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Wikileaks Puts Afghan Informants In Danger

10:51 am EST July 28th, 2010 | Media | 22 Comments

Hundreds of Afghan civilians who worked as informants for the U.S. military have been put at risk by WikiLeaks’ publication of more than 90,000 classified intelligence reports which name and in many cases locate the individuals, The Times newspaper reported Wednesday.

The article says, in spite of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s claim that sensitive information had been removed from the leaked documents, that reporters scanning the reports for just a couple hours found hundreds of Afghan names mentioned as aiding the U.S.-led war effort.

Topic: Afghanistan, Wikileaks

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22 Responses to “Wikileaks Puts Afghan Informants In Danger”

TheExpatriate700 says:

July 28, 2010 at 11:51 am

As unfortunate as that is, I do not think it challenges the legitimacy of what Wikileaks has done. The fact is, our political and journalistic safeguards regarding this war have broken down. The politicians kowtow to the military, and the journalists are embedded. I think it will take extreme actions like this to get the public’s attention and make them face facts: The war is a slow moving disaster.
SpiderJ says:

July 28, 2010 at 12:30 pm

As unfortunate as that is

Boy, is this a fantastic phrase. Sorry that your cooperation with us has led to your targeting for death, but now I can make some political points about the war.
Frank DiSalle says:

July 28, 2010 at 12:52 pm

Why is that “revealing the facts” always indicates that the war is a “disaster”?
Isn’t it just possible that certain things that take place in war must be classified :
Troop locations
Intelligence informants
Weapons movements
Support locations
and, of course,
when investigations are taking place, they must be kept secret until they are completed.
“Top Secret” does not equal “Cover Up”
Liberal Avenger says:

July 28, 2010 at 12:54 pm

What a bunch of crap! The United States is supposed to be a free and open society. The government shouldn’t keep any secrets from its people – not one. PERIOD! If our military wasn’t dirty as hell and didn’t use barbaric tactics, there wouldn’t be any need for secrecy!
TheExpatriate700 says:

July 28, 2010 at 1:33 pm

Sorry to break it to you folks, but that is what generally happens to collaborators in war. The French Resistance frequently murdered people they believed to be cooperating with the Germans. Similarly, American patriots during the Revolution terrorized Loyalists to Great Britain.

Furthermore, I think the ultimate imperative in this situation is to undermine the occupation of Afghanistan. It ceased to be about 9 / 11 and al-Qaeda years ago, and now is just a cynical exercise in regional hegemony.
Repack Rider says:

July 28, 2010 at 2:47 pm

Truth is the first casualty of war.
Oliver Willis says:

July 28, 2010 at 3:00 pm

The government shouldn’t keep any secrets from its people – not one. PERIOD!
Would you like ponies with those rainbows?
Rheinhard says:

July 28, 2010 at 3:02 pm

This isn’t something where one should apply a “they did it first so it’s OK” type rational as in gotcha politics, but conservatives have little room to whine about this kind of thing considering the extent to which most of them laughed off the endangerment of the undercover operatives in the Brewster Jennings CIA front company explicitly exposed by Robert “Douchebag of Liberty” Novak in the Valerie Plame affair. (And before we get the usual suspects chiming in that Plame was “just a desk jockey”, etc., I’m talking explicitly here about the OTHER operatives in Brewster Jennings, which Novak mentioned BY NAME in his reports…)
Frank DiSalle says:

July 28, 2010 at 4:01 pm

This isn’t something where one should apply a “they did it first so it’s OK” type rational as in gotcha politics…
Yeah, so?
Zython says:

July 28, 2010 at 4:31 pm

Why is that “revealing the facts” always indicates that the war is a “disaster”?

Well, according to Occam’s razor, that would be because the war is a disaster.

The thing that pisses me off the most is that Pakistan is funding the Taliban, and we still keep giving them money. We need to give them an ultimatum. Either they stop this crap, or that money goes to India.

I know, it’s not that simple, but a guy can dream, right?
Frank DiSalle says:

July 28, 2010 at 6:55 pm

Zython, you are missing the point. Occam and his razor have nothing to do with it.
There were over 90,000 pages of released data, that somehow boils down to “war bad – must stop.” That’s analysis?

I know, it’s not that simple, but a guy can dream, right?
You can always apply for a dreamer’s position with the current administration – they are always looking for more.
strangefriend says:

July 28, 2010 at 11:34 pm

This has become a wingnut talking point, & it isn’t true. Posters at Daily Kos made this accusation on a diary that was about wikileaks, but weasel pointed out he checked the example the Times quoted, & found it just wasn’t true.
And ‘The Times” being refered to isn’t the New York Times, but the Times of London.
Johnny Pez says:

July 28, 2010 at 11:49 pm

Hey, The Times quotes “a senior official at the Afghan foreign ministry” and “One former intelligence official”, so obviously this must be a real concern and not something ginned up by the administration to distract attention from an unpopular, unwinnable war.
Jaim says:

July 28, 2010 at 11:52 pm

Riiight Oliver. And the failed US policy in Afghanistan itself has never gotten any civilians killed.

And if I was an Afhan working with the US, I’d be far more worried about the revelation that Pakistan, with US funding, is working hand-in-hand with the Taliban.

What a lame-ass attempt at push-back.
Allen says:

July 29, 2010 at 9:52 am

Good for Wikileaks. Screw Afghanistan.
Allen says:

July 29, 2010 at 9:59 am

Wikileaks are ruining our opportunity to remake Afghanistan in Our Image. LOL
Liberal Avenger says:

July 29, 2010 at 10:06 am

Call me a dreamer, Willis, but I am the one defending the principles this country was founded on. Apologists for the military-industrial complex and defenders of the veil of secrecy called “national security” that the Pentagon draws over everything to hide their misdeeds, are not the patriots! In fact, you are the antithesis of a patriot by condoning and supporting this anti-American bullshit!
Kevin says:

July 29, 2010 at 3:54 pm

I suppose that Daniel Ellsberg should have been strung up as well.
Deepak says:

July 29, 2010 at 6:30 pm

It takes about 30 seconds to find this information online:

“The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of News International. News International is entirely owned by the News Corporation group, headed by Rupert Murdoch.” (Wikipedia).

Seriously, Oliver. You can’t quote Murdoch when its convenient. Besides, I don’t understand your fascination with invading and occupying a foreign land. Didn’t Thomas Jefferson say something about how America should not get entangled in foreign alliances …
Jaim says:

July 29, 2010 at 11:43 pm

Oliver? Response please?
Johnny Pez says:

July 30, 2010 at 7:00 am

Didn’t Thomas Jefferson say something about how America should not get entangled in foreign alliances …

Well, it was George Washington, and what he actually said was, “We have to fight the terrorists over there so we don’t have to fight them over here.” Or at least, that’s the modern interpretation.
william says:

July 31, 2010 at 7:00 pm

Difficult to understand why those names could not have been redacted, I love Wikileaks for being the only organization with any balls whatsoever, but endangering informants seems like something to be avoided regardless on how someone feels about the conflict.