YouTube yanks video of Americans 'killed'

YouTube, the behemoth of the online video world, today pulled several videos from its site and suspended the account holder who posted them after WND asked for comment on apparent "snuff" films showing the deaths of coalition soldiers in Iraq.

The website leaves it up to viewers to "police" such violence, and there apparently had been little objection to the film called "Best Sniper Compilation Iraq Juba," submitted by "jihadsoldierr," who had just joined YouTube three weeks earlier, and so far had posted six videos.

Almost 22,000 people had viewed the nearly eight-minute video, according to the site. The piece had 354 comments, and more than 100 people had listed it as their "favorite."

The boasting of "Juba," who calls himself the Iraqi sniper, counts 634 soldiers killed by his hand

Other videos that apparently disappeared included "Juba's Best Sniper Shot" and "Sniper attack on us soldier while making fun of a boy." All six posted by "jihadsoldierr" appeared to be gone within a few minutes of WND contacting a YouTube spokeswoman.

"It is our community that polices the site and flags content they find inappropriate," she said in an e-mailed statement. "Once it is flagged, YouTube promptly reviews the content and removes it from the system if it is in violation of our Community Guidelines. Real violence on YouTube is not allowed. If a video shows someone getting 'hurt, attacked, or humiliated,' it will be removed."

The videos disappeared, and an attempt to click on the account produced the advisory, "This account has been suspended."

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"Am I the only person that thinks YouTube is giving aid and comfort to our enemies by showing American soldiers being killed by snipers. This is insanity," wrote one WND reader who objected to the images.

The video URL now shows a note confirming that it has been withdrawn.

The video showed a series of clips of what appeared to be ground combat troops in the Middle East, although the scenes were tightly cropped and did not include identifiable landmarks.

In one, a number of coalition soldiers appeared to be milling around an armored vehicle with a "Danger, Stay Back" sign on the back. One soldier moves over to reach into the vehicle, there's a shot and suddenly he falls onto the ground, face down.

The viewer's attention is drawn to the soldier, because the video editor circled him with a red ring.

This soldier appears to be standing in an armored vehicle in this section of the sniper video. In a frame two seconds later, there's a shot, and he falls over.

The video includes a list of purported casualties by the self-identified Iraqi sniper, Juba, claiming 634 American soldiers killed, about 200 American soldiers injured, 23 military officers killed and 11 American snipers killed.

The video producer included a person writing in Arabic: "O Muslim youth, that is the paradise. I see it every day in the streets of my country when I go out to snipe one of the enemies with my beloved rifle," according to an English translation posted onscreen.

Another scene shows a soldier standing in an armored vehicle, essentially only his head and shoulders appearing above the rim of the vehicle's armor. A shot follows, and the video goes blurry for less than a second.

When the scene clears, the image shows a huge billow of smoke as the soldier slowly slumps onto his side.

A third shows several soldiers standing in a street, apparently doing something with a crowd of children around them. A white streak comes into the screen from the right side and impacts a soldier's helmet. He buckles and collapses to the ground.

Still another shows a soldier reacting to the impact of the shot, then simply falling to the ground on his back..

The sniper appears in the video talking about the "funny acts" by other soldiers when one solider is shot.

The depth of anguish created by the videos was evident in the comments.

"This video disturbs me in so many ways, " wrote "nightshift009" approximately 36 hours before WND contacted YouTube asking about the issue.

"I can't believe youtube allows this s--- to be posted. F--- IRAQ …. BURN IN HELL," suggested "Rhoque2."

While most of the video was accompanied by the the strains of Arabic music, a man whose faced was blocked provided a brief commentary.

"The most amazing thing happens while sniping," he told viewers. That is, "mujahadin watches his enemies fall dead and sees the fear and displacement of the other soldiers. Many times our sniper brothers tell us funny acts done by American soldiers when their colleagues fall down dead," said the English translation.

"We say funny because no one can imagine this soldier who is protected with all the armor and armed with sophisticated weapons and what is being drawn in the American movies as an unbeatable solider, I swear to Allah, when one of his colleagues being sniped he escapes like a rat not even trying to save his colleague."

A series of other comments on the video, however, showed a violent bent among viewers:

"My opinion is that every man in every country has the right to shoot the INVADER right in the head!" said one.

"kill those american b-------!" said another.

"KILL USA PIGS!" said a third. And a fourth, "good job juba!"

The website is "an independent subsidiary of Google, Inc., having been acquired by the leader in search and online advertising services in November of 2006."

"Google and YouTube share the vision of enabling anyone to find, upload, watch and share original videos worldwide, and the dedication to innovate with video to offer compelling services for our users and for content owners," the YouTube website says.

"YouTube is a place for people to engage in new ways with video by sharing, commenting on, and viewing videos. … Our users determine what is popular on the site, and can unleash their creativity and broadcast their talents to a global audience," it says.

The site also says it bans "inappropriate content."

"Our community understands the rules and effectively polices the site for inappropriate material. The users can flag content that they feel is inappropriate and once it is flagged, YouTube reviews the content and removes it from the system within minutes if it violates our Terms of Use. This combined with our proprietary technology helps us to enforce the rules. We also disable the accounts of repeat offenders," YouTube tells users in its policy.

 

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