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Aside from Collateral Murder, what shocking revelations have come to light as a result of the leaks? Not saying they don't exist, but speculating perhaps some o
by knowaveragejoe 14y ago
Aside from Collateral Murder, what shocking revelations have come to light as a result of the leaks? Not saying they don't exist, but speculating perhaps some of the 'revelations' weren't so shocking or were even publicly known.
- tptacek 14y agoCollateral Murder was not a shocking revelation. The Washington Post ran a transcript of that video, scene for scene, a year before the video was released. The video only shocked people who don't read.
- s_henry_paulson 14y agoSurely you don't believe that everyone reads the Washington Post?
- tptacek 14y agoThe Washington Post reported an event in excruciating detail, but its later disclosure by Wikileaks is a "revelation" because nobody reads the news?
- grandalf 14y agoDo you have a link to the original story? A lot depends on how something is framed.
- tptacek 14y agoHere's one: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/14/AR2009091403262.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09... It was very annoying to go track this down.
- tomjen3 14y agoThere is a difference between reading a description of a video and seeing it.
- grandalf 14y agoSome that I think are most significant: - The complicity of US forces in turning over captive Baathists to the provisional Iraqi officials for nearly certain torture. - The revelation that information was classified only to prevent bad news from getting out about the progress of the war effort. This counts as propagandizing the American people. - Lying about civilian death tolls. - ISI complicity with the Taliban.
- knowaveragejoe 14y agoThank you for actually providing examples. However, I can't help but feel that: * Preventing bad news from getting out about the progress of the war effort is to be expected of any military. * Lying about civilian death tolls is to be expected of any military. * ISI complicity with the Taliban has been speculated for a long time, even before the leaks. Seeing as the religious element of Pakistan sympathizes greatly(read: completely) with their cause, it makes complete sense that it runs high up the chain of command. IMO the only reason they keep up the facade of alliance is because of our money(and, of course, the decently sized Pakistani diaspora who see the fallacy of the fanaticism in their homeland). The first issue you mentioned seems to be the only true revelation to me, shocking or not.
- grandalf 14y agoThings "expected of any military" might actually be crimes. It is against the law for the US Government to propagandize the American people. At present, a few hawkish members of congress are trying to overturn those laws, and clearly both major parties support overturning them in spirit. It's reasonable for a US citizen to support the wars if he/she feels that overall they are the right thing to do. But it's an insult to our democratic process to hide the bad news and then turn supporters into dupes who cheer on the team without having a clue about what is actually going on.
- knowaveragejoe 14y ago> Things "expected of any military" might actually be crimes. Good point, and that's absolutely the case. The question then to me is would anyone be shocked when those things happen anyways regardless of the law? Even if there was an uproar at such revelations, would anyone be held accountable for them? My answer is "no" and "likely not" respectively.