Wikileaks, the whistle blower website, released 92,000 classified documents on July 25, and Julian Assange, founder of the Sweden-based nonprofit, defended the site’s decision to publish the material. The documents are about the war in Afghanistan between 2004 and 2010. They describe secret commando squads targeting al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders for assassination, tremendous civilian casualties, and military and government officials from Pakistan helping the Taliban, and allowing US and allied troops to be harmed.
Julian Assange spoke about Wikileaks, commented on his site’s decision in a video posted on YouTube by the Guardian. He said that the course of the war needed to change, and refused to name any one incident as the worst. He said the cumulative deaths and injuries were part of the “squalor of war.”
The White House condemned publication of the files in a July 25 statement.
“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,” said Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
“Wikileaks made no effort to contact us about these documents—the United States government learned from news organizations that these documents would be posted. These irresponsible leaks will not impact our ongoing commitment to deepen our partnerships with Afghanistan and Pakistan; to defeat our common enemies; and to support the aspirations of the Afghan and Pakistani people.”
In a July TED talk, Assange said it was a “worry that the rest of the world’s media are doing such a bad job,” if his small group of volunteers publish more classified material and secrets than they do. He said Wikileaks verifies information it gets, yet they rarely know who their sources are. If they learn the identity of a source, he said, the Wikileaks team destroys the information quickly.
“However illegally these documents came to light, they raise serious questions about the reality of America’s policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan,” said Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in a statement.
“Those policies are at a critical stage and these documents may very well underscore the stakes and make the calibrations needed to get the policy right more urgent,” he said. Kerry is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Articles on the Afghan documents were released simultaniously in the New York Times, the Guardian and Der Spiegel on Monday, July 26th.
