Clinton: Damage from WikiLeaks Will Take Years to Undo

Secretary of State Doomed to 'Answering Concerns about WikiLeaks' for Life

Truth has been a thorn in the side of a number of administrations, but has become dramatically moreso for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the wake of the WikiLeaks releases of massive numbers of diplomatic cables. Clinton maintains that the revelation of the crimes committed by her and other officials will take “years to undo.”

I think I will be answering concerns about WikiLeaks for the rest of my life,” lamented Clinton, adding that her current visits abroad amount to an “apology tour,” as she struggles to reassure foreign leaders who were “embarrassed” by leaks, or against whom US plots were revealed.

Though officials have made much of the “dangers” of the WikiLeaks releases, the reality so far is that they have led the US to shuffle a handful of diplomats to positions where they aren’t directly known to have shamed the government they are an envoy to, and has embarrassed a lot of officials.

But that embarrassment, as in the case of Secretary Clinton’s plot to steal credit card numbers from top UN officials, comes primarily as a function of their criminal activities becoming public knowledge. In this respect it is difficult to see how the administration will continue to lay the entire blame on WikiLeaks, when their own crimes are the real source of the scandal.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.