Monday 26 July 2010

Wikileaks and the US intelligence quagmire



(Social Justice South Africa)

Article by Marc Aupiais



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"Summary

25th July 2010 5:00 PM EST WikiLeaks has released a document set called the Afghan War Diary, an extraordinary compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010.

The reports, while written by soldiers and intelligence officers, and mainly describing lethal military actions involving the United States military, also include intelligence information, reports of meetings with political figures, and related detail.

The document collection is available on a dedicated webpage.

The reports cover most units from the US Army with the exception of most US Special Forces' activities. The reports do not generally cover top secret operations or European and other ISAF Forces operations.

We have delayed the release of some 15,000 reports from the total archive as part of a harm minimization process demanded by our source. After further review, these reports will be released, with occasional redactions, and eventually in full, as the security situation in Afghanistan permits.

The data is provided in HTML (web), CSV (comma-separated value) and SQL (database) formats, and also was rendered into KML (Keyhole Markup Language) mapping data that can be used with Google Earth. Please note that the checksums will change."
Wikileaks (a clandestine organization which is known for its use of advanced technological and legal techniques in order to leak top secret government documents to the general public)
26 / 07 | July / 2010

Wikileaks, a site which many journalists wished they worked for, and many others: especially world governments: fear, has done it again. Someone within the US government has downloaded thousands of classified files, which they uploaded to the whistle blower organization: the bane of intelligence and counter-intelligence everywhere.

The site revealed allegedly from the intelligence documents of the US government that US special forces have allegedly been ordered to kill or capture suspected Taliban heads with no form of trial, that Pakistani intelligence has allegedly helped the Taliban in planning their attacks on the coalition efforts, and that over 100 Afghani civilians have allegedly accidentally been shot by US troops' mistakes. PR coups by the coalition claiming that they are ultra-cautious, firing warnings before shooting, and even purposely missing, have thus been called into question. US President Barack Obama, has understandably attempted to call into question Wikileak's ethics, the same man had in the past, amidst controversy asked US citizens to forward him any emails they received seemingly of those with questioning or critical views against him a while ago.

The US is allegedly concerned over US lives due to the wikileaks leak, not seemingly mentioning non-coalition lives. Prior Pakistani intelligence chief, Lieutenant General Hamid Gul (Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI]), says accusations against him are false. Pakistan is internationally known for human rights abuses and other alleged violations of international humanitarian law.

Up to 91 000 (Ninety-one Thousand) documents were leaked by the transparency activists at Wikileaks. Starting in 2004 to about 2010.

Many journalists find the service indispensable, and believe it vital to protecting democracy, other subscribe to its services.

Important quotes:

"The United States has condemned as "irresponsible" the leak of 90,000 military records, saying publication could threaten national security.

The documents released by the Wikileaks website include details of killings of Afghan civilians unreported until now.

Three news organisations had advance access to the records, which also show Nato concerns that Pakistan and Iran are helping the Taliban in Afghanistan."
BBC World News (Secular; Governmental; United Kingdom/British)
26 / 07 | July / 2010


"The papers contain specific claims that Pakistani intelligence helped the Taliban plan attacks on NATO, United Nations and Indian targets.

One refers to an alleged meeting between insurgents and the former Pakistani intelligence chief, Lieutenant General Hamid Gul.

He says the allegations are false."
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Governmental; Australian; Secular)
27 / 07 | July / 2010

Barack Obama, has vastly escalated the US war on Al Qaeda, and others, from the much smaller wars fought by an anti-"terror" crusading George W. Bush. Guantanamo Bay, is still open for business, and America, has increasingly been continuing associations with shifty regimes. The Afghan regime is one which has fronted a strong belief is a need for legally enforced marital rape, and which has allowed the arrest of those who convert away from Islam. A report by French Propaganda station: France 24, shows Afghan soldiers being used as human de-mining tools, being made to walk in front of vehicles, to detonate IEDs, it also alleges massive corruption, and shows an Afghan army hardly capable of putting on its own helmet, never mind fighting a war, and one where many desert having completed training, going to who knows which forces or armies around which could use their skills. It is thought the Taliban will regain Afghanistan the moment the international troops leave the area. Wikileaks has called the leak a hero for their actions.

Wikileaks claim they do not verify sources, but documents. They have purposely created a system they claim to make whistle-blowers untraceable even to themselves.

Many have viewed the leak here:

http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Afghan_War_Diary,_2004-2010




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