CENTCOM Can't Get Back Their Video Version Of A Wikileaks Big Bust

Looks like Centcom can't respond to Wikileaks with their own video

The military’s footage of the slaying of two Reuters employees in Iraq may no longer be retrievable, a Centcom spokesperson confirms to me — which may generate further criticism of the handling of the whole affair.

As you know, Wikileaks sparked a huge controversy by posting on YouTube a leaked video that shows the Reuters employees being gunned down by Army choppers in a 2007 attack. The video appeared to contradict the military’s earlier claim that the incident had happened during combat operations, and debate has been raging about the vid ever since.

Subsequently, a military spokesman told the AP that it has been unable to locate its own copy of this footage. But in an interview with me, a spokesperson for Centcom went considerably farther, acknowledging it may no longer be accessible at all.

This is important, because Centcom had hoped to match up its own footage with the leaked video before commenting on it publicly.

Now out of nowhere, Centcom spokesperson Bill Speaks tells Sargent that despite both Wikileak versions being genuine, that...

But he added that Centcom didn’t necessarily believe the leaked video was necessarily a full representation of what happened. “Any assessment of that incident needs to take into account all of the relevant facts, and the video itself doesn’t tell the whole story,” he said.

So what then Spokesperson Speaks is THE whole story? What then?

Is it more killings that you are hiding? Or another aspect of the story that you just want to place in to limit the damage control here?

Because we sure need to know what other relevant facts are being left out in this story.

Update: It appears Reuters had added a whole new to what Centcom has stated today:

But Reuters officials shared new information with me that may contradict this account. Reuters says the Pentagon sent a letter to the news service several years ago claiming that this footage, which Reuters was seeking, was under Centcom’s “cognizance,” raising further questions as to why it can’t be obtained.

Centcom’s inability to retrive the footage is key. Centcom earlier said it needed to review its own version before commenting publicly on the WikiLeaks video.