The U.S is at war and it has just escalated and no one knows much about the specifics. Now someone has exposed documents portraying the horrible civilian casualties and some of the unjust activities. This information helps to expose the inhumane way that the war was being conducted and forces a change in policy. This is what whistleblowers do; expose governments for what they are hiding. Julian Assange is one of these whistleblowers and the creator and main editor of Wikileaks (an organization built around exposing governments and businesses for their secrets). He is justified because he leaked a video showing reporters being mowed down with gunfire in Afghanistan. In addition, he leaked important documents detailing the civilian casualties of the Iraq war and the Afghanistan War. Although people say that he is endangering the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, he is not because the documents detail only the events of the war and the estimated …show more content…
This video depicts three separate strikes from two Apache helicopters where they use 30mm guns along with Hellfire missiles. (Mel Knight) The reason for the leak was because a news organization known as Reuters has been requesting this footage under the Freedom of Information Act. (Ramsay Jessica) The information that was requested was around 50 minutes of footage of an Apache helicopter camera that killed two of their reporters along with a group of insurgents. (Ramsay Jessica) The reporters are Saeed Chmagh and Namir-Noor Eldeen. The helicopter also destroyed a building with the hellfire missiles and injured 2 children. (Ramsay Jessica) This event illustrates the brutality of the Afghanistan War and how over “60% of the people killed by the U.S. were civilians”. (wikileaks.org) The leaked information lead to protests across America and the changing of the ways the U.S conducted
Marianne Szegedy-Maszak, a senior writer at U.S. News and World, published her article, "The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal: Sources of Sadism," in 2004. She uses the article to briefly overview the scandal as a whole before diving into what can trigger sadistic behavior. The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal took place in 2004, wherein American troops humiliated and tortured Iraqi detainees (Szegedy-Maszak 75). The main objective of Szegedy-Maszak’s article is to investigate the causation behind sadistic behavior, exclusively in the Abu Ghraib Prison scandal. She effectively does so by gathering information and research from professional psychologists and professors of psychology, specifically Herbert Kelman and Robert Okin (Szegedy-Maszak 76). She finds
The Battle of Kamdesh was fought in Afghanistan during the Afghan War. It is an occurrence in the ongoing NATO campaign of the Operation Enduring Freedom since the year 2001. It was one of the bloodiest battles the USA forces engaged in during this campaign against the Taliban insurgents. The Taliban insurgents, assisted by local Nuristan militias, attacked Kamdesh, which is an American combat outpost, located deep in the Nuristan tribal Areas. They carried out a well-coordinated attack on the outpost, leading to a breach and an overrun of the post. This paper, seeks to analyze why, when, how, and what were the resulting impact of the battle.
The photos that are being displayed are showing the emotions that the camera wants to show us. We only feel emotion from this tragedy because we ether have known someone that has been hurt, or we have seen the event happen so many times we just start to feel sad for just trying to imagine it. It was said once that a picture is worth a thousand words. Those thousand words are being manipulated by who has taken the picture. Every event can be made to look bad by a certain camera angle. Every picture and camera is biased to someone's certain point of view. That point of view could either be of a bad or good emotional state. The pictures from 911 are showing the emotions, that he American public wants to feel. In order for America to feel good about killing hundreds of Afghannies we have to see these bad images over and over again so that we can not feel the littlest sympathy for those of the families that we bomb everyday. Since thousands of Americans have died, we should show these images that are all of sad emotions so we can get over this big mess.
When I was 14, I watched “V for Vendetta”, a movie based on the graphic novel of the same name. It’s an action movie about a dystopian, Orwellian future in the UK, and one man’s attempts to bring freedom back. Many denounce the movie as merely anarchist propaganda, but I believe that it is more than just that. I believe that it is about modern moral ambiguity, taking responsibility for one’s own wants and needs, and freedom conquering oppression.
Do you remember the conflict that America had in the Persian Gulf a few years back? An incident occurred there where a man drove a truck loaded with explosives into the building where more than 100 Marines were stationed. He blew up the building, along with the Marines. The incident was published by the AP Press soon after. Now do you remember the bombing just four years ago, in Oklahoma City? Suspects Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols drove a Ryder Van loaded with 4,800 pounds of fertilizer and fuel oil to the front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, where it subsequently exploded, killing 169 people and injuring some 500 others. Of course you do. While both were massive acts of violence involving American citizens, the impact of such acts is always felt the most when it happens right here at home.
...they shot at the other helicopter at close range. This violence was unnecessary because the terrorists knew that they were going to be killed or captured anyway. This was just a way to cause more people pain and hurt, just like a terrorist group would do.
In short, the movie The Ghost of Abu Ghraib is about military police becoming prison guards for the Abu Ghraib prison. They had to watch hundreds of detainees at once, which could have been very dangerous if they came together to attack the guards. There was some torture at this time, but things really started to get worst when military intelligence took control over the military police. The interrogation tactics became harsher and the military police were forced to become more involved in the interrogation processes. They were told to do whatever they had to do to keep the detainees awake at night, have them naked most of the time, put them in stressor positions, anything to get information out of them. The military police didn’t necessarily agree with everything intelligence was telling them to do, but they did it any ways because they had too, it
"Revolution in Ukraine. Riot Police Snipers Shoot Civil Protesters." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Feb. 2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency (N.S.A) subcontractor turned whistle-blower is nothing short of a hero. His controversial decision to release information detailing the highly illegal ‘data mining’ practices of the N.S.A have caused shockwaves throughout the world and have raised important questions concerning how much the government actually monitors its people without their consent or knowledge. Comparable to Mark Felt in the Watergate scandals, Daniel Ellsberg with the Pentagon Papers, Edward Snowden joins the rank of infamous whistleblowers who gave up their jobs, livelihood, and forever will live under scrutiny of the public all in the service to the American people. Edward Snowden released information detailing the extent of the N.S.A breaches of American privacy and in doing so, became ostracized by the media and barred from freely reentering America, his home country.
Buckley, Tim. "Tet Offensive & Khe Sahn Vietnam War Footage." YouTube. YouTube, 13 Nov. 2007. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
Julian Assange an Australian editor, activist, journalist and publisher launched the WikiLeaks website in the year 2006. From that moment, the site spiraled rapidly into the limelight all over the world. It then came to be known as the most powerful whistle-blowing and also the most scandalous “media” in the online world. WikiLeaks profanes and violates the right of privacy, right of accountability and confidentiality among Information and data sharing also it has a negative impact on governments, private sectors or businesses and also individuals, there is also a big question of accountability.
The documentary “Secrets of the Koran” depicts how powerful the Koran is and how dense the Islamic Law and religion is. The meaning of the Koran is simply the recitation. The Koran the Islamic sacred book that consists of 114 units called suras are meant to be spoken out loud. The I thought that it was compelling because the Muslims believed that speaking out loud would grant the feeling as if they were speaking directly to God. I believe the religion is immensely solid because each believer was able to poses their own perception of the Koran and they were not forced to interpret and or understand the Koran in the same form they were able to form their own message and opinion about the
On March 31st 2004, three American contractors working for Blackwater were ambushed while conducting security for a convoy carrying food supplies to a nearby forward operating base. The three American’s bodies were decapitated, burned, dragged through the streets of Fallujah and then hung from a bridge. This horrible act angered Americans especially President Bush who wanted action immediately against those who were involved with the murders.
Edward Snowden. This is a name that will be in the history books for ages. He will be branded a traitor or a whistleblower depending on where you look. Many Americans feel that Edward Snowden is a traitor who sold the United States’ secrets aiming to harm the nation. Others believe that he was simply a citizen of the United States who exercised his right to expose the government for their unconstitutional actions. It is important to not only know the two sides to the argument of friend or foe, but to also know the facts as well. My goal in this paper is to present the facts without bias and to adequately portray the two sides of the argument.
It is reasonable to argue that, governmental institutions or people with authority are subject to withhold a great deal of information from society. Many may argue that secrets are kept to ensure the safety of the nation. Thus, upholding the governmental duty of protecting the nation against possible threats. On the other hand, many believe that secrets may exist which violate our constitutional rights. Over the last year, Edward Snowden, has made headline news for leaking sensitive governmental information to the press. Edward Snowden is a 29-year-old high school drop-out, who was a tech specialist for the National Security Association. Snowden had discovered and later exposed the NSA for monitoring the nations e-mails, phone calls, and internet searches. As the allegations spread like wild fire, Edward Snowden sought asylum in Russia for one year. Snowden had a valid and justifiable reason to expose the NSA to the world because they were in violation of our fourth Amendment rights to unreasonable searches and seizures. The government called him a traitor, while others viewed him as a hero for exposing the government. Edward Snowden is a whistle blower because he felt that it is up to society to decide if governmental practices are just or unjust. Snowden does “express the highest respect for the law”, and he wanted to protect the right of privacy for American citizens.