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Permission to Engage

Posted on April 11, 2016
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Debra Sweet | April 5, 2016

collateral murderApril 5 — six years ago yesterday — was when the videoCollateral Murder was shared with the world by Wikileaks, exposed from US military files by Chelsea (nee Bradley) Manning.

In a piece by Nozomi Hayase, formerly part of Wikileaks, I was reminded that Collateral Murder could have been called “Permission to Engage”:

In an interview with Raffi Khatchadourian of The New Yorker, WikiLeaks editor in chief Julian Assangedescribed how before deciding on the title Collateral Murder, he had considered naming the short commentary film “Permission to Engage”… The radio transmission audio catches the line of ruthless weaponry when voices of the copter crew came through; “…Yeah Bushmaster, we have a van that’s approaching and picking up the bodies” …. “Let me engage. Can I shoot?”,“Roger. Break. Uh Crazyhorse One-Eight request permission to engage”,“Picking up the wounded?”,“Yeah, we’re trying to get permission to engage”,“Come on, let us shoot!”

Permission to engage in destroying Iraq?  Permission to carry out the crime of aggressive war?

Lest anyone think Collateral Murder is so 2007 Bush-era, the U.S. killed an estimated 25 civilians on March 19, as we marked 13 years of US war on Iraq.  Telesur asks, “Did the U.S. Just Admit to Committing War Crimes?:

 “Yesterday's massive daylight air raid on the city — which saw at least three central locations bombed and credible claims of 25 or more civilians killed — was shocking in its ferocity and reckless in its apparent disregard for civilian lives.” 
This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address: 
 "http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/US-Led-Airstrikes-May-Have-Killed-25-or-More-Iraqi-Civilians-20160320-0030.html". If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/englishAccording to NRN News, an Iraqi media organization cited by Airwars, the U.S.-led coalition — which includes 10 other nations, among them France, Britain and Denmark — struck three sites in Mosul on March 19, including a cafe. After that attack, “people gathered around the place to help the wounded,” NRN reported. “But a second missile led to a fall of more than 50 civilians,” 25 of whom reportedly died. 

According to NRN News, an Iraqi media organization cited by Airwars, the U.S.-led coalition — which includes 10 other nations, among them France, Britain and Denmark — struck three sites in Mosul on March 19, including a cafe. After that attack, “people gathered around the place to help the wounded,” NRN reported. “But a second missile led to a fall of more than 50 civilians,” 25 of whom reportedly died.

Let’s give permission to engage, in a society-wide way, during a barrage of election propoganda which only presume “U.S. national interests” mean preserving U.S. empire. See Bernie Sanders: Drones Have Done Some Good Things.Permission to engage in critique, resistance, rebellion against these crimes in our name.  And most importantly, permission to engage with people living in this country in whose name they are made, and on whose actions to stop these crimes the world depends.

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