XBox and the Execution of U.S. Soldiers

by: kristia cavere | published: 06 21, 2009

There have been some video games which display such explicit violence or sexuality that they have been decried as being too inappropriate for anyone to play.  But there has never been a video game produced that is more despicable than XBox 360’s “Rendition: Guantanamo,” in which the game is “won” by killing American soldiers.

The game is seen through the perspective of a detainee in Guantanamo.  The premise of the video game’s story is that the facility was sold by the U.S. Government to an agency called Freedom Corp.  Before the prisoner is tortured and has scientific experiments performed on him, he escapes and attempts to kill as many of his captors as possible.  Points are accumulated for each soldier who is murdered. 

T-Enterprise, a Scottish company who created Rendition: Guantanamo, has as their motto, “Seduce By Technology.”  They are known for producing video games that appeal to the global left, although none have been as blatantly anti-American as their latest venture.  To make the scene of the game authentic, T-Enterprise solicited the counsel of terrorist Moazzam Begg, who was a prisoner in Guantanamo from 2003 through 2005.  The Telegraph quoted Begg as stating, “The software firm approached me with this idea about making a game based on my experience in Guantanamo.” 

Originally from Birmingham, England, Moazzam Begg was arrested several times in the United Kingdom due to activities associated with radical Islam.  He moved to the Middle East in 2001, and was captured by the C.I.A. in 2003, who stated that he was training with Al Qaeda in Pakistan.  The book Inside Gitmo, written by Colonel Gordon Cucullu, states that Moazzam Begg told the FBI that he “felt that jihad was an appropriate way to deal with those who harmed Muslims.”  Begg signed a statement for the FBI admitting that he trained at Al Qaeda facilities and was ready to fight with the Taliban and Al Qaeda against their enemies including the United States.  In addition, U.S. military intelligence documents state that Begg recruited Al Qaeda members, and provided money and other support to terrorist training camps. 

Upon his release from Guantanamo, Begg has written articles and been on television shows and documentaries, relating his supposed horrific experience in Gitmo.  As the owner of XBox, Microsoft did not create Rendition: Guantanamo.  However, Microsoft must be more aware of what type of video game is being created by their developers such as T-Enterprise, who spent one year and two months creating Rendition. 

If Microsoft was eager to use an escaping prisoner scenario for an XBox game, there are many examples from history that they could have applied.  A U.S. soldier could be escaping a Vietcong prisoner of war camp.  Or perhaps an American World War II era soldier could be breaking free from a German or Japanese prison.  In each of these scenarios, the crimes committed by the captors against our soldiers are well documented, contrary to the alleged abuses in Gitmo.  Certainly no one would be offended by an American soldier escaping from and even killing Nazis. 

In a statement on their website, T-Enterprise stated, “It [Rendition] was never designed to be ‘propaganda’ or ‘a recruiting tool for terrorism.’  Neither was it designed to glamorize terrorism as has been reported.”  However, the video game is blatantly expressing sympathy with terrorists by portraying them as innocent victims who undergo agonizing scientific procedures.  In addition, Begg has a financial interest in Rendition: Guantanamo, although he stated that he has not received any money yet from T-Enterprise.  Judging from his association and support of Al Qaeda in the past, it is easy to predict that if he received any compensation from Rendition video game sales, that money would have been used to propagate terrorism.

What will it take for Microsoft to pay more attention to what is being produced for XBox?  On the morning of June 3, 2009, it was announced that Rendition: Guantanamo will not be distributed.  Video games already tend to push the edge, but Rendition is so blatantly antagonistic to American values and culture that somebody at Microsoft should have taken notice.  If a person or division at Microsoft did know about Rendition and did nothing, there should be consequences. 

For those who wish to express their opinion on the video game they created, the contact information for T-Enterprise is below.

http://www.t-enterprise.co.uk/corporate-technology/contactus.aspx

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