Wikileaks, the controversial news site founded by Julian Assange, released 92,000 classified documents containing sensitive info about the war in Afghanistan. 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. After spending weeks analyzing the data, the 3 newspapers unleashed a torrent of controversial reports on July 25. Now we know that there have been Pakistan operatives that betray the U.S. by taking their cash but still helping the Taliban kill Americans, numerous civilians are being hurt through the war, and that the Taliban is, in fact, getting stronger, because of these Wikileaks documents.
Top newspapers get Wikileaks info
Wikileaks documents were had details in them that is used to create war strategy by desk officers and troops in the field. The information published, as outlined by the Times and also the Guardian, was not 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 information by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security.”
Pakistan operatives helping Taliban?
Al Qaeda, according to Wikileaks documents published by the times, have help from Pakistani intelligence in planning some of their attacks. Even though it is nearly extremely hard to link the Pakistani operatives with Al Qaeda, the reports show Pakistanis being unwilling to stop those who attacked near Pakistani borders, moved across the frontier in trucks, and went into Pakistan for safety.
Afghanistan worse than believed
In a series of articles, the Times, the Guardian and Der Spiegel articles paint a picture of the Afghanistan war that is much worse than the spin put out by the U.S. government. Any progress is limited by a corrupt Afghan government and police force, a disloyal Afghan army and an uncooperative Pakistani military that is aiding and abetting the Taliban insurgency. Some analysts say the Wikileaks documents just confirm what was already known. But the Wikileaks documents bare the truth about the Afghanistan war as Congress and the public are increasingly disillusioned about America’s deepening involvement.
Wikileaks espionage
Wikileaks supposedly had details given to them by the soldier, Private Bradley Manning, and was criticized by the hacker who turned Manning in. Adrian Lamo told ABC News that he turned Manning in to try and stop the reports from getting to the 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.”
Discover more information on this subject
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
