq don’t learn about all such questionable events soon after they happen.
7) They don’t hate us because we’re free; they don’t just hate us because “we’re over there.” They hate us because we’re over here allowing our military to do whatever it wants over there with little accountability.
