92,000 classified documents with sensitive info on the Afghanistan war were leaked by Wikileaks, the news website created by Julian Assange. In what is being called one of the biggest stories in recent years, Wikileaks gave the classified documents to the New York Times within the U.S., The Guardian in Britain and Der Spiegel in Germany. . Now we know that there have been Pakistan operatives that betray the U.S. by taking their cash but nevertheless helping the Taliban kill Americans, many civilians are being hurt through the war, and the Taliban is, in fact, getting stronger, because of these Wikileaks documents.
Wikileaks documents were had info in them that is used to create war strategy by desk officers and troops in the field. The details published, as outlined by the Times and also the Guardian, was not details damaging to any national security interests. Of course National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones has his own opinion:
“The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified info by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security.”
Taliban gets stronger with help of Pakistan intelligence?
One document from Wikileaks that the Times published tells of Pakistan operatives helping Al Qaeda kill. Although experts said directly linking the Pakistani spy agency with Al Qaeda is difficult, the documents contain firsthand accounts of American anger at Pakistan’s unwillingness to confront insurgents who launched attacks near Pakistani border posts, moved openly by the truckload across the frontier, and retreated to Pakistani territory for safety.
Afghanistan was worse than told
The U.S. government has made the Afghanistan war look much better than the Times, the Guardian, and Der Spiegel have made it look in their articles. Progress has stopped within the war since the Pakistani army is helping the Taliban, the government and police force in Afghanistan are corrupt, and the Afghanistan army hasn’t been loyal. Many individuals already knew this was a problem but let the Wikileaks documents confirm that. But the Wikileaks documents bare the truth about the Afghanistan war as Congress and also the public are increasingly disillusioned about America’s deepening involvement.
Wikileaks suspected of espionage
Wikileaks was criticized by the hacker who turned in Private Bradley Manning, who is the soldier who allegedly handed the documents to Wikileaks. ABC News reports that Adrian Lamo said he ratted on Manning to keep the reports from becoming public. Lamo thinks Manning had help considering all the information released. Lamo thinks that Manning was hired along with others by Julian Assange as “a personal shopper for classified data.”
Further reading
New York Times
nytimes.com/2010/07/26/world/asia/26isi.html?hp
Guardian
guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/jul/26/press-freedom-wikileaks
Der Spiegel
spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,708314,00.html
