April 13, 2010

Colbert and Wikileaks’ Julian Assange

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Wikileaks editor Julian Assange was on The Colbert Report to talk about the organization’s controversial “collateral murder” video. The interview was only occcasionally funny, but Colbert doesn’t pull his punches, so it’s definitely worth your time:

Last week, we published a profile of Assange by David Kushner. Check it out. The site also has plans to release more disturbing war footage. The Telegraph reports:

The [new] video apparently shows previously classified footage from US warplanes called in to bomb Taliban fighters during a fire fight in Farah province last year.

The Afghan government said at the time that the strikes by F-18 and B1 planes near Granai killed 147 civilians. An independent Afghan inquiry later put the toll at 86.

Video footage of the strike could prove highly damaging to the Nato-led coalition if it showed pilots failing to safeguard civilian lives.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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