WikiLeaks is an organization that allows whistle blowers and other anonymous sources to publish documents that are otherwise not easily available to the public.
The Sunshine Press publishes its website. WikiLeaks has been in existence since 2006.
The website has won awards in the past such as the Amnesty International's UK Media Award and the Economist Magazine's New Media Award.
In July 2010, WikiLeaks published the Afghan War Diary, a compilation of more than 90,000 documents (of which about 70,000 were published) that were a collection of internal U.S military logs that were classified as "secret."
This leak is said to be one of the biggest U.S. Military leaks in history. The leaks talk about how U.S soldiers killed civilians in Afghanistan and how Pakistan and Iran are helping the insurgents in that country. The Guardian called the leaked material "one of the biggest leaks in U.S. military history ... a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and NATO commanders fear neighboring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency."
The people in charge of WikiLeaks say they do not know who leaked the secret documents. Wikileaks’ editor, Julian Assange, said "it is the most comprehensive history of a war ever to be published, during the course of the war." According to the Associated Press, The White House, Britain and Pakistan have all condemned the documents' release. US Army officials and the White House urged the website to not publish any more classified documents related to the Afghan war.
Robert Gates, the U.S. Defense Secretary, said that it is up to the Justice Department to determine if there would be criminal charges in the release of classified military documents by WikiLeaks. He also said the website was "morally guilty for putting lives at risk.” On August 6 of this year, U.S. military authorities urged the organization to return the already published 70,000 documents, and the other 15,000 records the website was expected to post soon as well. National Security Advisor General James Jones said “ the action could put lives at risk and threaten national security.”
In my opinion, WikiLeaks should not have to return the documents or stop publication of the information. According to the U.S. Espionage Act of 1917 nobody is allowed to force anybody to leak information "with intent or reason to believe that the information to be obtained is to be used to the injury of the United States." However, WikiLeaks did not force anybody to leak the information. Somebody voluntarily leaked the documents. That is legal. Of course the government does not want the remaining information published because it makes it look bad. If U.S soldiers are indeed killing innocent civilians in foreign countries I think Americans have a right to know. Also, these leaked documents in my opinion will not put the lives of Americans in danger. If anything, the government should monitor what the soldiers are doing so they ensure there isn't any wrong doing on their part that would anger more terrorists to plan attacks. What do you all think?
2 comments:
The government continues to say that these documents have put American troops and Afghanistan troops and civilians in harms way. Is your position that even if someone is harmed or killed because of these documents as long as Americans know about it, no problem?
No, if people are indeed killed because of these documents then no, I will change my position. If these documents cause people to die then I will certainly not stand for it.
But so far, a lot of people have been harmed because no one knows what is going on. It reminds me of what happened in Guantanamo Bay. No one knew it was happening, but once people found out actions were taken.
These are papers that have leaked the truth. Similar to the Pentagon Papers case and of course the government is claiming it is doing nothing but harm. Honestly, if innocent people continue to be killed it will only anger more terrorists and that will cause more harm than anything else.
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