By now you’ve probably heard about the video that surfaced last weekend, which showed a US military raid against an ISIS prison. The raid was a joint effort by Delta Force operators and Kurdish Peshmerga forces, and they managed to rescue 70 Iraqi hostages who were scheduled for execution the next day. At least one US soldier by the name of Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler was killed in the raid, making him the first US serviceman to be killed in Iraq in nearly 4 years.
As noble as the whole affair sounds at first glance, I have admit that I had a funny feeling about the video when it first surfaced. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it shows our military fighting militants that our government has covertly supported in the past (and the present as far as we know). Call me crazy, but something about that didn’t sit right with me.
Don’t get me wrong though, I do believe that the footage is genuine. I’m sure that helmet cam recorded a real raid that rescued real hostages, and I don’t doubt that a real US serviceman was killed. What bothered me about the video, was why it was released in the first place.
When you think about it, it’s kind of strange no? Delta Force is one of the most secretive organizations on the planet, much the like the Navy SEALS. Why would they let this footage be released to the media? Granted, it was the Peshmerga that released it, but somehow I doubt they let it go without consulting the US military first. If they wanted to stay in the good graces of our special forces, they would have never released the film unless they were given permission to do so. And in any case, nobody from our military (as far as I know) has protested the video that was essentially leaked by the Peshmerga.
After all that is considered, I can only assume that our military wanted the footage to surface, despite the fact that it portrays a high risk operation being conducted by an ultra-secretive military force. Our government wanted the media to throw that video in our faces on every news channel, and they didn’t disappoint. Why I ask, would our government do that?
Obviously, they desperately want us to believe that they really are fighting ISIS, especially after the Russians thoroughly embarrassed them by taking the lead in Syria. However, that’s not the only reason. The real reason why our military let this video leak, and why the media was so enthusiastic about airing it, became abundantly clear earlier today when Defense Secretary Ashton Carter made a stunning announcement.