Insurgents and US military personnel are using popular Internet sites to post videos of combat in Iraq that would never be shown on US television.
Sites like Google Video and YouTube are allowing viewers to see everything from sniper attacks against US troops to roadside bombs exploding under US military vehicles, the New York Times has reported.
Also being posted on the sites are videos taken by US military personnel including some that show US servicemen firing on attackers and throwing grenades at buildings housing insurgents.
A military historian at the University of North Texas, TX, USA Geoffrey D.W. Wawro, points out that soldiers have always sent snapshots home from the front. "This is how the new generation does things," Wawro said in the Times' article, adding, "It results in a continued trivialization of combat and its effects but no one feels completely comfortable saying, 'Don't do it.'"
A spokesman for US Central Command told the Times that oversees troops in Iraq, Al Qaeda is using the Internet to foster the perception that they are more capable than they are.
Combat videos on popular Internet sites
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