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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: neolib who wrote (152542)	11/24/2004 11:30:56 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Respond to of 281500

Agreed. Reading it here is one thing. Seeing it on video really drives the brutality home. Sun (so far no charges against the commander) Tzu An Israeli army video showing a company commander repeatedly shooting a 13-year-old Palestinian girl has shocked many Israelis after being leaked to the media and broadcast on Israel’s Channel 2 station. The leak comes after the unnamed officer, who has been suspended, was charged this week by a military court on a five-count indictment relating to the girl's death. The charges include two counts of illegally using his weapon, and one count each of obstruction of justice, conduct unbecoming an officer, and improper use of authority. All charges have been denied by the officer, according to a BBC news report. The damning video footage captured on an Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) surveillance tape shows solders firing at the girl, Iman al-Hams, as she approached a military observation post near the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on October 5. The company commander is then heard saying that he’s going to “confirm the kill”, an illegal practice. According to the indictment, the officer approached the girl after she was shot and fired two rounds into her body from close range. He then began walking away, but turned back again and “pointed his weapon downward, and shot, this time on automatic, approximately 10 bullets until he emptied his magazine,” the indictment said. Palestinian hospital officials told investigators al-Hams had been shot at least 15 times, mostly in the upper body. Video replay of the incident recorded the officer’s voice saying: “I carried out verification of the kill.” The company commander is then heard issuing one final radio order. “Anyone who moves in the area, even if it’s a three-year-old, we should kill him.” The recording has shaken the IDF, showing personnel acting in blatant contravention of its strict regulations about the use of firearms, including a prohibition on the use of guns against non-combatants. A military probe was launched after unidentified troops from the outpost revealed details of the incident to the Israeli media. The company commander was arrested three weeks ago after officials found his initial account of the incident was false. The accused could face a maximum sentence of three years in prison, if found guilty. The case, though, could have far greater ramifications and risks severely damaging the reputation of Israel’s military. In the four years of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, hundreds of Palestinian children and teenagers have been killed by army gunfire, often in clashes between stone throwers and Israeli troops. Israeli soldiers have also become increasingly wary of youths and women after several carried out suicide bombings or were found bearing explosives. “Let’s look at the context and the context is this is not a playground and this was a fierce battleground, and still is maybe one of the most fiercest in Gaza and all of the Palestinian areas, and the fact that the girl was identified about 70 metres from the outpost that has previously been used by terrorists is very suspicious,” IDF spokeswoman, Sharon Feingold, said. “And yet it does not, absolutely not, justify the words and the phrases by the soldiers in the tapes that we saw and are investigating,” Ms Feingold added. Army chief Moshe Yaalon said the troops suspected that the schoolgirl had been sent up to their post by Palestinian militants to lure them out so they could be picked off by snipers. The girl’s family said she had simply been walking to school carrying a bag that held only school books.

To: neolib who wrote (152542)	11/24/2004 4:30:36 PM
From: Jacob Snyder	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

re: your actions should be video documented This is an example of a technology that is having profound (and unintended) consequences on human behavior. We are rapidly moving towards a world where all public spaces are monitered on video, in real time. This, plus face recognition technology, implies the end of a lot of antisocial rule-breaking. In a hunter-gatherer society, or a small village (that is, the social structure of almost everyone for almost all of human history), there are no anonymous relationships. There are no casual transient relationships. You know everyone, you are related by blood and marriage to most of them. Anyone you see, is someone you grew up with, and will have to continue living with. The video camera returns us to this social environment of personal accountability. And makes it global. Imagine every U.S. soldier wearing a helmet with a video camera and satellite uplink. Imagine the video feeds into software that identifies certain actions (like people being killed who don't have guns in their hands). Imagine the video available to the ICC, and the U.S. a signatory. This is technically possible today, but politically impossible.