War Encoded

At 11:12 EST, on the DoD News Channel, which was until last month known as the Pentagon Channel, reporters were shown a video of one of the many air strikes carried out this week against ISIS in Syria. The video was played within a frame: Windows Media Player 9, which was officially released in January of 2003, one day prior to the State of the Union address in which the president said these words:

The United States will ask the U.N. Security Council to convene on February the 5th to consider the facts of Iraq’s ongoing defiance of the world. Secretary of State Powell will present information and intelligence about Iraqi’s — Iraq’s illegal weapons programs, its attempts to hide those weapons from inspectors and its links to terrorist groups.

We will consult, but let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein does not fully disarm for the safety of our people, and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.

“And if war is forced upon us,” he continued, “we will fight with the full force and might of the United States military, and we will prevail.”

The video appears to show between thirteen and fifteen distinct explosions — the result of munitions that were guided, apparently, by GPS. How many people died will be revealed just before we are told who they are, and well after we are told who they were supposed to be. At 10:17 EST, reporter Charlie Spiering recorded a gif of the air strike and posted it on Twitter.