MNF-Iraq, 2007
From March 07, 2007 through December 15, 2008 the Multi-National-Force-IRAQ maintained an official YouTube Channel. During this time, 45 videos were uploaded to “give viewers around the world a ‘boots on the ground’ perspective”. As of this writing, “total upload views” on this channel amount to 8,919,214.
After the 2008 election Operation Iraqi Freedom became Operation New Dawn. This “New Face of Iraq” has a mission to build, partner, strengthen, and pressure. Though no longer uploading videos to YouTube, Operation New Dawn maintains a strong online presence including twitter and facebook as well as a flickr photostream.
Through appropriated imagery that is paired with comments from users on YouTube, MNF-IRAQ is a video that examines the power of online anonymity and hate speech in a post 9-11 world. Further, by considering our increased reliance upon mediated mechanisms for communicating, this piece explores the marketing, sanitization and promotion of violence and war generated through the web.
All war footage and comments seen in this video are taken directly from the Multi-National-Force-IRAQ YouTube Channel, which was an official website of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Please visit my video on YouTube to join the discussion and leave feedback.
http://www.youtube.com/user/kriscaba#p/a/u/0/GS6K-4FCSIc