James Jeffrey, the current US Ambassador to Iraq, angrily condemned WikiLeaks today, insisting that the upcoming release would do damage to his ability to have discussions in confidence. Other US officials have been covering the globe, apologizing in advance for what are said to be a large number of embarrassing revelations to come.
But easily the most incredible claim came from State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, who claimed that the WikiLeaks release would put lives at risk. The claim echoed similar claims over previous WikiLeaks releases, which of course never bore out.
But those previous leaks related to specific ongoing wars, and the concerns were related to specific information they feared those documents might contain about specific collaborators in those occupations. By all government accounts, the new documents are purely diplomatic cables, containing a lot of embarrassing information about a lot of friendly governments, but not specific battlefield information.
Thus, barring the possibility that someone in one of these governments actually dies of embarrassment, the risk that this upcoming release, assuming it is what government officials say it is, seems virtually non-existant. By contrast, the documents seem certain to uncover a number of crimes by both the US government and others, which is exactly the point of these whistleblower organizations.
I'm going to feel very left out if Australia isn't mentioned in these documents.
Can't wait!
how about the countless innocent civilians lives at risk if the truth is not spoken and shared? :/
By lives at risk, what they really mean is putting sleazy financial dealings at risk.
I really like that some people aleady ask for fogiveness, even before their insults are known!
Maybe we could just threaten (only threaten) to publish some more secret private diaries of the secret service people and we could enjoy all of those "sorry, sorry,…."!
W
Day by day we have less fun in live, but any new release from WikiLeaks makes it just worthwile:-)
W
Ah, P.J.– still channeling Baghdad Bob I see.
This is nothing but fascist propaganda. Government opacity is the greatest threat to world peace and human dignity.
"discussions in confidence", eh? Do you mean those back room deals papered with FRN's and maybe a little juice on the side for yourselves?
"barring the possibility that someone in one of these governments actually dies of embarrassment" – that's a great line, Jason.
Interesting how when citizen privacy is at risk we are all suppose to suck it up in the name of fighting the great evil (i.e. the boogyman of the day). After all, one has nothing to fear if one has nothing to hide. But when government privacy is at risk, suddenly secrecy is paramount and disclosure becomes one of the great evils. Apparently they have a lot to hide.
How can anyone view the government's track record and give its spokesmen any credibility? A hint for those of you that aren't sure: Governments lie. It's what they do. And when they're not lying, they're killing and stealing. The US government just has more guns and bombs than any other robber state, so it has more liars, thieves and murderers than anyone else. Hey, we're Number 1!!
I think the State spokesman meant to say that Wikileaks' release will put lies in danger.