Iraq on YouTube

Click the heading, but be warned, graphic films of war.

The advent of YouTube as a medium shines many lights on what we previously relied upon propaganda to bear witness to - in this case, it illustrates pretty much what we have written about over the last four years about the real effects of war.

The day of judgement is neigh because 5,000,000 Americans can not bear witness to their own military war machine at work. It is the tactics of soldiers that ride roughshod over the rights of civility. You got to kill the terrorists! It is advantageous to eradicate threats, but it is wise not to give them reasons to rise up and make America into the enemy. A peace treaty between Sunni and Shiite is not only necessary, but nobody is talking about it. They are too busy preparing for the day of judgement, it seems.

There is something awful and death cultish about sending people off to fight to their deaths, positively medievel. As films start to align with computer games, marketing fodder with comic book characters intimitely detailed, calligraphically dynamic - we have everyman with a handicam presenting the real world, shocking reality alongside "reality shows" like the famous Lonleygirl15 of YouTube fame. Won't catch her in Iraq, but her story arc seems to have its own fantasy Blair Witchy appeal.

But as an eyeglass to war? Youtube is indeed a revelation.

The movie below is a disturbing tour of modern Baghdad streets in a Humvee.