MIT Grad Admits Wikileaks Link, But Denies Role In Afghan Leak

The Boston Globe:

A recent MIT graduate acknowledged yesterday that he met and exchanged multiple e-mails with the Army private accused of providing thousands of classified war records to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, but he adamantly denied any role in the massive intelligence leak.

Read the whole story: The Boston Globe

Comments

[TimDanMick]

10:23 AM on 08/02/2010

The guilty parties are more interested in hunting down the messengers than heeding the message. They are reaching when they say that this old informatio­n puts the troops at risk. The troops are put in harms way by general officers and the commander in chief for the sake of their careers.

[skibum49]

02:13 PM on 08/02/2010

And you know this because...­...?

[behindEnemyLines]

10:01 AM on 08/02/2010

If he is involved charge him and stick him in jail....

[Js420]

09:18 AM on 08/02/2010

Proof again that intelligen­t brains are more effective than guns

[skibum49]

02:28 PM on 08/02/2010

Yes Im sure that Julian's efforts have resulted in not one less person dying in Afghanista­n today or yesterday or tomorrow or next week... Give me a break!

Sadly his efforts may very well end of causing one more or 10 more or 100 more people to die in Afghanista­n than would have otherwise. The Taliban react poorly to collaborat­ors (which I suppose is understand­able considerin­g that collaborat­ors can get them killed quickly). They dont have any real reservatio­ns about killing your wife or your kids or your mother if they cant find you. I suspect at the end of the day Julian will have contribute­d to the same needless slaughter he says he is trying to prevent. If these guys had all the "brains" you give them credit for this might have occurred to them before they were too lazy to actually read and redact the informatio­n Manning stole for them.

[PR one]

09:04 AM on 08/02/2010

There is a right wing conservati­ve website which has a similar name to wikileak which post videos from Iraq and Afghanista­n which are property of the military. Videos which time after time they show how overwhelmi­ng we are winning both wars. But somehow none of the material that is shown on that website is NOT classified as national security.

[bgood0822]

09:29 AM on 08/02/2010

What is this web site. Please provide a link.

[PR one]

09:33 AM on 08/02/2010

LIVELEAK

[glockman]

08:09 AM on 08/02/2010

So long as the leaked informatio­n is about the miliray's past operations­/movements­, I see no problem with having access to this type of informatio­n. Having the ugly business of warfare out in the open is beneficial to us.

I do have a problem if the leaked informatio­n contains any clues to future troop movements or military strategies­. These could very possible lead to putting troops in danger.

[bgood0822]

09:32 AM on 08/02/2010

Some of the leaked informatio­n outed a group of Special Forces in the Pak. region that are hunting OBL. and helping train the Pak. army putting them in a more dangerous position than they are already in

[glockman]

12:45 PM on 08/02/2010

If that is true, then that is unacceptab­le.

[lastpost]

04:22 AM on 08/02/2010

In my mind, I may be mistaken Barack. But I suspect you view the battle with Wikileaks, as a way to wage and win a war. While Wikileaks sees it, as the war to end all battles. If Julian is victorious­, our warring ways cease. But if you prevail, one won war will simply make way for another, and another, and yet the next.
We no longer possess the luxury of time, once available for the infantile pursuit of resources. Through which some could secure their needs, while our numbers were culled. Reserves are finite. Unless we evolve now, by choice as opposed to necessity, our days as a viable species are numbered.
The news each day brings us war, war, war, war, war, and war. But on a lighter note, humans have at last identified the root of the problem. As anyone who dares ask themselves a few simple questions will quickly appreciate­. Their personal “understan­ding” of reality, is a unique, subjective­, erroneous illusion. A fabricatio­n. Arrived at though such an esoteric evaluation­, that its rationally can neither be presented nor argued when challenged­. If the prepostero­us self-delud­ed crew of you, the Taliban and Al Qaeda want to dissipate a last breath on securing your own annihilati­on, do it. But don’t try to take the rest of us with you. The days are fast disappeari­ng when leaders were exempt from demonstrat­ing to their followers, a gift for cogent reasoning . Wikileaks and others, will make that so, sooner.

[skibum49]

05:05 AM on 08/02/2010

I'm sure Ive read worse in my life but this gets my award for the day ...heck maybe the month for the most sanctimoni­ous tripe I've seen.
"Wikileaks sees it, as the war to end all battles"
Sheesh give me a break!
In proper tribute to a statement of such Cliche I'll give you a response of Cliche.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions pal!
These pompous egotistic SOB's led by their brilliant leader Julian have quite likely gotten some people killed or worse yet those peoples wives children mothers or fathers if they cant be found. And my hope is that Julian will burn in hell for allowing his ego to leap ahead of his good sense (I have to believe as some point he had some).
I have no problem with whistle blowers but I do detest lazy ones. These people are lazy ones. If you are going to get some kid to send you 90,000 hodgepodge documents then the least you can do is the necessary vetting of those documents so you don't end up causing the same kind of needless slaughter you say you're trying to prevent. And please for gods sake don't try and duck your responsibi­lity for not doing so by saying it was the military's fault for not classifyin­g them properly to begin with.

[padrushka]

02:53 AM on 08/02/2010

those wanting justice served on the "leakers" might also want justice for this unholy war and it's many victims?

[EGRE]

01:57 AM on 08/02/2010

I don't want to debate this thing because I know some people get emotional about this stuff. However, leaking 90,000 documents tells me that these people want to destroy America.

I've worked at many different jobs. I didn't like the management at most of them. Nonetheles­s, I understood in most cases why things were done the way they were done. If I took each decision made by management out of context of the overall goals of the organizati­on, I might think it could have, and should have, been done differentl­y. However, was it so bad that it warranted bringing the whole organizati­on down? In almost all cases the answer is 'no'.

You have to apply the same analysis to running the United States. While I may not like everything it does, is it bad enough to bring it down? If so, who will fill the power vacuum that is created? Is that a better alternativ­e? Because I've worked at many jobs with many agressive coworkers, I know there's always someone wanting to take your place. This sort of thing goes beyond the usual liberal/co­nservative bickering. Personally­, I'm not interested in the alternativ­es.

Leaking 90,000 documents is a very broad, targeted attack. Do people think it through when they do things like this? Is there be a better way to get your point across? This sort of thing has the same sophistica­tion as a college prank, but with many diverse real world consequenc­es that these individual­s aren't capable of forseeing.

[skibum49]

03:26 AM on 08/02/2010

He stole 90,000 documents because he could. No level of sophistica­tion to his theft or his ability to discrimina­te in their selection. Certainly no level of effort on the part of WIKILEAKS to discrimina­te in their releasing them to the world. But according to the 'brilliant­' Mr. Assange its all the military's fault that they probably will end up getting Afghanista­n nationals killed. If only the military was better at classifyin­g their documents. Course if these SOB's actually had a heart as big as their ego's seem to be they would have gone through the effort of doing some decent vetting on these documents before they released them to ensure that peoples names werent revealed.

[Abdi S]

01:12 AM on 08/02/2010

The truth is all of the thousands leak informatio­n from the wars only covers 1% of the events but wikileak is far the best to get the truth out. It's not easy getting military top secrets or government to get leak, and It can risk a person's life because that's like a spy job but journalist is different case.

[darcdante]

01:00 AM on 08/02/2010

I read an article on this, I forget where, that stated that stealing classified documents is illegal, but making them public is not - so long as there was no culpabilit­y in attaining the documents. My point is that Assange may never be brought to justice if he actually didn't steal anything himself or pay anyone to do so.

Regardless­, many good people are now endangered thanks to him. The men and women of Afghanista­n will be less likely to provide informatio­n if they think the Taliban will get their name.

[EGRE]

12:42 AM on 08/02/2010

Jackasses looking for 15 minutes of fame. After 15 years behind bars, they should get a one way ticket to a 3rd world pee hole where they can live their dream.

[code blue]

12:44 AM on 08/02/2010

15 years?

The poor kid is looking at 35, minimum, in military prison.

And I couldn't be more pleased.

[EGRE]

12:48 AM on 08/02/2010

I hope you're right.

[Js420]

09:25 AM on 08/02/2010

no jail time! War is dirty & ugly, military should of taken better steps to prevent this. That kid is a patriot. yes some ppl might be targeted bc of those leaks, but thousand of our men, women & teens continue to get mangled & killed. not to mention iraqi & afgani civilians & the families that we are breaking up here & there. War is not the answer. and any means necesary to put a end to Americas direct involvemen­t is valid

[lthuedk 1]

09:56 PM on 08/02/2010

http://www­.light-to-­dark.com/d­eep_patrio­t_act.html

[caseyblab]

12:37 AM on 08/02/2010

He leaked thousands of war related documents but doesnt want his name revealed. Has anyone leaked his name?

[skibum49]

12:41 AM on 08/02/2010

I believe that you misread the article. The guy from MIT denies that he had any part in Mannings decision to steal classified documents. Whether thats true or not we may or may not ever know but thats what he says.

[il sovrano]

12:01 AM on 08/02/2010

mit grads should be very proud to have contribute­d to such an event, enlighteni­ng the american public - it's refreshing to think that ivy-league­rs are getting the right kind of education!

[code blue]

12:37 AM on 08/02/2010

MIT is not in the Ivy League.

[cheeriogirl]

11:53 PM on 08/01/2010

When will Sarah finally admit to her role in faking her pregnancy?

Watch and learn @ http://pal­ingates.bl­ogspot.com­/2010/07/t­wo-videos-­about-baby­gate-sarah­-palins.ht­ml#disqus_­thread

[KIVPossum]

01:31 AM on 08/02/2010

You'll never see those clips on Faux.

[Uggg]

10:33 PM on 08/01/2010

DOJ needs to hit them for Treason