Perhaps the single most damming collection of data in a massive trove of secret documents from Afghanistan released by the website WikiLeaks is some 180 files that seem to show Pakistan's premiere intelligence service, the ISI, helping the Afghan insurgency attack American troops.
The United States provides more than a billion dollars to Pakistan each year for help in fighting terrorism, but the papers seem to link the ISI with major Afghan insurgent commanders; claim its representatives meet directly with the Taliban; accuse the agency of training suicide bombers; and indicts Pakistani intelligence officials on hatching up sensational ways to assassinate Afghan president Hamid Karzai and even poison the beer drunk by Americans in Afghanistan.
WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange said the documents are "legitimate," but he added that it is important not to take their contents at face value.
"We publish CIA reports all the time that are legitimate CIA reports. That doesn't mean the CIA is telling the truth," he said.
The people responsible for Wikileaks need to be arrested, and their website shut down permanently.
The people responsible for Wikileaks need to be arrested, and their website shut down permanently.
What is much more interesting is the revelation that US aircraft have been shot down with heat seeker rockets.
This shouldn't be surprising at all. That practice was commonplace during the Soviet experience.
The people responsible for Wikileaks need to be arrested, and their website shut down permanently.
This shouldn't be surprising at all. That practice was commonplace during the Soviet experience.
why? did the release threaten national security?
The website is based in Sweden, the founder of wikileaks is not American.
Treason - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaHowever, Congress has, at times, passed statutes creating related offenses that undermine the government or the national security, such as sedition in the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts, or espionage and sedition in the 1917 Espionage Act, which do not require the testimony of two witnesses and have a much broader definition than Article Three treason. For example, some well-known spies have been convicted of espionage rather than treason.
The Constitution does not itself create the offense; it only restricts the definition (the first paragraph), permits Congress to create the offense, and restricts any punishment for treason to only the convicted (the second paragraph). The crime is prohibited by legislation passed by Congress. Therefore the United States Code at 18 U.S.C. § 2381 states "whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States." The requirement of testimony of two witnesses was inherited from the British Treason Act 1695 (Since 1945, however, this has been abolished in British law and treason cases are now subject to the same rules of evidence and procedure as a murder trial, but the US requirement still stands barring an amendment).
We literally gave them the weapons to do it.
If Pakistan is in fact actively working against the U.S. and Karazi, it is a serious blow to our war aims. We already are struggling to stabilize the nation as is, and we have tens of thousands of American soldiers in place. Karazi is going to have to accomplish that alone, and with Pakistan supporting his foes.
The other question is whether to continue funding Pakistan. While it may seem natural to cut-off the funding, that may not be the best move. Pakistan's government is not united, and different factions are in conflict. It is possible that the group that is supporting insurgents is separate from the group that we are giving the money to. If that is the case, pulling the money would make the situation worse. In any case, it would be worth reviewing exactly where the money we give them ends up.
Ahh good to know you are against free speech and all that wiz bang..
You do know that all the material released had only Top Secret classification right? The lowest secret classification there is...
Ahh good to know you are against free speech and all that wiz bang..
You do know that all the material released had only Top Secret classification right? The lowest secret classification there is...
What has he released specifically that is a threat to security? Don't generalize.
What has he released specifically that is a threat to security? Don't generalize.
Once again you are wrong Pete.
Altough the documents are at the "SECRET" level, they are still Classified information. Who is this putz to decide to release them?
The damage is not yet known fully, however they could put American lives at risk.
Good article here:
Pentagon review of WikiLeaks documents may take weeks - The West Australian
j-mac
Well the difference is that the US gave the Afghans those rockets... who are they getting them from now... that is a very good question.
the "putz" is the same kind of patriot who exposed the pentagon papers during the vietnam war
someone who recognizes that embarrassing information - such as the numerous unreported instances of collateral damage, some of it potentially intentional - deserves to be disclosed and dealt with rather than hidden via top security label
someone who believes the country is by, for and of the people ... who need to know the misguided actions of its leadership
the party on this thread who is wrong is one who believes a swede is committing treason against the USA by publishing this information via wikileaks
even tho that forumite posted the definition of treason, they were unable to recognize that a swede has no allegiance to the USA, and thus cannot be sanctioned for treasonous activities
Hmmmm....I see. And if and when this information released is tied back to the death of some American troops, will he still be a patriot?
No, releasing classified data isn't dangerous at all to national security...
No...
(that's sarcasm for those of you in Rio Linda)
And to Answer PeteEU...
IT'S NOT THE RIGHT OR PLACE OF THE ****BAG THAT OWNS Wikileaks TO RELEASE INFORMATION. Those that provided the data, should be tried for Treason, and then shot.
Just to clarify, the info is secret not top secret. Also, there are lots of documents so we might have to wait to see what else shows up.(CNN) -- CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson analyzes the fallout from the publication of tens of thousands of U.S. military and diplomatic reports about Afghanistan by whistleblower website WikiLeaks.
Q: What do these documents tell us about the war in Afghanistan?
A: It's more detail than we've ever seen before about the war. The newspapers -- the New York Times, the Guardian in the UK and others -- have had access to the documents for several weeks and have had the chance to do the most digging.
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