Perhaps the worst thing to emerge from the release of thousands of classified documents on the war in Afghanistan by the execrable Julian Assange is the names of hundreds of Afghan citizens who have co-operated with the allied forces.
Tunku Varadarajan – most decidedly a non-word-mincer – rips Assange a new one. And even though this Assange vermin is a self-described anti-American and anti-capitalist gadfly, I tend to agree with Varadarajan that his motives are rooted in a pathological need for attention:
What does Assange want? Does he really want the free world to cringe under constant threat from al Qaeda? If we fail to defeat this threat, what does Assange think will happen? Do we have any sense that he cares? Or is it the case, frighteningly, that Assange doesn’t really “want” anything, in a programmatic, civilizational sense, and that these explosive episodes of “gotcha” leaks are an end in themselves, a personal moral terminus, a sort of self-righteous, self-congratulatory onanism?Sounds about right to me – although, at this stage, I’m not so much concerned with what Assange “wants” as with what he ultimately “gets”, which I hope will be something that comes under the heading of justice (however rough).
Hanging by his thumbs sounds, better, Paco.
ReplyDeleteThumbs? I have an even lower opinion of this guy.
ReplyDeleteAssange is another Australian export shaming us.
ReplyDeleteHis doctored video of US troops was a disgrace.
However, with the release of these current documents I wouldn't yet want to say he deliberately endangered people - He is probably in way over his head, for all the posturing.
I feel that his sources are as much or more to blame. Why were the names of informants all together on file anyway? Is the Pentagon unable or unwilling to maintain decentralized 'need to know' confidentiality? Or are the 'names' not reliable?
Also, all Americans have a right to know just how treacherous the Pakistanis are, and before these documents the message still wasn't getting through. Maybe frustration at that is what motivated the leaker.
Also, if Assange could get these names, then the Pakistani ISI perhaps could get them too. Maybe the ISI is Assange's source!
In a place as treacherous as Afghanistan brother spies on brother. Informants are motivated by self-interest. Risks are already factored in. I'm not worried - there seem to be no 'innocent' Afghanis, except in graves already.
In any case the US is going to learn a lot by following this paper trail. Americans have a right to know; and US Military-folk have a right to have Pentagon leaks secured (if that's what this is). I humbly submit it's helpful in the long run.
'Why are we there anyway?' The skills the US is learning in Afghanistan are transferable. Afghan veterans will be able to tackle Mexican border issues, should you choose to disengage from Asia.
Bruce: You're quite right about his sources; or source, rather. Bradley Manning is the guy, and he's currently in the jug.
ReplyDeleteI think it's Nihilism, pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteScratch where I say 'I'm not worried...' above and leave the rest of the sentence.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting quite frustrated at the Pentagon's reaction to this, as here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/29/AR2010072904900.html
Don't take anything Hamid Karzai says seriously, he's just working this up into a deflection and strategic advantage for himself.
If Adm Mullen's whinge is meant to keep up morale, alright. But if he's really unable to fix this then the Pentagon needs new staff.
How can we be certain there are no Russian or Pakistani Assanges out there?
I know, Bob.
ReplyDeleteBut it's a tough world out there.
Hey my password is 'soros'!
Creepy.
Assange doesn't give a damn what AQ does or doesn't do.
ReplyDeleteHe just wants to imagine himself as the guy with the power to make it possible.
It is possible this scumbag is more than simply a nacissistic nihilist. The defeat of the USA by militant Islamist jihadists is seen by many leftists as the great necessity. That old Commie terrorist Carlos the Jackal convderted to Islam in prison during the mid-1990s, because, as he said, only Islam remained as a force to fight against capitalism and the USA. Remember Blair's Law, that all the extremist ideologies remaining in the world are coalescing into a huge, supperating mass of moronicity. That's the reason for the Red-Brown-Green alliance, of lefists, fascists, and Islamists cooperating together against America and as antisemites. Assange's actions are consistent with a devotion to the hatred of America and of freedom characteristic of leftists allied with Islamofascists.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the narcissism and nihilism are there in his character, they are also characteristic of the contemporary left. But his action also makes sense as a strategic move for the Red-Brown-Green alliance.
Michael Lonie: Quite possible. Regardless of the ideology, for some people America will always be the Main Enemy.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he thought he'd get a hero's reward for being a courageous whistleblower? Private Manning too? They should have remembered that you're only a courageous whistleblower when Conservatives are in charge; you're a traitorous bastard when Democrats are in charge (this is true regardless of the importance or quality of your betrayal).
ReplyDelete(Why did a 22-year-old private have access to all this stuff, anyway?)
Well, I like the anthill idea. The Mythbusters had a nifty one when they verified the bamboo torture, too. Extreme prejudice the hard way.
Ralph Peters knows his stuff, and he knows South Asian (Afghan region) conditions.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nypost.com/columnists/ralphpeters
He has written there different contradictory things about this, but all show deep insight. Whatever I said above, I'll defer to him. He seems best placed to judge this issue.