Let me put this diplomatically:
What in the goddamn hell were they thinking?
Remember when diplomats were discreet, and the word "diplomatically" had a rather different meaning? No? Then get off my lawn, you punk!
Let's stipulate that the people diplomats must deal with are egomaniacs, blowhards, ninnies, sadists and freaks. But you don't put those thoughts down in writing where it can be WikiLeaked to the world.
(And by the way, how cute is it that 130 years after telephones and computers replaced the telegraph, we still call these things "diplomatic cables"? Which reminds me, my neighbor is stealing his cable, but because he's promised to patch me in, I'm being diplomatic.)
But to get back on topic, these WikiLeaks are clearly a P.R. disaster.
Now everybody knows that the guys who run Yemen let the U.S. do anything we want and cover for us. Might as well call the place Yesmen. What are they going to do now, change the name of the country to Nowayman?
Unmasking the favors our buddies do for us is bad enough. But letting scurrilous gossip and character assassination reach the Internet is inexcusable. There's barely room for any more as it is!
But let's see if we can squeeze in another twelve revelations, in this week's Doug's Dozen.