I'm kinda on the fence when it comes to WikiLeaks. Whaddya think?[quote]Whistleblower website WikiLeaks has published what it says are about 76,000 Unit..."/>
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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
WikiLeaks strikes again
Monday, July 26, 2010 6:33 AM
NIKI2
Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...
Quote:Whistleblower website WikiLeaks has published what it says are about 76,000 United States military and diplomatic reports about Afghanistan filed between 2004 and January of this year. The firsthand accounts are the military's own raw data on the war, including numbers killed, casualties, threat reports and the like, according to Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks.org, which published the material Sunday. On Monday Assange said the leaked reports from Afghanistan appear to contain "evidence of war crimes." "This material does not leave anyone smelling like roses, especially the Taliban," he said, also implying that some U.S. troops had behaved improperly. CNN has not independently confirmed the authenticity of the documents. The Department of Defense will not comment on them until the Pentagon has had a chance to look at them, a Defense official told CNN. White House National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones, who was among those offering reaction to the large document document, issued a statement Sunday calling the documents' release "irresponsible." "The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk and threaten our national security," the statement said. There's a whole lot of information in the documents and we're digging through them with you to get a sense of what's in them, what new information we're learning about the war in Afghanistan, and what the big takeaways are that you need to know about. What are we learning from the documents? WikiLeaks released the documents to The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel before any other media outlets, and they had a chance to look ahead of time. Each news organization concentrated on different angles, but here are some highlights: THE GUARDIAN The Guardian put together an interactive map using data from the WikiLeaks documents to show and detail what it deemed were several significant events from the logs for users to examine in greater detail. The paper also dug into many other issues the WikiLeaks material offered information about including: On Osama Bin Laden: The Guardian examined documents that allegedly link bin Laden to several incidents between 2004 and 2009. Examples: – Osama Bin Laden reported to have issued orders to suicide bombers in Afghanistan – Afghanistan war logs: Bin Laden instigates suicide attack against Afghan President Hamid Karzai, according to U.S. report On civilian casualties: Many of the documents deal with civilian casualties, whether from air strikes, at roadblocks or in other circumstances. Example: –Special forces wound two, kill six, including young girl, plus donkey and chickens On Pakistan ties: Several documents that The Guardian highlights indicate the fingerprints of Pakistan's ISI spy agency on some Taliban activity. Example: –Pakistan's spies accused of arming Taliban ally with motorbikes for suicide attacks
Monday, July 26, 2010 7:01 AM
PIZMOBEACH
... fully loaded, safety off...
Monday, July 26, 2010 8:09 AM
KWICKO
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)
Quote:Originally posted by pizmobeach: I don't trust him or his motives but I only know WL from the helicopter gunship video and this. Just dumping all of this data seems like lazy journalism though. "You guys figure it all out while I do interviews." If you want to say something based on what you were given then make the case. If you want real journalists to make the points, then give it to them and stay off the tube.
Monday, July 26, 2010 8:26 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Kwicko: Quote:Originally posted by pizmobeach: I don't trust him or his motives but I only know WL from the helicopter gunship video and this. Just dumping all of this data seems like lazy journalism though. "You guys figure it all out while I do interviews." If you want to say something based on what you were given then make the case. If you want real journalists to make the points, then give it to them and stay off the tube. Actually, I PREFER they just dump the raw data. That way, we're not getting some news org's agenda or message; we're just getting the data, and we have to decide for ourselves what it means. Someone was comparing this data dump to the Pentagon Papers, which doesn't sound far off the mark to me. It's been postulated for a while now that if we really KNEW what the fuck was going on, we wouldn't be so quick to cheerlead our soldiers into war. So more info is good, if you ask me. The biggest problem anyone had with that helicopter video on WL wasn't that it was inflammatory or inaccurate; it was that it was too REAL. That's the real and ugly face of war, and most people don't want to see it, don't want to be reminded of it, don't want it thrust into their living rooms and their faces at dinnertime. It tends to be a real buzz-kill. And it fucking well should be. War is hell. It's not pretty, and it's not clean and clinical. There's no such thing as a "surgical strike" - just strikes that require lots and lots of surgeries to try to put the victims back together.
Monday, July 26, 2010 8:37 AM
STORYMARK
Quote:Originally posted by pizmobeach: I must be out of touch because it seems like your point about the helicopter footage, aren't we beyond that by now? Doesn't everyone know that war is FUCKING HELL since Vietnam and Deer Hunter ad infinitum?
Monday, July 26, 2010 8:41 AM
Monday, July 26, 2010 8:50 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Storymark: Quote:Originally posted by pizmobeach: I must be out of touch because it seems like your point about the helicopter footage, aren't we beyond that by now? Doesn't everyone know that war is FUCKING HELL since Vietnam and Deer Hunter ad infinitum? Seems a silly question, really. There are lots of things people know. That doesn't mean they actually think about it. Sometimes you have to put it in their face and force them to.
Monday, July 26, 2010 8:54 AM
ANTHONYT
Freedom is Important because People are Important
Monday, July 26, 2010 9:22 AM
MAL4PREZ
Quote:Originally posted by Niki2: But as to dumping raw data...and leaving video footage out of it...how do we know it's "raw data" from any source? Has it been backed up by reliable sources, or is it just someone's opinion or made up to back up someone's opinion? Do we know if it's been checked out, or just thrown out there willy nilly? That's something I wonder about.
AURAPTOR
America loves a winner!
Monday, July 26, 2010 10:28 AM
SIGNYM
I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.
Monday, July 26, 2010 3:26 PM
GEEZER
Keep the Shiny side up
Quote:Originally posted by mal4prez: Wikileaks is not just one anti-war guy looking for fame, as I saw it portrayed yesterday by some of the MSM. It's actually a whole cadre of anonymous people who really know their shit, both legally and politically. They are not anti-war; they are pro-transparency. They are not anti-America. In fact, I believe they were first set up with China in mind.
Monday, July 26, 2010 3:31 PM
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Rip open the inner workings. Don't care if you call it transparency, sunshine, or treason... if government can't tell you what it's doing then it doesn't deserve to be doing it. Don't forget Rappy- they're supposed to be working for us, not the other way around. The only good democracy is INFORMED democracy.
Monday, July 26, 2010 3:45 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Geezer: Quote:Originally posted by mal4prez: Wikileaks is not just one anti-war guy looking for fame, as I saw it portrayed yesterday by some of the MSM. It's actually a whole cadre of anonymous people who really know their shit, both legally and politically. They are not anti-war; they are pro-transparency. They are not anti-America. In fact, I believe they were first set up with China in mind. Go to their site and look at the list of recent analyses. There are maybe 5 out of more than 400 that reference China. One references Russia. Try searching for Burma, Myanmar, Somalia, Iran, or any other world trouble spot. Then look at the number that reference the US or US agencies. "Keep the Shiny side up"
Monday, July 26, 2010 3:50 PM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: All brave and noble are those who want to uncover all the bad stuff WE'RE allegedly doing, but there's 2 sides to the story, always. And yet, these do gooders ? Seem to only want to pull back the curtain on half the stage. Wonder why that is.....
Monday, July 26, 2010 4:17 PM
Monday, July 26, 2010 7:25 PM
Quote:Yeah? And who exposes the workings of al Qaeda? N.Korea ? Iran ? China ? All brave and noble are those who want to uncover all the bad stuff WE'RE allegedly doing, but there's 2 sides to the story, always. And yet, these do gooders ? Seem to only want to pull back the curtain on half the stage. Wonder why that is.....
Quote:Oh yeah... if WE do right, then the enemies who want to destroy us and take down our way of life.... they'll have a come to Allah moment? Start seein' us as just regular folk, and not try to blow us up or cause any harm, huh?
Monday, July 26, 2010 9:09 PM
Monday, July 26, 2010 9:45 PM
DMAANLILEILTT
Monday, July 26, 2010 11:40 PM
CATPIRATE
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 1:49 AM
KANEMAN
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 5:36 AM
BYTEMITE
Quote:On Pakistan ties: Several documents that The Guardian highlights indicate the fingerprints of Pakistan's ISI spy agency on some Taliban activity. Example: –Pakistan's spies accused of arming Taliban ally with motorbikes for suicide attacks
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 7:29 AM
Quote:Originally posted by SignyM: Quote:Yeah? And who exposes the workings of al Qaeda? N.Korea ? Iran ? China ? All brave and noble are those who want to uncover all the bad stuff WE'RE allegedly doing, but there's 2 sides to the story, always. And yet, these do gooders ? Seem to only want to pull back the curtain on half the stage. Wonder why that is..... Because its OUR government, goofus. Yeah, I'd like sunshine all around the world. But I don't have any say in "all around the world". Ijit. Quote:Oh yeah... if WE do right, then the enemies who want to destroy us and take down our way of life.... they'll have a come to Allah moment? Start seein' us as just regular folk, and not try to blow us up or cause any harm, huh? No. That's what self-defense it all about. Double ijit.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 7:31 AM
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 7:32 AM
Quote:Originally posted by CatPirate: Nobody likes a rat.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 7:38 AM
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 7:46 AM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: Oh yeah... if WE do right, then the enemies who want to destroy us and take down our way of life.... they'll have a come to Allah moment? Start seein' us as just regular folk, and not try to blow us up or cause any harm, huh?
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 11:12 AM
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 11:47 AM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: We helped kick the Soviets out of Afghanistan back in the 80's. We sided w/ the Muslims in Kosovo in the 90's. And what'd we get for our deeds ? USS Cole. Khobar Towers E.Africa Embassy bombings 9/11 Spare me the " do gooder " b.s. Some savages only know / respond to 1 thing. Gettin' killed.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010 12:22 PM
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