Collateral Murder, read the caption of the controversial video depicting a diabolical Baghdad airstrike in April of 2010. The footage released by the Wikileaks website included two US soldiers releasing fire on a group of mostly unarmed men, including two journalists (Saeed Chmag and Namir Noor-Eldeen of Reuters) whose cameras were thought to be weapens. After eight men were killed, the soldiers targeted a van housing  three unarmed men and two children, killing three more men. In the last airstrike the US militants fired three missiles, destroying a building where a number of men, some armed, ran for shelter. The US soldiers approached the event with a disturbing callousness. “Look at those dead bastards,” they exclaimed, as if the people they just gunned down were characters in a video game.

The disturbing video was released just months after the Wikileaks website exposed 400, 000 documents known as the Iraq War Logs. The mainstreaming of this classified information caused a stir in society similar to that of the publication of the Pentagon Papers in the early 70’s. These papers exposed the bloody battle in Vietnam, displaying a brutally honest form of journalism that managed to sharply decrease the public’s support of the war. Every subsequent US war was carefully managed by the government and media. A more sanitized portrayal of war allowed for the positive support of the war in Iraq. Stained by the raw data exposed by the Wikileaks, many now question the morality of the government in its use of censorship in the media (one classified document showed that around 15 000 civilian deaths had not been admitted by the US government; other files record the brutish deaths of soldiers in Iraq and Iran locations).

Although the leaked footage and documents managed to raise questions concerning the morality of the military conduct of US troops, Assange’s integrity continues to be questioned. Rape accusations undermine Julian Assange’s credibility, and many hold to the idea that the government has a right to keep things secret. Fox News accused Wikileaks for censoring the video depiction of the Baghdad airstrike, shaping and editing the content in a way that underemphasized the fact that some of the civilians were indeed armed. Political comedian Stephen Colbert said that, by editing the video and entitling it Collateral Murder, the site produced a mere editorial. This argument remains disputed; the site also posted the longer, unedited version of the Baghdad airstrike.

Wikileaks is a non profit media organization that brings classified world news to the public. It was created by Julian Assange and the Sunshine Press organization. Since its launch in 2007, the webiste has publicized 1.2 million leaked documents. It relies heavily on volunteers, who work labouriously to keep the identities of contributing journalists anonymous. The website is notorious for its its radical anti-censorship stance. Because of the leak of the Iraq War Logs, Julian Assange has received signifcant amounts of criticism. Hilary Clinton condemned the leaks for putting “the lives of US and its partners’ service and civilians at risk”; from  the other perspective, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Iranian politician Mohammad Javad dismissed the documents that accused them of political corruption. In his interview with The Guardian, Julian Assange justifies his actions, stating that the information he publicized no longer holds military relevance, asit is no longer necessary to keep deployment locations hidden because the military has already carried out these orders. He supports the leak, saying that good journalism at its heart is controversial; the publication of this classifed information was effective because it got people talking about the true nature of the war.

– Karalee Congo

I just arrived at school, and Mrs. Hockin’s Grade 3 classroom, usually filled with tired, backpack burdened tweens, buzzed with chatter. My friends and I discussed what we had heard only minutes ago on the news, the disturbing footage of the twin towers crumbling to the ground. An event like this burns in the memory.

On September 11, 2011, the United States suffered four suicide attacks coordinated by terrorists from the Muslim militant group al-Qaeda. 19 suicide bombers hijacked 4 passenger planes, deliberately crashing two airplanes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City, and one plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pensylvania, after passengers tried to regain control of the plane before it hit the hijacker’s planned target of Washington, DC.

The crash of the twin towers resulted in 2606 casualties, while the crumbling of the Pentagon caused 125 casualties, and the wreck in Pensylvania 40. United by this common tragedy, the Western World pulled together. Flags were displayed at half-mast, symbolizing the mourning of the Western nations.

This national crisis resulted in the War on Terror. The US government invaded Afghanistan, searching for Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Queda who admitted responsibility for the attacks. The War on Terror is an ongoing issue, with American troops still fighting overseas ten years after it was initiated in 2001. Currently, President Barrack Obama claims to be working towards ending the war, pulling out 33 000 American troops by the Summer. Even still, the War in Afghanistan seems to continue on with no end in sight.

Diverting our attention to the media, 9/11 had profound effects on photo journalism. People with cameras on hand snapped pictures of the dramatic, flaming collapse of the Twin Towers. As a result, journalists and non-journalists alike contributed to the photo journalism network, regardless of the quality of their equipment. This resulted in a sobering collection of devastating photos documenting the events of 9/11.

As a consequence of the attacks, evening news programs had to divert their attention from domestic to global news. With profound issues like the US’s War on Terrorism, from 2002-2005, television news programs focussed 135% more on Terrorism and 102% more on foreign policy as compared to broadcasts from 1997-2000.

Millions of distraught Americans began to look to blogs for perspective on the unnerving incident of 9/11. With copious amounts of viewers navigating for updates on major news sites, blogs provided a convenient alternative with more accessible and up to date news (their lack of editors made information more current). These blogs ranged from analytical to emotional, giving voice to and clarifying the confusion that the masses were feeling at the time.

A decade later, families still cope with the gaping holes left by those who were killed in the crash. Unable to find the video mentioned in Jenny and Emily’s presentation, I instead came across hundreds of YouTube clips dedicated to lost loved ones, each giving a unique testament to the impact of 9/11. Similarly, People magazine devoted an article to the children of 9/11 on the event’s 10th anniversary, interviewing 9 year olds who never knew their fathers because of the incident.

Whether you’re from Vancouver, New York, or Afghanistan, it can be said with confidence that the attacks of September 11th made a significant impact on the way the world perceives history, so much so that people separate the chronology of modern-day events into before or after 9/11. This profound tragedy caused shock world-wide, and as a result media, communication methods, foreign policies and political goals were very much transformed.

-Karalee Congo