Back in July 2007, a Reuters photojournalist and his colleague came under fire from a US Apache helicopter. The two were killed together with other Iraqis. In all, twelve were blown apart in a brutal use of US firepower.

When Reuters requested footage to gain insight into what really happened, it came to naught. An investigation into the incident turned out to be a mere cover up of the incident in which the crew were absolved of any excesses as they were simply firing at “armed insurgents.”

In press briefings, the Pentagon has enjoyed the use of footage to show the “precision” of laser-guided bombs and the way the US conducts her “responsible” warfare. It is done with Hollywood finesse as four-star generals show-off the “American might” from movie-set-like stages.

These briefings have so far been largely a propaganda exercise, a counterpart of embedded journalism, portraying the US in good light as the ultimate benign Big Brother.

Until last week, WikiLeaks has changed that with a release of video footage that turns the tables on the military misinformation mill.

In the video, the crew converses in a cavalier manner about those they are about to ‘engage’. They ‘manufacture’ rationale for inflicting the bloodbath they are about to unleash on the non-combatants by suggesting that one of them is carrying arms.

In the next few minutes, unimaginable firepower is let loose on the unsuspecting civilians who scamper for cover to no avail. At the end of this senseless and barbaric episode, there are twelve dead with two children injured.

The manner in which the whole incident plays out, to the uninformed, it could easily pass as a youngster’s gaming screen. Yet the subjects are not just the LCD pixel images but humans killed in cold blood murder at the hands of supposed liberators.

WikiLeaks is a non-profit organization that went online about 4 years ago. Its income is largely from individual donations. It has become a source of discomfort for governments and companies around the globe for its publishing of “sensitive” documents that expose corruption and other excesses. Two years ago, a US Army report wanted it shut as it warned that it could pose a “threat to national security.”

The Pentagon has not denied the authenticity of that footage. Extrapolating what unfolds from it as something which has been going on in Iraq since the occupation, one cannot help it but call to question the whole claim of liberation of that country.

Ideas of empire are meeting unassuming yet potent challengers that will in the long run lead to their undoing. With such ‘leaks’, the Pharaoh will not win anywhere!