Gates: Wikileaks ‘Irresponsible’ for Releasing Video

Laments that Watchdog Will 'Not Be Held Accountable'

With growing concerns over the massive number of civilians being killed in America’s assorted wars, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates took time out to publicly condemn Wikileaks for its release of a July 12, 2007 video showing US helicopters massacring civilians in Iraq.

Gates insisted it was “irresponsible” of Wikileaks to release the classified video and that it showed only a “soda straw” view of the overall war. He also lamented that Wikileaks “can put out anything they want and not be held accountable.”

The video was leaked a week ago and showed the Apache helicopters killing at least a dozen civilians, including two Reuters employees. The military had previously claimed the incident was a result of “combat operations against a hostile force,” though the video clearly shows no action taken by any of the people killed.

Gates’ comments came as he attempted to shrug off the recent attack on a busload of civilians in Afghanistan and several other US attacks on civilians there, urging people to “face the reality that we are in a war.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.