Ed Bilodeau

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This weblog had moved: http://www.coolweblog.com/bilodeau/

# Notice (Oct 19/05): So ends my stay here on Blogger. This morning Google implemented an anti-spam 'feature' that forces me to answer a challenge phrase when I want to post to my own blog. No notice of the change, nothing. Worse is that it doesn't even work! I type the phrase, submit, "An error occured", post deleted. Damn you, Google. Chances are I will revive my blog somewhere else, sometime soon. I'll post the new coordinates here as soon as they become available. (BTW, I'm unable to post anything to my RSS stream, so I'd appreciate it if readers could spread the word and ask people to take a look at this notice)

Update (Oct 19/05, ~noon): After a frustrating few hours (and not just trying out alternatives to Blogger), I've decided that this is a good time to take a break from all this. A day? A week? Who knows. But I need to step away from it before I pass a heavy magnet over the whole mess.

Update 2: According to this post, the reason I'm seeing the CAPTCHA (challenge phrase) is that Blogger has classified my blog as spam. Thanks. User for five years and now I'm spam. I searched the Blogger site, but there is no mention of how to get the spam flag turned off. There is also no way of contacting anyone at Blogger. Wow. Spam they say I am, so spam I must be. Maybe it is time to take a break.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Murdering the wounded : This morning on TV5's TeleMatin news, they showed the clip of the US soldier walking up to a wounded Iraqi, saying "Play dead!", then shooting the wounded man with his assault rifle, killing him. The soldier has been 'removed from the field' and the case is being looking into by the US military.

I have seen almost nothing on this while browsing the web. Although some may write it off as an isolated incident, I don't believe it is. Both incidents were captured on film (this latest on an NBC tape, no less), not hidden in the shadows. This soldier's actions, like those of the guards in the US military prisons who mistreated the Iraqi prisoners, occured within a social environment, within a culture, that made them seem like appropriate behavior, worthy of being committed to the official record. I am more likely to believe that this event is the tip of the iceberg.

Fortunately for the US, the likely victors in this struggle, only the loosers are held to account for their war crimes.

Update: BoingBoing has a pointer to the video