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Why WikiLeaks Matters
Nearly fifty days have passed since the WikiLeaks document release in late November, this one centering on US diplomatic cables and quickly dubbed "Cablegate." At this writing, not even 3,000 cables from the cache, which reportedly holds more than 251,000 documents, have been published by WikiLeaks or, in most cases, by its newspaper partners, and it's impossible to know whether everything of prime importance has already emerged in the cherry-picking.
Julian Assange's next court date in his sex-crime extradition case is not until February 7, and a major WikiLeaks release-rumored to focus on Bank of America-seems to have been pushed back, partly because of WikiLeaks' financial problems. So it's an appropriate time to assess what we have learned so far-about Assange and alleged leaker Bradley Manning (heroes? villains?), the media's love-hate relationship with WikiLeaks and limits on civil liberties for journalists and whistleblowers.
Then there are the various threats and retreats inspired by the latest leak: the likely US prosecution of Assange, along with calls by some pundits and politicians for his execution or assassination; leading corporations such as PayPal and Amazon cutting off services for WikiLeaks; Rep. Peter King's call this week for a ban on American companies dealing with WIkiLeaks; and our Justice Department's secret subpoenas for Twitter (and likely other social networks) seeking information on some WikiLeaks supporters.
How all these issues and others are viewed by the public hinges significantly, however, on the perceived value of the leaked cables. US officials, even in charging foul, usually focus on the embarrassing loss of control and secrecy, not the damaging content of the cables. And as with earlier WikiLeaks bombshells-the massive Iraq and Afghanistan "war logs"-many critics in the media soon labeled the Cablegate revelations minor, old hat. Some of WikiLeaks' media partners, after a dozen days of heavy-duty reporting, severely reduced coverage of the cables. Now most of them are emerging via El País and the Norwegian daily Aftenposten.
For balance, then, it's important to review a small sample of what we have learned thanks to WikiLeaks since April and the release of the "Collateral Murder" US helicopter video, which showed the killing of two Reuters journalists, among others. It's necessary to do this because most in the US media, after brief coverage, provided little follow-up. Consider the scope of even this very limited list of revelations:
§ The Saudis, our allies, are among the leading funders of international terrorism.
§ The scale of corruption in Afghanistan tops even the worst estimates. President Hamid Karzai regularly releases major drug dealers who have political connections. His half-brother is a major drug operator.
§ The Pentagon basically lied to the public in downplaying sectarian violence in Iraq. Our military handed over many detainees they knew would be tortured to the Iraqis. US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of torture and abuse by Iraqi police and military.
§ After the release of the Iraq logs, new tallies put the number of documented civilian casualties there at more than 100,000. The Afghanistan logs similarly showed many more civilians killed there than previously known, along with once-secret US assassination missions against insurgents.
§ The British government assured Washington that our interests would be protected in its "independent" public inquiry into the Iraq War.
§ The Pakistani government has allowed its intelligence unit to hold strategy sessions with the Taliban. Despite longstanding denials, the United States has indeed been conducting special ops inside Pakistan and taking part in joint operations with the Pakistanis.
§ The Yemenis have lied to their own people, taking credit for air attacks on militants in that country-but it was the United States that did the job. The Yemeni president gave us an "open door" to combat terrorism. Washington has secretly shipped arms to the Saudis for use in Yemen.
§ The Saudis, contrary to their public statements, want us to bomb Iran. So do some other countries in the region-or so they say in private.
§ Our State Department asked our diplomats at the United Nations to spy on others, including the secretary general, even aiming to retrieve credit card numbers.
§ At last we got to read in full the historic 1990 memo from US Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie before Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the first Gulf War.
§ The Obama administration worked with Republicans to protect Bush officials who faced a criminal investigation in Spain for alleged torture.
§ Pope Benedict XVI impeded an investigation into alleged child sex abuse within the Catholic Church in Ireland.
§ Bribery and corruption mark the Boeing versus Airbus battle for plane sales. "United States diplomats were acting like marketing agents, offering deals to heads of state and airline executives whose decisions could be influenced by price, performance and, as with all finicky customers with plenty to spend, perks," the New York Times reported early this month.
§ Israel destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007.
§ US diplomats have been searching for countries that will take Guantánamo detainees, often bargaining with them; the receiving country might get a one-on-one meeting with Obama or some other perk.
§ Among several startling revelations about control of nuclear supplies: highly enriched uranium has been waiting in Pakistan for more than three years for removal by an American team.
§ The U.S. embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any European Union country which opposed genetically modified (GM) crops.
§ The British have trained a Bangladeshi paramilitary force that human rights organizations consider a "government death squad."
The revelations go on and on; for an even longer list, and divided region-by-region, see Joshua Norman's report at CBS News. As the many key issues surrounding WikiLeaks are debated in the weeks ahead, we must recognize what we would have missed without the 2010 "document dumps."
And there's another crucial aspect. "The reaction that the WikiLeaks episode most deserves has been the least evident," observes former British diplomat Carne Ross, who now runs the advisory group Independent Diplomat. "The picture of the world revealed in the cables demands a sober and informed reflection on the realities of policy-making.... The reactions to WikiLeaks share one abiding characteristic, so obvious that it can easily be overlooked, namely, an unwillingness to address with any sophistication or seriousness the complex and ever-changing world that the United States-and all of us-must now deal with. The prevailing and lazy assumption is implied but all too clear: that the foreign policy elite, and government, should be left to get on with the job, with whatever secrecy that they demand."
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31 Comments so far
Show AllI have to hope that this lays to rest the oft-heard view that WikiLeaks was a hollow front, and "told us nothing that we did not already know." Well, I never knew that the US was bombing in Yemen, for instance, or the depth of Karzai's complicity in the drug trade. And even if I did, I would have had no real concrete evidence to point to in arguing my views. Hopefully, this will give others grounds for dissent to official policies as well.
For myself, it is important to have documentation concerning the facts of our times. The evidence presented makes irrefutable things that could once be brushed aside.
Not to mention that there is a glimpse provided into the way inter-state realpolitik works. Reading the cables often (not always) provides a glimpse behind the official mask. Historians will process this stuff, but more important, I will be able to sift through the documents and come to my own conclusions.
WikiLeaks provided a lot of concrete to my worldview, and I am thankful to them for that.
There is no fixing our system that is broke,
its foundations are fossil fuel dependency,
and a rickety edifice of lies for our yoke,
sinks truth in the sea of media frenzy.
Civilisation runs on tacet agreement to ignore,
those collective facts that doom our world.
Victories are all about the spoils of war.
And by spoilt measure we are the churled.
It does not matter, the party is nearly over,
We guests have set our house on fire.
Smoke is rising from beneath the floor.
Soon the anguished screams our peril dire.
The population grows and grows
while heterosexuals grow in the nose.
Avoid at all cost what you hear
about looking oneself in the mirror.
Why Wiki-Leaks matters?
I does. I posted these few thoughts on another article but here it is again.
They are a big deal because it documents in history the corruption that is going on in this country. It would be preferable if people responsible for corruption or war crimes got charged with crimes but with corrupt politicians in power, that is challenging. It would be preferable that the public was less apathetic, but their apathy doesn't take away from the fact that many of these acts are corrupt or illegal and therefore the disclosure is good. The leaks are also a big deal because they document in history specific acts, rather than just the general assumption made by the public that the politicians are corrupt. They are a big deal because the fact the US Government is trying to stop Assange from publishing these, are taking the time to make personal attacks on him and are trying to convict him, tells you it is a big deal. They are a big deal because of the quantity, which documents how prevalent the corruption/crimes are.
PROGRESSIVE: I agree with the points you raised, and would add one thing: How is it that a nation that casts itself as the premier paragon of freedom of the press, democracy etc. can have its alleged leaders publicly demanding the HEAD of a journalist without any pretense of intending a fair trial? How is that we've come so far that the ownership of media allows the mesmerizers to direct the public's attention towards he, the one who exposed the secrets (which is say, demanded the actual transparency that a genuine democracy requires), rather than towards a serious inquiry into the sinister nature of the acts themselves?
This massive, collective sleight of cognition (following the analogy of the magician's sleight of hand) is the really dangerous thing. And just as the right wing smear machine covers its poster girl's ass for her use of violence, bulls-eye to a specified target and all; this same group of natural-born fascists thinks little of demonizing the one who exposes the truth. The truth, itself, is of no concern to them... so long as their interests (uber: militarism and corporate control of increasing assets) continues on course.
It's amazing that the press is embedded to such a compromised degree, that few journalists call attention to the fact that seated representatives are demanding that justice, itself, be done away with. Rumor, calumny, and targeted smear campaigns are all the "evidence" this group of amoral misfits requires... as they carry on destroying lives, livelihoods, and the foundations upon which justice, itself, hinges!
"How is it that a nation that casts itself as the premier paragon of freedom of the press, democracy etc. can have its alleged leaders publicly demanding the HEAD of a journalist without any pretense of intending a fair trial?"
Because the mythology about the country is all a lie. That is becoming undeniable and people are struggling to come to terms with that.
The young Australian genius, Julian Assange, conceived of a special gift to Humankind by creating a system and method for whistle blowing about ALL social contract, by all citizens of the world. His mates should be stunned by what their guy achieved, and proud.
Julian did not think up Wiki-Leaks while shearing sheep and muttering to himself: "I HATE the United States of America and I'm going to devote my intelligence to taking their pants down in front of our species." He could have had a lucrative career that involved hard science, academe, engineering, Computer Bill-Gates-ism. But in stead he put his mind to the inescapable Human Condition of the ability of Power to corrupt and for absolute power to corrupt absolutely --- realizing that for this to happen largely involves SECRECY and committing heinous acts UNDETECTED.
Assange managed to find something that the best minds (Chomsky, Zinn, Moyers, Hedges, Goodman, Klein) could not: a way to geld and SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF POWER ELITES.
I'm stunned. It's nearly the social equivalent of E=MC squared.
Julian Assange is never going to be =put on trial=. Should he appear in ANY courtroom, anywhere on earth, what is truly going to happen is the convening of a Judgment by History of the Lilliputian assholes who put him in the dock. And my guess is that History is going to shit on them.
Trylon
And Mr. Assange, of course, knows this, and has taken measures to make sure that it can and will continue without him.
Excellent post, Trylon. Bravo!!
Trylon... Yours is one of the best comments ever put on the Web!
(But, for any real change to happen, we will have to act. The facts are now out there; however, the majority in the US are not impressed with facts. There was almost no reaction to Collateral Murder, which was broadcast on TV. Even those not on the Internet could have seen it - but there was no reaction.)
Right on, Trylon.
Would that more of the other fine minds in the world had this sense of morality.
I am not being pejorative to Wikileaks, but just wondering: I have not seen anything derogatory on Israel yet. You have to know something does not smell right about that, but maybe someone has information that I may have missed.
"israel meaning to keep gaza on the brink of economic collapse" was one of the leaked cables.
or maybe the zionist operatives knew better than jabbering in cables accessible to hundreds of thousands of nobodies.
"israel meaning to keep gaza on the brink of economic collapse" was one of the leaked cables.
or maybe the zionist operatives knew better than jabbering in cables accessible to hundreds of thousands of nobodies.
Nor have the press (except for Mark Weisbrot, www.cepr.net) chosen to write articles about our foreign policy adventures in Latin America -- interference in elections in Venezuela and the attempted 2002 coup against Hugo Chavez, for instance, and drug-running under Reagan to earn money to illegally support the Shah of Iran, the abduction of Haiti's President Aristide, the illegal removal of the president of Honduras and our tacit support of the illegal government that then took power, and any number of shameful acts.
These things have gone on for over half a century. There have to have been cables from such ambassadors as the ultra-right-wing John Negroponte.
That is not true, as others have pointed out the last few times this came up.
The truth is in the thousands of memos released by Wikileaks, unearth by the diligent journalists of our time, but too often it's overlooked because the stark reality of our world is too much to handle for most Americans. That the true horrors now revealed before us instead of making us outraged make us feel useless and powerless. The human psychology would rather just turn away and get lost in some manufactured bliss. Bad men will no longer have their way, when this is no longer an option.
With increasing bans, sanctions, legal tricks and criminal prosecution of Wikileaks, Assange and Manning, I for one worry that the oligarchy will somehow succeed in muzzling Wikileaks. I say release all the cables and let the chips fall where they may.
One has to ask oneself if Wikileaks' decision to ally itself to the "progressive" media was a mistake. Only Aftenposten now seems to be trawling the cables for stories - while the Guardian has disgracefully taken to attacking Assange and the whole project itself. Why? Presumably the professional journalists' desire to protect him or herself from outsiders doing the job better. Nick Davies openly admits that, for him, it was more important to have a scoop than to get the truth out to the rest of us. When journalists act under those priorities, they become part of the problem.
The other surprising insight that has come concerns the unholy alliance struck up between neocons and other right wing groups and certain feminists. Want to get a country bombed, invaded and occupied. Pretend it is about liberating their women and watch these feminists develop the most violently xenophobic and aggressive arguments available. Want to smear an embarrassing outsider who threatens to expose your embarrassing and discreditable adventures. Accuse him of sex crimes and watch the same women launch a remorseless avalanche of vitriol in his direction. Oh, and, even more usefully, they will be defending Sarah Palin et al from the charge of using violent language on the grounds that she is, after all, a woman, and so always the victim.
Yes, at this point I do believe that Wikileaks' decision to let the "progressive" media handle his cables was a mistake. (I'm glad you used those quotation marks, because the NYT is about as progressive as the pope.) Julian Assange may be brilliant, but I think he's naive, and in this deal with the devil (well analyzed by Israel Shamir on Counterpunch), he got "took," as they say on the street. The MSM's cherrypicking and distortion of some of the leaks' revelations, as we see even in the list presented in this article, serves for the most part to further the power elite's geopolitical and propagandistic agendas, to the point that some people even think Assange himself (wrongly, in my opinion) is part of a counter-intel op. And on top of all this, these dubious "allies" in the MSM will feed him to the wolves at the first opportunity. Julian has something of the sacrificial lamb about him, and I really hope it doesn't come to that. I think that his sometimes megalomaniac tendencies would be better served leading a worldwide uprising.
Pandora's box is open.
To be honest, I somewhat fear the day, though, that Assange tries for a "leadership of the uprising" position, as I think it would indicate a betrayal of his original impetus.
BRIAR: Have you noticed the way the marketeers used Obama to set up the pretext that racism was no longer an issue in America? Do you think the average, WELL-informed Black citizen feels that Obama is serving his interests?
A parallel argument can be made for feminism. Just because "Time Magazine" puts a nose-less lady on its front cover to lend the U.S. military a cloak of chivalry in allegedly fighting for HER interests, hardly means that WELL-informed feminists support such nonsense. True feminists do not support "military solutions."
And NO self-respecting feminist would support ANYTHING about Sarah Palin since she identifies with the born-again Christian movement, and its entire philosophy puts women into second-class roles (and status).
So I'd like to know which "feminists" you're quoting? It seems to me you've adopted the right wing memes and are spewing them in this forum.
I am a feminist, and I certainly see the judicial malfeasance being utilized to trump up sexual charges in order to silence (or worse) Julian Assange. I know of NO feminist who puts the allegations of those two women (with likely compromised agendas) before the larger dimensions of this case.
Let me see a link. Otherwise, you're using your post to demonize women/feminists without any grounds beyond the venom of your own dark heart.
Briar, what are you talking about? Seriously.
What 'feminists' are in league with the neocons? And what 'feminists' are supporting sarah palin, might i ask?
I found the CBS URL in the article---a far longer list of intrusions than in the article itself---most interesting because none of it surprised me! (Meanwhile, I have no doubt that the CBS list is essentially redacted...)
In the aggregate collective of information, we knew deep down that this shit has been going on for decades, but the stench of it made us breathe through our mouths or quietly take weekend vacations in Vermont.
Assange has just poured the shit on our heads and as we run for the showers we should not be surprised to find that they are gas chambers.
So just shut up and keep paying yore taxes. And consider that Hillary Clinton is highly admired by Amurkans. After all, she's out there Beating the bush in our interest, even as the bush is burning and she's trying to stomp it out. (Meanwhile, Ole Wild Bill Clinton lost about a third of his frontal lobe capacity after being put under general anesthetics for heart surgery. These days he's a congenial white-haired guy. If Hillary is getting shtumped these days, probably by Angela...)
Somewhere up there in the hills of Palestine is the 13th tablet. "None not already smitten shall appear before me." Otherwise, why bother?
This is why we pay taxes.
With apologies for mixing metaphors...
-30-
"..the receiving country might get a one-on-one meeting with Obama or some other perk."
should that read "jerk"?
In the aggregate collective of information, we knew deep down that this shit has been going on for decades, but the stench of it made us breathe through our mouths or quietly take weekend vacations in Vermont.--OleManRiver
***
yes, we know and have known all along.
it appears the collective so enjoys wallowing in our "reputation" as the knights in shining armor whose manifest destiny to bring freedom to all the world's citizens, the goal so purely altruistic we need not question the results from our actions. those who resist our leadership, our religion and philosophy force our military to engage in extreme measures. god led columbus to these shores and after much bloodshed made necessary by savage insurgents, gifted this continent to the europeans who dicovered this bounty. to question the means is to question the will of god. these crimes are washed away in the reflection of our good intentions.
the "good guys" have no need for self-improvement. we're the good guys and you can't improve on that!
Trylon you said "I'm stunned. It's nearly the social equivalent of E=MC squared." I agree, these leaks are the biggest thing to ever happen to begin to threaten the way things really work, they shine a white hot light in the depths of corruption, and this has shown us a shadow world where deception, colusion, immorallity, murder, torture,rape, theft, the outright contempt for international laws, and the outright perversion of Democracy" as its touted. The perverse has become the norm, it has gotten so bad that it is hardley recognized anymore, so deep have we become entrenched in the b.s. engulffing us, so entangled in the web of deciet that reaches into our homes via the t.v. and numbs our minds that when the truth shines we are stunned like a deer in the headlights, but lets not make the mistake of darting off into the bush, we have been presented with information that could if used properlly be the begining of a time where politicians are made to answer for there mallfeasance, a time where govts. are for the pepole and by the pepole, a time where honesty and integrity are looked upon as a decent thing to be admired and asspire towards....and then again, it isnt gonna happen, they are gonna bury Assange and Wikileaks with everything in there considerablle power, the whole govt. is corrupt period. Everyone in it knows it, especially now, but they dont want to fix it And this story will eventually go away, sure there will be more spectacular leaks, but it would take a storming of the White House to change the way things are now, and that aint ever gonna happen, they got the big guns, we are trully screwed, lets face it .. the only thing wikileaks is going to create in the long run is a govt that will be more carefull about covering its own dirty stinky ass in the future. But my hat is off and all respect to Mr.s Assange and Manning, they are carrying a torch in the darkest of times.
Across my career as a psychotherapist (& researcher) I used a =technique= during my initial interview with a client who was other-referred, rather than self-referred.
After exploring briefly the circumstances of the referred pt, I would say the following (sometimes while cleaning my pipe stem with a pipe cleaner): "If you think that I can help you succeed in getting a better mastery of your many, interrelated problems -- you are absolutely correct. But if you think that I cannot help you to gain a better mastery of your awful circumstances, you are also absolutely correct. Now, I need to visit the bathroom. Perhaps while I am gone you can think about this."
I would go shoot the shit with some unoccupied therp for five minutes, then return to see the results of my attitudinal cooking process. The vast majority of the time, I got a positive response from the individual to commit to the therapeutic process. Each session ended with a =homework= assignment, e.g. read chapters one and two of =Your Erroneous Zones".
My point is this. If =we= believe that the power held by the small percent of Plutocratic Human Beings - out of 7 billion - can defeat the remainder of us, that is true. But if we believe we can take the gift of Julian Assange, the system and method and techniques, and use it to re-negotiate Human Contract across the globe, and nip in the bud corruption by power, then WE CAN.
Trylon
Well, based upon the number of comments here, it seems that it doesn't....at least not as much as sistah sarah....at least as far as CDers are concerned.
This is the saddest commentary of all.
Ready - There are currently 5 articles about wikileaks on CD. That could explain the lack of cumments on this one.
Joe
Joe, thanks for pointing that out.....
rita