Does anyone with family/friends fighting in Afghanistan condone the wikileaks intelligence leak?

[apples and oranges]

Firstly, I am against this war. I want all the troops sent home. That being said, until that day comes, I have a cousin over there and I'm upset that wikileaks would release info that might put troops in danger. When did our thirst for knowledge become more important than the lives of others?

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. The only danger that Wiki brings is to the credibility of the whole

enterprise.

[VMI Dem]

2. I have many friends over there and I completely support the leak.

This war needs to end immediately.

[BootinUp]

3. Good question. nt

[JonLP24]

4. Friends

I condone the release. It is very important things like this don't get swept under the rug.

[Llewlladdwr]

5. I don't.

But you'll find a sizable contingent here on DU that could care less what happens to a US military member.

[bobbolink]

6. Yes, liberals are hard-hearted bastards.

:crazy:

[VMI Dem]

7. Perhaps the poster refers to the centrist Dem supporters of Obama's War?

[rasputin1952]

13. We have our share of veterans, more than any R site...

and we damn sure care when our military is sent off on some presidential juggernaut.

A lot more DUers have relatives and loved ones in the ME.

[Binka]

36. Indeed!

[w8liftinglady]

55. absolutely,sister-I remember then,when our boys were there...

:pals:

[Binka]

60. Hey You!

:hug:

[yellerpup]

14. Delete.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Llewlladdwr]

24. That often happens when one states a truth. NT

[moksha]

32. Can you point to the specifics of what was released that endanger

the troops?

[Bragi]

8. He/she volunteered, right?

I note that because I think it's relevant to your question.

The only thing that will make your cousin safe is to end this pointless war.

[Subdivisions]

9. '...would release info that might put troops in danger'

So, was you cousin in danger BEFORE the leaks? And, if so, why?

[sinkingfeeling]

10. Have read nothing that should harm the troops anymore than their current presence in the country.

[CJCRANE]

11. I'm waiting for the story behind the story.

Who released/stole the information?

What was their real motive?

I don't trust the MSM (and some Republicans) to suddenly be anti-war.

[bemildred]

12. Wikileaks released precisely that info that they do not think will put troops in danger.

It is only the government that wants to continue to lie to us that asserts that this info will endanger troops, without providing anything to support that assertion.

[BootinUp]

16. And yet they have only read a fraction of it

and don't necessarily have the expertise to know what will or will not do that.

[bemildred]

18. Who is they, and how do you know what "they" have and have not read?

Wikileaks says they went through it all and only published what they thought was not a danger to innocent people. It seems to me their word is as good as the Pentagon's, I KNOW the Pentagon lies.

[BootinUp]

20. .

However, the team at the website WikiLeaks has itself read only 1,000 to 2,000 of the documents, Assange said Monday.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/26/whats-in-the-wikileaks-documents/?hpt=T1

[bemildred]

26. Ah thanks. Here is some more of what Mr Assange had to say:

Afghanistan war logs: Wikileaks founder rebuts White House criticism

Assange rejected accusations that the leak had compromised America's national security. "We are familiar with groups whose abuse we expose attempting to criticise the messenger to distract from the power of the message," he said.

"We don't see any difference in the White House's response to this case to the other groups that we have exposed. We have tried hard to make sure that this material does not put innocents at harm. All the material is over seven months old so is of no current operational consequence, even though it may be of very significant investigative consequence."

Speaking at a press conference at the Frontline Club in central London, Assange said that the 90,000 leaked US military documents about the war in Afghanistan would help shape understanding of the past six years of fighting.

---

The White House national security adviser, General Jim Jones, stressed that the documents related to a period from January 2004 to December 2009, during the administration of President George Bush and before President Obama ordered a "surge" in Afghanistan.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4479330&mesg_id=4479330

[Solly Mack]

17. I do and I do.

SPIEGEL: The material contains military secrets and names of sources. By publishing it, aren't you endangering the lives of international troops and their informants in Afghanistan?

Assange: The Kabul files contain no information related to current troop movements. The source went through their own harm minimization process, and instructed us to conduct our usual review to make sure there was not a significant chance of innocents being negatively affected. We understand the importance of protecting confidential sources, and we understand why it is important to protect certain US and ISAF sources.

SPIEGEL: So what, specifically, did you do to minimize any possible harm?

Assange: We identified cases where there may be a reasonable chance of harm occurring to the innocent. Those records were identified and edited accordingly.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8817156

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. My son in law served 3 tours in Afghanistan. I applaud Wikileaks.

And, donate to them. And, hope they expose more facts about Obama's lost war.

[w8liftinglady]

you and me both.FINALLY,we'll get a glimpse of truth.

[JanusAscending]

21. I've got a grandaughter over there.

You can't possibly have the answer to this question, nor can anyone else. There are things happening "over there" as I speak , that I just happen to know because of my connection with her. I would suggest we all take a deep breath and WAIT AND SEE!! None of us are "fly's on the wall"!!!
Personally?? I want this fu..ing war to END!!

[w8liftinglady]

53. as a mom who's kid has been there-a cross-country hug,sister..you and me both!

[nosmokes]

22. You point me to how outing info that is already common knowledge hurts and

I'll try and rustle up some outrage. Maybe.

[WinkyDink]

23. The Afghans know more than American citizens do, given we just hear PROPAGANDA.

[BootinUp]

25. Give it up

most of the people spouting off are doing so out of extreme ignorance anyways.

[BonnieJW]

27. Nothing is as dangerous as the war.

If someone or thing doesn't stop it, think of all the men and women who will die?

[Binka]

29. Amen Sister. Amen. n/t

[BonnieJW]

28. Nothing is as dangerous as the war.

If someone or thing doesn't stop it, think of all the men and women who will die?

[moksha]

30. What information, exactly, puts our troops in greater danger?

How are their lives threatened by this information?

[Vinnie From Indy]

31. You wanna know what else might put troops in danger?

Creating wars based on lies and then perpetuating them for political and financial reasons. I find the posts about folks being "concerned" or "upset" with the Wikileaks documents to be astonishingly similar. It is as if there is some central Psyops command center flooding the net with these types of posts. One of the most striking similarities in these posts is the complete lack of reasoning behind the alleged concern and anger. There does not seem to be ANY explanation or even supposition about HOW this leak MIGHT endnager troops. The posts simply offer that the leak might put soldiers in danger so it should be denounced.

Lastly, I hope all DU'ers note the "hit & run" nature of the OP. This person merely wanted to post this and had NO intention of engaging in a debate or conversation.

[sendero]

64. +1000

... these leaks don't endanger anyone except the lying politicians and generals who claim there is some kind of victory to be gained in Afghanistan.

[Jackpine Radical]

33. Remember the secret war in Cambodia

when Nixon had classified the fact that we were bombing in places that we shouldn't be?

Think of the disasters that might have befallen our troops if the Cambodians had learned from a leak that they were being bombed.

[Vinnie From Indy]

43. Gee, one would think that the Cambodians would have asked themselves

what those things being dropped from the sky and exploding were all about without having to read a leaked document to figure it out.

[w8liftinglady]

50. Yes,My dad "wasn't" in Cambodia during Viet Nam,and "Wasn't"

listening to radio signals.That was a figment of my imagination.

[joeybee12]

34. Testing a meme, eh? n/t

[Bigmack]

35. I love the troops as much as anybody...

hell, I was one during an earlier clusterfuck. But. You gotta remember that the people who send our troops on a mission like this don't feel the same as we do about them.

They see them as numbers... pieces on some kind of chessboard... abstractions. How do I know this? Because they actually send them on these missions in the first place, and because they seem to maintain the distance between themselves and the dead with some sort of mental contortion.

Do you think Cheney actually cared about the people who died because of him?

So while we really do love our troops, the Powers That Be simply don't.

Anything.... anything.... that brings them home sooner is good.

If the troops themselves are unhappy about these leaks... well, you just have to remember that they're paying a high price of initiation into this war, so their loyalty will be to the war. WE need to be the ones who get them out.

[EFerrari]

37. One of the biggest bloqs in America against the Viet Nam war was the troops.

[Bigmack]

40. Psychological observation....

The higher the price of initiation, the greater the loyalty to the group. Marines are an example.

In Vietnam, draftees didn't have that loyalty, and then there was the fucked-up mission. If the cognitive dissonance gets great enough, loyalty goes out the window.

These guys have paid a huge price of initiation, but perhaps the fucked-up mission will turn them around.

[EFerrari]

41. Sure. I agree with you there. n/t

[TheCowsCameHome]

38. If the leaks open some eyes

and help end this useless, winless charade, it will have been worth it.

[Donnachaidh]

39. when did our thirst for oil become more important than the lives of others?

hmmmmm????

Sorry, but we're NOT there to bring democracy, we're there to protect business interests. THAT is never-ending, like this war. WikiLeaks may just be what is needed to stop this occupation. :shrug:

[w8liftinglady]

58. I agree...my Texas neighbors would be happy with an infinite war...

..that didn't involve THEIR kids,of course...send the poor brown and black kids,and the yankees.

[NNN0LHI]

42. Same ridiculous argument we got for the Abu Ghraib photos

You don't think the Afghans don't already know whats happening to them just as the Iraqis already knew what was going on at Abu Ghraib?

Believe me they already know whats happening to them.

Its the American people who don't know whats going on. Not the Afghans.

Geebuz.

Don

[dtexdem]

44. Too late: the Bushista screw up of Afghanistan already put them in danger.

That releasing info on the nature of the fuck ups might put troops in danger is an attempt at obfuscation.

[GoneOffShore]

45. To get a good perspective on this, listen to Amy Goodman

talking to Stephen Grey - the author of "Ghost Plane" and Daniel Ellsberg.

It would appear that the "leak" is knowledge that the Afghans have, but is being hidden from us.

And it's not a "thirst for knowledge". It's informing people who have a right to know -that would be you and me - about the true scale of American involvement.

http://www.democracynow.org/
http://www.stephengrey.com/

[Jefferson23]

46. With never ending war, this is the means that may bring them home sooner than later.

Wikileaks is not the one placing our troops in danger.

[elocs]

47. Is this going to be one of those DU topics where 1 point of view is sanctioned

and the other is bullied away? I am guessing that even on DU there is more than 1 legitimate point of view on this.

[Jefferson23]

52. Are you suggesting you're being bullied? I read different points of

view on here every day and I'm not aware that any one pov is sanctioned.

[elocs]

61. Never claimed I was being bullied, but it does happen.

Take a minority stance on an issue that is not held by the majority of DUers who regularly post and there is a good chance of being bullied into silence one way or another. It's not uncommon here.

[Fumesucker]

63. I find myself in the minority on several issues here..

And that's just the way online posting goes, it sometimes *feels* like you are being bullied but as a victim of actual bullying many years ago I can state that it's not the same thing at all.

The very worst attacks I've ever endured in nearly twenty years online were on a site that was dedicated to headphones and HiFi gear, I was called unfit to reproduce because of my opinion on HiFi gear.. Go figure.

[Th1onein]

65. You got that right.

It happens too frequently here.

[branders seine]

48. how does this put troops in danger?

do you think the Taliban don't already know what's in the leak?

I have family and friends in Afghanistan and friends in Iraq. I want MORE LEAKS like this. Leak this shit until the goddamned murdering shitheads in our government quit acting like Nazis and END these illegal, immoral occupations.

[IndianaGreen]

49. Anything that will bring the war to an end is good!

This story reveals all the lies we are being told about Afghanistan.

Let's bring our troops home!

[w8liftinglady]

51. If my son was over there right now,I might feel the same way

When he was in Iraq,it took a while before I was able to speak out against the war.eventually,the truth outweighed this.as I became more aware of lies and people getting rich as our troops suffered,I swore I would not rest until all our troops were home.I had the blessing of my dad,a lifer who had been in Viet Nam my whole childhood,just about.He said the war was crap,and we were destroying their homes,children and livelihoods for some coward's benefit.He was still pissed over the treatment of Viet Nam Vets,Persian Gulf Vets...and his grandson's shitty treatment by the military and VA medical services.Knowledge is critical.There are chicken hawks who don't mind sacrificing other peoples' kids for their own benefit.I'll keep your cousin in my thoughts...hopefully,he will make it home soon and safely..

[Jefferson23]

56. Excellent post. n/t

[Overseas]

54. Yes. //nt

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

57. "release info that might put troops in danger" Do we know that?

[Scuba]

59. I also support the leak... Anything that ends the war sooner will help the troops.

[Ahpook]

62. Did you earn a dime for this shit?

If not, you should have!

[H2O Man]

66. Strongly disagree.