Wikileaks, the controversial news website 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. Reports were given out by all three newspapers on July 25. The Wikileaks documents provide new insight on how the Taliban insurgency is gaining strength, civilians are being killed within the crossfire, and Pakistan intelligence operatives are accepting American cash in one hand and aiding and abetting the Taliban to kill American soldiers with the other.
Newspapers receive Wikileaks documents
Officers in the Pentagon and troops in the field make plans depending off of the documents released by Wikileaks. Both the New York Times and the Guardian made it clear that they didn’t hurt national security interests with the info they did end up publishing. Gen. James Jones, the U.S. National Security Advisor, explains:
“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 intelligence aiding Taliban insurgency?
Al Qaeda, as outlined by Wikileaks documents published by the times, have help from Pakistani intelligence in preparing some of their attacks. 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.
Truth about Afghanistan much worse than official spin
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. Progress has stopped in the war because the Pakistani army is helping the Taliban, the government and police force in Afghanistan are corrupt, and the Afghanistan army hasn’t been loyal. Some analysts say the Wikileaks documents just confirm what was already known. Even though congress and the public are being told otherwise, the Wikileaks documents show the Afghanistan war has Americans getting in deeper and deeper.
Wikileaks suspected of espionage
Wikileaks supposedly had information given to them by the soldier, Private Bradley Manning, and was criticized by the hacker who turned Manning in. Adrian Lamo wanted to stop the reports from getting to the public so he turned in Manning, reports ABC News. Lamo thinks Manning had help considering all the info released. Lamo thinks that Manning was hired along with others by Julian Assange as “a personal shopper for classified data.”
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
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