Jul 26 2010

Wikileaks Strikes Again: Afghanistan Docs!!!

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

This was just coming in on the MSNBC site, only minutes ago:

90,000 Afghan war documents being leaked

Previously unreported civilian deaths among the disclosures by Wikileaks

25 July 2010  Some 90,000 leaked U.S. military records amount to an blow-by-blow account of six years of the Afghanistan war, including unreported incidents of Afghan civilian killings as well as covert operations against Taliban figures, two newspapers and a magazine with access to the documents reported Sunday.

The online whistle-blower organization Wikileaks was planning to post the documents on its website Sunday. The New York Times, London’s Guardian newspaper and the German weekly Der Spiegel were given early access to the documents.

The Times said the documents – including classified cables and assessments between military officers and diplomats – describe U.S. fears that ally Pakistan’s intelligence service was actually aiding the Afghan insurgency.

According to the Times, the documents suggest Pakistan “allows representatives of its spy service to meet directly with the Taliban in secret strategy sessions to organize networks of militant groups that fight against American soldiers in Afghanistan, and even hatch plots to assassinate Afghan leaders.”

The Guardian, however, interpreted the documents differently, saying they “fail to provide a convincing smoking gun” for complicity between the Pakistan intelligence services and the Taliban.

The Guardian report focuses instead on documents that it said reveal “how a secret ‘black’ unit of special forces hunts down Taliban leaders for kill or capture without trial” and “how the U.S. covered up evidence that the Taliban has acquired deadly surface-to-air missiles.”

Der Spiegel, meanwhile, reported that the records show Afghan security officers as helpless victims of Taliban attacks. Continued

These documents, according to this report: “The documents posted by Wikileaks reportedly cover a period of time from January 2004 to December 2009,”

Right at the moment I’m following links to see what this is about and what these documents cover, so far we have this:

Afghanistan war logs: Massive leak of secret files exposes truth of occupation

• Hundreds of civilians killed by coalition troops

• Covert unit hunts leaders for ‘kill or capture’

• Steep rise in Taliban bomb attacks on Nato Continued

From the Guardian

Afghanistan: The War Logs

New York Times: An archive of classified military documents offers an unvarnished view of the war in Afghanistan

Der Spiegel: The Afghanistan Protocol; Explosive Leaks Provide Image of War from Those Fighting It

John Kerry, Wikileaks Bellweather?

The reactions to the massive Wikileaks document dump will be fascinating to view during the next few days.  So far, the administration’s response is to condemn the leaks while also noting that most of the revealed documents stem from the Bush era.  Specifically, the White House advised reporters:

Snip

Could the Wikileak document dump be a tipping point for the Massachusetts senator?  Consider his statement released hours after the documents went public:

“However illegally these documents came to light, they raise serious questions about the reality of America’s policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan. Those policies are at a critical stage and these documents may very well underscore the stakes and make the calibrations needed to get the policy right more urgent.”

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  1. How to read the logs

    Video Video (2min 41sec), David Leigh explains what is in the logs and how the Guardian is using them

    This series of reports on the war in Afghanistan is based on the US military’s internal logs of the conflict between January 2004 and December 2009. Read more about the logs and how the Guardian investigated them. Read more

     

  2. Julian Assange on the Afghanistan war logs: ‘They show the true nature of this war’

    Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, explains why he decided to publish thousands of secret US military files on the war in Afghanistan

  3. How trauma of war hits U.S. troops

    25 July 2010 After a deadly battle in Afghanistan, soldiers endure awful memories

    More than half a year after one of the deadliest battles ever waged by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the men of Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry are still fighting in – and with – their memories.

    They cannot forget Oct. 3, 2009. On that day, 300 insurgents attacked two outposts in eastern Afghanistan manned by 72 soldiers, sparking a 12-hour fight. By nightfall, eight U.S. soldiers were dead. Three days later, the outposts were closed.

    Like so many of their comrades, they suffer from mental trauma. Nearly 20 percent of the 1.6 million troops who had returned from Iraq and Afghanistan reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress or major depression, according to a 2008 study by Rand Corp.

    Only slightly more than half of those sought treatment. So more and more, the army is bringing treatment to them whether they ask for it or not. Continued

  4. Returning vets suffering stresses of war are getting help, but needs are still enormous.

    July 24, 2010 A poignant story in last Sunday’s Chronicle drew attention to the plight of Houston-area veterans – in this case, an Iraq veteran coping with finding himself homeless, alienated, confused and angry to the point that he found himself attacking his own mother and spending four days in jail – all within six months of his Army discharge.

    As reported by Lindsay Wise, the soldier, Jacobí Montgomery, from Beaumont, eventually found help at the Veterans Administration in Houston, where he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, apnea and insomnia.

    The story is all too familiar with returning vets – the invisible wounds of PTSD, traumatic brain injuries and depression.

    And while the VA is working to make it easier to qualify for benefits, it is a shame and a sorrow that life back home can be so difficult for so many of those who have willingly risked their lives for the rest of us.

    Of the almost 2 million troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, about 20 percent return with PTSD, and even more with non-visible traumatic brain injuries. But only about half that number seek treatment.

    Like Montgomery, many of them, about 107,000, are homeless, making up roughly a third of the country’s adult homeless population. In Houston, reported Wise, about 3,500 vets are currently homeless. Continued

    • Edger on July 26, 2010 at 03:44
    • #

    Wish we still had the NYT we had in 1971… I seem to recall the “war” was ended and the president had to resign not too long afterwards…

  6. Julian Assange is, for me, somewhat of a wonder — maybe, of the Martin Luther King, JFK type personages.  

    He is brilliant, IMHO, and is in pursuit of “truth” and puts it out there, albeit, at his expense.  Some of what he has done, i.e., in terms of “exposure” has already had some amazing results.  

    WE need Julian Assange and WE should do everything to protect him and encourage his efforts!

    The best protection, as with others, such as the “Wilsons, is to get them OUT THERE — let he/she/them be known, photographically and otherwise.  In other words, paste him across the web, wherever you can!

    Thanks to all who have “honored” Julian Assange!

  7. Daniel Ellsberg?

  8. Congress is voting (on more of less the Senante version) on the $33bn for escalating the war in Afghanistan THIS DAY!



    This is it!

    Congress Votes on War Funding

    This Week

    TELL THEM

    S T O P

    THE BUCKS

    H E R E !!



    On the House calendar as early as Monday is a vote on a $33 billion supplemental bill to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

    The Senate did not accept the House version.  The House will now likely vote on the Senate version or something close to it.

    (That means a pig with no lipstick, no poison pill with no sugar coating – no funds for teachers or Haiti relief – nothing but pure and simple funding for more war, more killing, more corruption, more war lords and drug peddlers – which equals fewer teachers, less healthcare, no aid to cities and state budgets, no new jobs programs, no infrastructure repair!)

    This will likely mean something quite unusual: a straightforward vote in which “yes” means yes (a bigger war), and “no” means NO.

    We will now be able to identify clearly and unambiguously the war supporters and war opponents.

    Those who vote to fund the escalation will need to be punished and those who vote to stop the funding should be rewarded while they’re home for the August recess and again at the polls in November.  

    And the closer we come to defeating the bill, the more we will have to build on as the peace movement joins with the labor and civil rights movements this fall for a giant march on Washington for jobs, peace and justice on October 2nd (with satellite demonstrations in San Francisco, Phoenix and New Orleans).

    Our message is simple:

    Vote “NO” on funding this escalation of war.

    Insist on a recorded roll call vote so the public can see who really wants to end the waste of lives and treasure.

    Call (866) 261-4755 (toll-free)

    or directly to the Congressinal switchboard at:

         202-224-3121

  9. It’s not only Julian Assange we must profusely thank — it’s also all the brave individuals who come forth to his site and give up “information,” which has been steadfastly withheld from us.  To all, who have made Wikileaks a source of much heretofore unknown information — KUDOS!  For your courage and efforts!  

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