Is Wikileaks growing up?

Posted By Blake Hounshell Sunday, July 25, 2010 - 9:00 PM Share

Wikileaks, the controversial website that on Sunday published more than 91,000 U.S. military documents related to the war in Afghanistan, has come under fire for its methods, its obvious agenda, and its willingness to publish seemingly anything it can get its digital paws on.

But one prominent advocate of government openness who has previously been critical of Wikileaks sees the organization as behaving more responsibly with its latest document dump. This time, Wikileaks gave three reputable news outlets weeks to review, verify, and contextualize the documents, and says it is withholding (for now) about 15,000 reports "as part of a harm minimization process demanded by our source."

"After further review, these reports will be released, with occasional redactions, and eventually, in full, as the security situation in Afghanistan permits," the site says.

Steven Aftergood, who publishes the blog Secrecy News for the Federation of American Scientists, ripped the organization last month, writing, "In fact, WikiLeaks must be counted among the enemies of open society because it does not respect the rule of law nor does it honor the rights of individuals."

I asked him tonight if he'd like to extend those remarks, and he declined. He did say that he thought the organization has changed, however.

"I think I detect some wholesome changes in the way Wikileaks does business," Aftergood emailed. "My concerns about the project have revolved mainly around the fact that it allowed itself to be used for what seemed to be vendettas against private groups (Mormons, Scientologists, Masons, etc), and that it was indifferent to competing values such as privacy and security that would argue against disclosure."

"But the latest dump deals with a perfectly newsworthy topic and -- judging from my initial glances at the news coverage -- Wikileaks itself has acknowledged the necessity of withholding certain portions of the documents that might endanger individuals who are named in them. If so, that is commendable."

"I also appreciate the fact that Wikileaks has provided the documents to others for independent assessment and reporting and has mostly refrained from heavy-handed propagandizing about them (along the lines of 'collateral murder')." [Note: "Collateral Murder" was Wikileaks' name for a video it posted purporting to show U.S. airmen negligently killing Iraqi civilians.]

"Wikileaks is not the solution to our secrecy problem -- that requires a change in our own policy -- but I think it can serve a useful purpose as long as it exercises a modicum of editorial responsibility."

EXPLORE:AFGHANISTAN, MEDIA
 

JACKOATMON

9:44 PM ET

July 25, 2010

Shoddy copy likely means shoddy research

The lede contains an obvious rookie grammatical error. I will therefore not read the rest of the article or take this author's work seriously in the future.

 

DIRK

12:15 AM ET

July 26, 2010

To boldly flounce

I take it you've never watched Star Trek.

 

ZINDIQ

11:54 AM ET

July 26, 2010

And you demonstrate

Why both you and your criticism should not be taken even remotely seriously.

 

LIYUPIN

10:30 AM ET

July 26, 2010

wwwthis website is very

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ARISTARCHUS

11:43 AM ET

July 26, 2010

WikiLeaks Documents

With respect, what I have to say is profoundly more important than what is in the “WikiLeaks Documents”.

Those documents merely highlight the mess in which the US Government finds itself. The disaster which G. W. Bush—Dour Leader—got the US, American people and cost the lives of perhaps a million people. Created millions of refugees, destroyed vast amounts of property, and bankrupted the United States.

The thing the documents do not show, and people do not understand, is the cause of the terrorism that started all of this. Something I told G. H. W. Bush in 1991. For a few minutes it appeared he understood and would take action that would have prevented modern, international terrorism.

But, like his son he was ignorant of history and the laws of nature. And lacked the “political courage” to take the necessary action.

What causes terrorist acts anywhere at any time is when individuals feel they have totally lost control over the course of their life. This has lasted for some time, and they believe there is no chance this will change. In this specific case, it is Palestinians, who for 40 years have been locked into the world’s largest, most infamous concentration camp.

But it is also true of the American, Chinese, German, Swedish person who goes into a school, shopping mall, workplace and starts shooting at people.

No one will do this who feels they are in complete control of their life and destiny, and this is becoming continuously better.

But when for 40 years you have not had an effective school or healthcare system. No entertainment, job or shopping. Can not travel even a few miles outside the concentration camp. There is abject poverty. Ancestral lands confiscated. In the early days it seems like outsiders might listen and help you. But for decades you have known this is not true. No one listens, no one cares. The line between moral and immoral, rational and irrational blurs and disappears. Your own life has no meaning for you, so the life of others does not have meaning.

You will do anything to attract attention and possible help. When that does not work, it is better to die trying to get your message out. And it makes no difference if “innocent” people die also.

I told Bush that he needed to tell Israel to restore the 1967 borders. Britain, France and the US to apologize for 900 years (from the Crusades of 1090) of interference in the Arab, Muslim and Persian worlds. To withdraw all foreign forces from Arab and Muslim lands.

Has this been done in 1991 there would have been no 9-11 and the events that followed. Yes, there might have been internal fighting in Afghanistan, Pakistan and possibly elsewhere. But they would have no reason to blame the Americans and British for their problems. And to waste resources on targets thousands of mile away. This could have even been done in the days after 9-11 and had the same effect. Rather than launching a terrorist action that kick-started modern, exported terrorism.

At the end of the Russian-Afghan War we had friends in Afghanistan. One was Osama bin Laden. If an American ruler had told him he intended to make Israel restore the 1967 borders. That we would no longer interfere in the Arab and Muslim world. Millions of lives would have been saved, and refugees not created. The US might not be bankrupt now, along with the rest of the world.

People—such as the Americans—need to be left alone to solve their problems. To not inflict their lack of knowledge on others. Controlling their lives and property.

The problems of the Middle East will never be solved until this is understood. Problem is, terrorism now has a life of its own. But this is the only way to begin and viable solution, permanent solution.

I lived and worked in the Middle East for about 15 years. Know many Arabs and Persians, including a few leaders. I spent some time in a secret police dungeon in the Middle East, thinking I would die there. Discussing my book on terrorism with many of these people, they agree the actions would have prevented 9-11 and the creation of modern, exported terrorism. “Mr William. For a non-Arab, non-Muslim, you have a remarkable understanding of our history, religion, culture. And, yes, what you say is true, and would have prevented our current problems”.

I know about Shia-Sunni problems, tribal rivalries and other such problems. But these do not invalidate what I say.

Respectfully yours,

William W Morgan
-----
Author of;
Cowardly New World
An “Einstein” Thought Experiment: Rationality and Morality Waves in Nature
The Biblical Flood: Global Warming & Bush’s Harvest
On... Terrorism: Simple Cause — Simple Cure
On... a Planetary Court of Justice
On... Job Security — The End of Poverty & Unemployment
On... Democracy & Freedom: Mutual Exclusive Concepts (forthcoming)
On... The Conquest of Ignorance and Human Survival (forthcoming)

 

ZINDIQ

12:34 PM ET

July 26, 2010

We need to apolgize for 900 years?

Are you smoking something illegal?

Set aside the obvious absurdity of apologizing for actions which we did not authorize or participate in....

Set aside your negligence of historical context and failing to mention the Moorish invasions of Spain, France and other parts of Europe which the Crusades were partly a response to..

Set aside the blatantly one-sided perspective of labeling the Europeans as the mindless aggressors and framing the Arab world as merely victims...

To suggest that ALL European and American citizens should apologize for the actions of a few - is equally absurd as expecting all Muslims to apologize for terrorist acts committed by a few.

All Muslims aren't responsible for terrorism - in fact it is a extraordinarily small percentage of Muslims that are -the same dynamic hold true for actions taken by the western governments.

I find your bit about an American president should have reported to Bin Laden that his personal pet peeves were going to be addressed to his satisfaction to be one of the most ridiculous assertions I've read in recent years.

I don't support Israel in most of the things they do - I don't think anyone who is willing to objectively review the situation can - but they aren't acting in a vacuum - they tend to overreact at the slightest provocation, but their objectionable actions are almost always a REACTION. Most Israelis want peace, as do most Palestinians - but again it is the belligerent few on either side that exploit the situation for profit or power.

This dynamic holds true for Western/Middle Eastern relations today - to imagine that the majority on either side have anything to apologize for is just plain bullshit.

Regarding your central point about control -this has more validity, but suffers from the same lack of critical analysis as your presentation of historical interactions.

You offer as opposing arguments either complete loss of control or absolute control - these polar extremes have not existed anywhere on this planet since we stopped dragging our knuckles through the grass. To be sure increased control on natural activities does cause stress - but in this regard the culture of the West is far superior to that of most of the Middle East, as is the theologies of the respective regions.

Islam is just about the most controlling of popular theologies, inflexible, intolerant and non-adaptive. To the degree that Islam has adapted to the modern world is directly proportionate to the degree that it taken less seriously. Of course, the executions, honor killings and global jihad that we read about every day is testament to how far Islam has NOT adapted to the modern world.

If your argument is valid - the solution is simple - remove the controlling ideology that not only restrains a large amount of people, but also that endorses and advocates violent and murderous repercussions for anyone trying to grow beyond it's Bronze Age mythologies.

If anything - the practitioners of Islam owe the rest of us and apology for propagating this inflexible and controlling mythology - the world in general and the Middle East in particular would be far better off without it.

 

SHAWNFASSETT

2:48 PM ET

July 26, 2010

'obvious agenda'

Can you explain what you mean when you write that Wikileaks has an 'obvious agenda' ?

As I understood from interviews with Assange is that their entire agenda is to serve as a new form of journalism and provide background detail on issues/topics that are in the headlines.

 

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