Col. Victor Petrenko Death, Lies, and Videotape

“The U.S. military asserted that an American soldier was justified in erasing journalists' footage of the aftermath of a suicide bombing and shooting in Afghanistan last week, saying publication could have compromised a military investigation and led to false public conclusions.”

According to Col. Victor Petrenko, “taking pictures [may] misrepresent what had happened in the incident…. If such visual media are subsequently used as part of the public record to document an event like this, then public conclusions about such a serious event can be falsely made."

If the independent documentation is “misleading,” declare it misleading, and set it aside when you conduct your investigation. If the pubic perception is at odds with the army’s conclusions, that’s a public relations issue and should be resolved by arguing the evidence, not destroying in advance any evidence that you fear could be misconstrued as contradicting the result of an investigation that hasn’t been carried out yet. If there's a medal for bullshit, Petrenko qualifies.