WikiLeaks is locked in a deadly game of politics in the name of good, with blatant disregard to the very collateral damage they espouse to despise. By revealing Valerie Plame, former Vice President Cheney, during the reign of Bush II, bears the brunt of nuclear proliferation, and the loss of human life. Sadly, we will never know how many perished, or were harmed by these actions because of national security. And just like Bush II and Cheney, WikiLeaks has anointed themselves Crusaders, and we didn't even vote to elect them.
It is outrageous that this organization has put us at such significant risk. We liberals must stop celebrating these leaks as revelations. The actions of WikiLeaks are audacious. They are ill prepared to review thousands of classified documents that could jeopardize our military, the good citizens of Afghanistan and the rest of the world. What happens if they miss a name or a code word? Do they care how many could potentially be harmed or die? Or is that just collateral damage in the name of good, or what WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and crew decide is good? These mistakes could aid the wholesale lunacy of the big, bad Taliban. Do we really want to sleep with this enemy? I think not. It's horrific that the former administration sacrificed nukes for their oil agenda. Yet now WikiLeaks has the potential to be far more heinous than anything Bush and Cheney dreamed up in the name of this country. And what they did was not good.
WikiLeaks is OUR Valerie Plame on steroids. Assange, Schmitt and Pvt. Manning and whoever else is involved in all their sanctimonious arrogance have the ability to do more harm than the US military ever could in this lifetime. This is the tipping point. Having those 76,900 documents released on the Internet has not helped us. In fact, it has done harm. Releasing still more uncensored information will be like dropping the atomic bomb on Afghanistan, Iraq and maybe Iran. It reveals a callous disregard for human life, and rivals that of Cheney and Bush II, who by the way, should have been tried for war crimes. Liberals, Daniel Ellsberg -- this is not the Pentagon Papers or Vietnam. None of this has helped us. In fact, it will bury us because no one (read my lips) gets to play King Solomon in the name of journalism, not even for a Pulitzer.
Note, the references and hyperlinks for this article are organized in the Pearltree included below.
Follow Michelle Kraus on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michellekraus
Activists rally to 'Free Bradley Manning' in WikiLeaks case
Publication of the Afghan War Documents is with Purpose - Wikileaks
Ex-DOJer helped expose alleged Wikileaks source
Wikileaks not part of the Empire
Afghanistan war: Stay until job is done, say majority of Americans
For Wikileaks, the only authority that matters -- the only person who is ultimately entitled to all available information and who properly should judge it -- is you. In this sense, which I submit is the highest and best sense of the term, Wikileaks is a genuine "leveller." It seeks to make each and every individual the ultimate judge of the truth, just as it seeks to empower all people to make the determination as to what course of action is indicated, if any. This, dear reader, is what a real revolution looks like.
This is what I've identified as a crucial part of Wikileaks' genuinely revolutionary approach: it transfers the demanding work -- understanding the material in the first instance, and then making those judgments we think justified -- to each and every one of us. Many people don't want the responsibility. Their greatest preference is to defer to authority, to obey. Wikileaks deprives them of that opportunity. One of the results is that many people profoundly resent Wikileaks and wish only that it would instantly dissolve into nothingness.
"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." thomas jefferson -dec 23 1791
"me too!" - woodshoe aug 11, 2010
"Our attachment to no nation upon earth should supplant our attachment to liberty." thomas jefferson june/july of 1775
"agreed!" - woodshoe aug 11, 2010
My contribution from last week,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-santiago/re-assessing-afghanistan_b_671016.html
THIS is exactly what wikileaks IS doing..
only difference is,.. they are not allowing intellectual constructs (nations) to subdivide their appreciation for humanity and human rights.
therefore,.. wikileaks is thinking of the adolescents, of the preteens.. of the 'kids'.. of the toddlers,.. of the infants,..among the civilias population of occupied afghanistan. populations which THIS DATA has indicated are dying at much HIGHER rates than the heavily armored coalition forces.
the children you were speaking of are very certainly 'sons and daughters'.. however, let us not forget also that they are ADULTS,.. who COULD have effected their own lives in such a way as to not find themselves in iraq and afghanistan. CONVERSELY, the aforementioned civilian children and babies have NO SUCH RECOURSE.
so.. if i revisit your original question;
" [ring, ring, ring...] ..hello? ...hi,..honey.. get out of there.. however you can.. go somewhere safe.. we will do whatever we can to help,.. to protect you and to defend you,.. we love you so much.. this isn't worth yours or anyone else's LIFE.. so, again,.. sweetie, you try on that end and we will work on this end.. but please, get out of there. we love you."
It's tough enough for our elected leaders to get people to agree about what serves the rights of the humans in the US! You seriously think these unelected bozos at wikkileaks really know what's in the collective good of the planet in all cases? On what basis can they be trusted? Because they say pretty phrases? They are playing God but they are human, and therefore have their *own* biases, just like the rest of us.
wikileaks has rightly recognized that every LEAK is a singular anarchist act.. and that such acts have no repository for dissemination along communication lines established by authoritarian institutions. (and for general consumption, when i say 'authoritarian', i mean 'chain-of-command' institutions.. governments, corporations (incl. corporate media.))
i really am surprised that we have not seen more self described liberals come out in opposition to transparency, disclosure and reconciliation.. this, in their ongoing effort to perpetually drag the progressive left into cozy proximity to the established legal politic (the right.)
WE are the only ones who can potential VOTE at these people.. these SECRETS are SECRETS from US,.. not from the afghans and iraqis, who have the scattered bits of friends and family to blow the whistle.
OUR whistleblower is orders of magnitude less offensive than the 'signal' those iraqis and afghans must CONTINUE to endure...
Do you agree or disagree and why?
You talk about the supposed lives wikileaks put at risk. First, Mr Assange claims he tried to contact the Administration to get help reviewing the documents. They refused. Maybe he is lying, maybe not. If he is not then it is the Administration that is at fault.
But here is my question. One of the items they exposed was the ISI using OUR TAX DOLLARS to help the Taliban attack and kill OUR SOLDIERS! The fact that this is now known will help our commanders PROTECT OUR SOLDIERS by being much more cautious with the Pakistani's. So will you concede that, in this particular case, the leaks help save lives? Yes? No? Why?
thanks
I think my problem is that they may have too much power. Schmitt's says his vision is transnational, but who knows what prejudices he has?(he is an actual human being, after all). He's not elected so we know nothing about him. History is full of unelected leaders who have some weirdo blind spot that leads to disaster.
Perhaps some wiki-leaker-leaker will expose them. That's how freedom is supposed to work. Even when a revealing organization fails to do right, I trust the instinct to publicize what the Pentagon tries hardest to hide. The usual secret is that someone has screwed up using your blind authorization to proceed secretly.
Remember, this is a delicious moment for the Republicans just watch Rep. John Boehner on MTP. I fear that if we don’t have this dialogue that we are setting ourselves up. November is only a few months away, and the RNC will stoop as far down as possible to win. The American voting public has knee jerked in the name of national security before.
You show the same contempt for the people the war party does. You can't even trust yourself to understand and learn and you show a particular lack of confidence and esteem for your own mind.
Yeah, leave it to the "experts" to interpret reality for us. Where has that brought us?
Why do you give space to such ridiculous drivel?
Oh, yes, please let's not do anything that might undermine these fabulous war plans that continue to kill, maim, and displace thousands whose families can't wait to exact revenge. Thanks a lot. Sure wouldn't want to do anything to screw up our wonderful plans and victories. That last word is a joke, but that's just what we're supposed to think when we read "Number Two Al Quaeda Leader Killed!!" as if all of the "collateral damage" is hardly worth consideration when you're touting the fabulous gains we're making in the "War on Terror."
Collateral damage caused by Pentagon warlords? Acceptable
Collateral damage caused by Wikileaks informing the American taxpayers of what's really going on in Afghanistan? Unconscionable
Ms. Kraus, we are certainly outraged, but not at Wikileaks. I find myself wondering what you might have to gain by the US remaining in this undeclared war. Your feigned concern for Afghani informants (who are likely selling information to the highest bidder, rather than loyal operatives of US forces) rings false. Ultimately, your hysterical attempt at condemning Wikileaks fails spectacularly. But thank you for playing; there are some lovely parting gifts for you on your way out.