Posts tagged war

The 10th anniversary this month of the invasion of Iraq will remind most people of a divisive and dubious war that toppled Saddam Hussein but claimed the lives of nearly 4,500 Americans and more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians.

What it conjures up for me is the media’s greatest failure in modern times.

Major news organizations aided and abetted the Bush administration’s march to war on what turned out to be faulty premises. All too often, skepticism was checked at the door, and the shaky claims of top officials and unnamed sources were trumpeted as fact.

Howard Kurtz, host, CNN’s Reliable Sources, Media’s failure on Iraq still stings.

Ten years is a long time, so for a quick refresher on what the press did and didn’t do at the time, take a look at this 2008 article by Dan Froomkin in the Nieman Watchdog Project.

Aleppo Via the Times of Israel: This citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows people searching through the debris of destroyed buildings in the aftermath of a strike by Syrian government forces, in the neighborhood of Jabal Bedro, Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday Feb. 19, 2013 (photo credit: AP/Aleppo Media Center) The Aleppo Media Center (English) is on Facebook.

Aleppo

Via the Times of Israel: This citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows people searching through the debris of destroyed buildings in the aftermath of a strike by Syrian government forces, in the neighborhood of Jabal Bedro, Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday Feb. 19, 2013 (photo credit: AP/Aleppo Media Center)

The Aleppo Media Center (English) is on Facebook.

The Mini Drone Via Wired: British troops in Afghanistan are flying a drone that’s shrunk down to its essentials: a micro-machine that spies, built for a solitary user. This is the Black Hornet. Its Norwegian manufacturer, Prox Dynamics, bills it as the world’s smallest military-grade spy drone, with a weight of 16 grams and a length of 4 inches. Propelled by two helicopter blades, the Black Hornet carries little more than a steerable camera that records still and video imagery. (That is: It’s unarmed.) Now British soldiers have brought it to Afghanistan, as it fits in the palms of their hands. It’s supposed to be a drone for an Army of One. “We use it to look for insurgent firing points and check out exposed areas of the ground before crossing, which is a real asset,” Sgt. Christopher Petherbridge of the Brigade Reconnaissance Force told the British Ministry of Defence for a Monday announcement. Image: British Army Sgt. Scott Weaver launches a Black Hornet drone from a compound in Afghanistan. Photo: UK Ministry of Defence, via Wired.

The Mini Drone

Via Wired:

British troops in Afghanistan are flying a drone that’s shrunk down to its essentials: a micro-machine that spies, built for a solitary user.

This is the Black Hornet. Its Norwegian manufacturer, Prox Dynamics, bills it as the world’s smallest military-grade spy drone, with a weight of 16 grams and a length of 4 inches. Propelled by two helicopter blades, the Black Hornet carries little more than a steerable camera that records still and video imagery. (That is: It’s unarmed.) Now British soldiers have brought it to Afghanistan, as it fits in the palms of their hands. It’s supposed to be a drone for an Army of One.

“We use it to look for insurgent firing points and check out exposed areas of the ground before crossing, which is a real asset,” Sgt. Christopher Petherbridge of the Brigade Reconnaissance Force told the British Ministry of Defence for a Monday announcement.

Image: British Army Sgt. Scott Weaver launches a Black Hornet drone from a compound in Afghanistan. Photo: UK Ministry of Defence, via Wired.

For Syria’s war is characterised most strongly by absence and collective abandonment. Other than the protagonists and victims the arena is almost empty. There is no foreign military intervention. There are no NGOs or aid workers distributing food and blankets. The media is similarly self-exiled: very few broadcasters or newspapers commit journalists regularly, if at all. A handful of freelance photographers work inside the country, but none of the big names. The middle-aged bravehearts of Bosnia and Afghanistan have grown old and too soft for the hardships of Syria, while the economics of journalism have not allowed their replacement generation to prosper. That McCullin, still a prizefighter despite his years, had hauled himself out to that lonely war zone was inspiring in itself, legitimising the work of the few freelancers already there and challenging the absentees.

Anthony Loyd, The Australian. Parting shots.

That’s right: a 77 year old photographer named Don McCullin recently went to Aleppo to take his last set of photos, 15 years after his last war assignment. See the above article for an account of his trip as told by the much younger journalist in charge of his safety.

There’s no telling which photos from Syria’s revolutionary war will become famous and come to represent the conflict, if any do at all. For a great collection of pictures by other photojournalists in the country, see these. For more of McCullin, who is something of a legend in his line of work, see this bio and a portion of his photography from Vietnam and Lebanon.

Wait, Tolerate or Terminate? The Atlantic with an important explainer to kick off the new year: Over the past two years, the Obama administration has begun to formalize a so-called “disposition matrix” for suspected terrorists abroad: a continuously evolving database that spells out the intelligence on targets and various strategies, including contingencies, for handling them. Although the government has not spelled out the steps involved in deciding how to treat various terrorists, a look at U.S. actions in the past makes evident a rough decision tree. Understanding these procedures is particularly important for one of the most vexing, and potentially most dangerous, categories of terrorists: U.S. citizens. Over the years, U.S. authorities have responded with astonishing variety to American nationals suspected of terrorism, from ignoring their activities to conducting lethal drone strikes. All U.S. terrorists are not created equal. And the U.S. response depends heavily on the role of allies, the degree of threat the suspect poses, and the imminence of that threat — along with other factors. What follows is a flow chart… that takes us through the criteria and decision points that can lead to a suspect terrorist’s being ignored as a minor nuisance, being prosecuted in federal court, being held in a Pakistani prison, or being met with the business end of a Hellfire missile. Image: Screenshot, How Obama Decides Your Fate If He Thinks You’re a Terrorist via The Atlantic. Select to embiggen… But visit to explore.

Wait, Tolerate or Terminate?

The Atlantic with an important explainer to kick off the new year:

Over the past two years, the Obama administration has begun to formalize a so-called “disposition matrix” for suspected terrorists abroad: a continuously evolving database that spells out the intelligence on targets and various strategies, including contingencies, for handling them. Although the government has not spelled out the steps involved in deciding how to treat various terrorists, a look at U.S. actions in the past makes evident a rough decision tree.

Understanding these procedures is particularly important for one of the most vexing, and potentially most dangerous, categories of terrorists: U.S. citizens. Over the years, U.S. authorities have responded with astonishing variety to American nationals suspected of terrorism, from ignoring their activities to conducting lethal drone strikes. All U.S. terrorists are not created equal. And the U.S. response depends heavily on the role of allies, the degree of threat the suspect poses, and the imminence of that threat — along with other factors.

What follows is a flow chart… that takes us through the criteria and decision points that can lead to a suspect terrorist’s being ignored as a minor nuisance, being prosecuted in federal court, being held in a Pakistani prison, or being met with the business end of a Hellfire missile.

Image: Screenshot, How Obama Decides Your Fate If He Thinks You’re a Terrorist via The Atlantic. Select to embiggen… But visit to explore.

Instagramming Propaganda and the Speed of Experiencing War

One, via Michael Shaw:

[W]elcome to a media space in which we are consuming hostility and processing raw data and raw propaganda almost as quickly as the war correspondent, the fighter pilot, the governments, the diplomats and the antagonists themselves.

Two, via John Edwin Mason:

There’s always been more to war than bombs and bullets. Words and images are weapons, too. They’re the raw material of the propaganda that’s designed to strengthen friends and undermine enemies.

Propaganda has been a part of every war that history knows anything about, and creating and disseminating it has largely been the job of professionals — war doctors, priests, reporters, photographers, politicians, bureaucrats.

Social media and smart phones have let amateurs in on the action.

Three, via Stephen Mayes:

On trust and credibility, it is key to educate ourselves about what we are looking at. I triangulate. I read a bit of information here and there I try to find it elsewhere to validate it. As we saw with Syria, you can fall into a trap. You can read information on 10 blogs but it is all coming from one source. Unless you really dig, it is hard to validate. In the main I think we are all learning that right degree of belief and skepticism in how we treat text and image online. We may be fooled, we may make stupid decisions but we are educating ourselves about what to trust and what not to trust.

It’s not something you can teach.

Images: Selected images from Instagram gathered by searching Israel and Gaza hashtags by John Edwin Mason. Select to embiggen.

FJP: Last week we highlighted a Slate article that looked into the morality of war and robots. In particular, that autonomous war “machines are not, and cannot, be legally accountable for their actions.”

Today, Human Rights Watch released “Losing Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots,” a 50-page report arguing for the ban of fully autonomous weapon systems.

humanrightswatch:

Ban ‘Killer Robots’ Before It’s Too Late

“Losing Humanity” is the first major publication about fully autonomous weapons by a nongovernmental organization and is based on extensive research into the law, technology, and ethics of these proposed weapons. It is jointly published by Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic.

Human Rights Watch and the International Human Rights Clinic called for an international treaty that would absolutely prohibit the development, production, and use of fully autonomous weapons. They also called on individual nations to pass laws and adopt policies as important measures to prevent development, production, and use of such weapons at the domestic level.

Fully autonomous weapons do not yet exist, and major powers, including the United States, have not made a decision to deploy them. But high-tech militaries are developing or have already deployed precursors that illustrate the push toward greater autonomy for machines on the battlefield. The United States is a leader in this technological development. Several other countries – including China, Germany, Israel, South Korea, Russia, and the United Kingdom – have also been involved. Many experts predict that full autonomy for weapons could be achieved in 20 to 30 years, and some think even sooner.

Read more after the jump.

Robots, War and Morality

Via Slate:

The “Global Campaign To Stop Killer Robots” kicked off in New York on Oct. 21. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams urged the nations of the world to act against lethal autonomous robots, declaring them “beyond the pale.” Williams is not alone; on CNN earlier in October, Peter Bergen, the author of several best-selling books about Osama Bin Laden, also argued for a convention regulating lethal robots. The International Committee for Robot Arms Control, a group of academic experts on robot technologies and international security, is on board as well. The pressure on the robots is mounting.

Underlying the debate about “killer robots” is concern that machines are not, and cannot, be legally accountable for their actions. As professor Oren Gross of the University of Miami School of Law told this year’s inaugural “We Robot” conference on robots and the law in April, domestic and international law are not well suited to dealing with robots that commit war crimes.

As technology advances, we face a very real danger that it will become increasingly difficult to hold those who wage war on our behalf accountable for what they do.

Paul Robinson, Slate. Who Will Be Accountable for Military Technology?

Tweeting the Gaza Strip and Tel Aviv: Andy Carvin at It Again One of the most immediate and useful news spaces of this age will have to be Andy Carvin’s Twitter feed, originally put to such good use during the Egyptian Revolution and greater Arab Spring last year. He’s at it again from Istanbul, following the developments between Israel and Palestine on Twitter, retweeting the people nearby and anywhere else, so long as they have something meaningful to say.

Tweeting the Gaza Strip and Tel Aviv: Andy Carvin at It Again

One of the most immediate and useful news spaces of this age will have to be Andy Carvin’s Twitter feed, originally put to such good use during the Egyptian Revolution and greater Arab Spring last year.

He’s at it again from Istanbul, following the developments between Israel and Palestine on Twitter, retweeting the people nearby and anywhere else, so long as they have something meaningful to say.

Dronestagram: The Drone’s Eye View At the FJP, we’re always fascinated by projects that colonize the new booming platforms and go totally native; adapting the story to survive in a new environment.  Dronestagram posts a satellite view to Instagram showing the location of drone strikes before the attack. By focusing on getting the drone story working well on Instagram, the story automatically gets to mobiles, Facebook, twitter and tumblr easily and elegantly. The inventor and publisher, James Bridle, writes he’s “making these locations just a little bit more visible, a little closer. A little more real.” James Bridle’s CV extends way beyond journalism; as well as his column for the UK-based Observer newspaper, he’s presented at TED and SXSW, and his Iraq War Historiography, a twelve volume encyclopedia of changes to politically contentious wikipedia pages about the second gulf war, has been exhibited in galleries in the US, Europe and Asia. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism provides Bridle with details of the strikes across Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. He then researches across “original media reports, wikipedia, local government and media sites” to get the best location and satellite view. This isn’t the first time creative technologists have tried to tell the drone story in creative ways on digital platforms; back in August we posted about Apple rejecting an iPhone application that showed an alert each time a drone strike was reported. But this one has actually reached the public, and is already growing its audience. There’s more on the project The Verge, and you can follow Dronestagram on twitter, tumblr or Instagram, of course.

Dronestagram: The Drone’s Eye View

At the FJP, we’re always fascinated by projects that colonize the new booming platforms and go totally native; adapting the story to survive in a new environment. 

Dronestagram posts a satellite view to Instagram showing the location of drone strikes before the attack. By focusing on getting the drone story working well on Instagram, the story automatically gets to mobiles, Facebook, twitter and tumblr easily and elegantly.

The inventor and publisher, James Bridle, writes he’s “making these locations just a little bit more visible, a little closer. A little more real.”

James Bridle’s CV extends way beyond journalism; as well as his column for the UK-based Observer newspaper, he’s presented at TED and SXSW, and his Iraq War Historiography, a twelve volume encyclopedia of changes to politically contentious wikipedia pages about the second gulf war, has been exhibited in galleries in the US, Europe and Asia.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism provides Bridle with details of the strikes across Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. He then researches across “original media reports, wikipedia, local government and media sites” to get the best location and satellite view.

This isn’t the first time creative technologists have tried to tell the drone story in creative ways on digital platforms; back in August we posted about Apple rejecting an iPhone application that showed an alert each time a drone strike was reported. But this one has actually reached the public, and is already growing its audience.

There’s more on the project The Verge, and you can follow Dronestagram on twitter, tumblr or Instagram, of course.

Mapping Conflict Conflict History maps the world’s wars and skirmishes over the millennia. Users control the map with a timeline scrubber or by entering search terms. Data is pulled from Freebase and shown on Google Maps. Image: Screenshot, Conflict History 1998-2007.  H/T: Infosthetics.

Mapping Conflict

Conflict History maps the world’s wars and skirmishes over the millennia. Users control the map with a timeline scrubber or by entering search terms. Data is pulled from Freebase and shown on Google Maps.

Image: Screenshot, Conflict History 1998-2007. 

H/T: Infosthetics.

Poaching The New York Times has begun a series on how elephant poaching is financing war in the Congo. The first article begins like so: GARAMBA NATIONAL PARK, Democratic Republic of Congo — In 30 years of fighting poachers, Paul Onyango had never seen anything like this. Twenty-two dead elephants, including several very young ones, clumped together on the open savanna, many killed by a single bullet to the top of the head. There were no tracks leading away, no sign that the poachers had stalked their prey from the ground. The tusks had been hacked away, but none of the meat — and subsistence poachers almost always carve themselves a little meat for the long walk home. Several days later, in early April, the Garamba National Park guards spotted a Ugandan military helicopter flying very low over the park, on an unauthorized flight, but they said it abruptly turned around after being detected. Park officials, scientists and the Congolese authorities now believe that the Ugandan military — one of the Pentagon’s closest partners in Africa — killed the 22 elephants from a helicopter and spirited away more than a million dollars’ worth of ivory. New York Times. Elephants Dying in Epic Frenzy as Ivory Fuels Wars and Profits. Image: A poached elephant in Garamba National Park. Tyler Hicks via the New York Times.

Poaching

The New York Times has begun a series on how elephant poaching is financing war in the Congo. The first article begins like so:

GARAMBA NATIONAL PARK, Democratic Republic of Congo — In 30 years of fighting poachers, Paul Onyango had never seen anything like this. Twenty-two dead elephants, including several very young ones, clumped together on the open savanna, many killed by a single bullet to the top of the head.

There were no tracks leading away, no sign that the poachers had stalked their prey from the ground. The tusks had been hacked away, but none of the meat — and subsistence poachers almost always carve themselves a little meat for the long walk home.

Several days later, in early April, the Garamba National Park guards spotted a Ugandan military helicopter flying very low over the park, on an unauthorized flight, but they said it abruptly turned around after being detected. Park officials, scientists and the Congolese authorities now believe that the Ugandan military — one of the Pentagon’s closest partners in Africa — killed the 22 elephants from a helicopter and spirited away more than a million dollars’ worth of ivory.

New York Times. Elephants Dying in Epic Frenzy as Ivory Fuels Wars and Profits.

Image: A poached elephant in Garamba National Park. Tyler Hicks via the New York Times.

US Death Toll Passes 2,000 in Afghanistan War As The New York Times reports, “Nearly nine years passed before American forces reached their first 1,000 dead in the war. The second 1,000 came just 27 months later, a testament to the intensity of fighting prompted by President Obama’s decision to send 33,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in 2010, a policy known as the surge.” Image: Aboard a medical helicopter, Cpl. Andrew Smith of the Marines was treated by Sgt. Jaime Adame, top, an Army medic, after being seriously wounded in an attack in Helmand Province on May 15, 2011. Corporal Smith ultimately recovered from his injuries. Via The New York Times.

US Death Toll Passes 2,000 in Afghanistan War

As The New York Times reports, “Nearly nine years passed before American forces reached their first 1,000 dead in the war. The second 1,000 came just 27 months later, a testament to the intensity of fighting prompted by President Obama’s decision to send 33,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in 2010, a policy known as the surge.”

Image: Aboard a medical helicopter, Cpl. Andrew Smith of the Marines was treated by Sgt. Jaime Adame, top, an Army medic, after being seriously wounded in an attack in Helmand Province on May 15, 2011. Corporal Smith ultimately recovered from his injuries. Via The New York Times.

Do Not Kill Registry Gallows humor: In response to the establishment of a national ‘kill list’ and the expansion of the United States’ predator drone program, the National Agency for Ethical Drone-Human Interactions has launched the Do Not Kill Registry. Adding your name to the registry will assist us in avoiding accidental casualties in our mission to make the world a safe place for Democracy and Free Enterprise.  That said, don’t forget the disclaimer:  Adding your name to the ‘Do Not Kill’ Registry does not guarantee that you will not be the target of a drone strike but only that an additional review process will be undertaken before you are labeled an enemy militant and added to the national kill list. 

Do Not Kill Registry

Gallows humor:

In response to the establishment of a national ‘kill list’ and the expansion of the United States’ predator drone program, the National Agency for Ethical Drone-Human Interactions has launched the Do Not Kill Registry. Adding your name to the registry will assist us in avoiding accidental casualties in our mission to make the world a safe place for Democracy and Free Enterprise. 

That said, don’t forget the disclaimer: 

Adding your name to the ‘Do Not Kill’ Registry does not guarantee that you will not be the target of a drone strike but only that an additional review process will be undertaken before you are labeled an enemy militant and added to the national kill list.