Thoughts? Looks like Iran doesn't care so far heh...

no huge revelations really though

All just hype to keep the overall cycle of fear going...

No. Apparently there is nothing really "startling" in any of it.
http://www.debka.com/article/20402

I haven't had a chance to read any of them and I have read very little in the way of summaries yet. I am under the impression that a lot of this stuff is not terribly secret.

alot stuff and not that much interesting since opinions about other countries leaders aren't that unknown.

Treason used to get you a firing squad, secret info or not.

The good ole days. Remember heraldo giving away troop positions in Iraq? In anothertime he would have been shot on the spot. I miss those days.

oh, the nondescript lines in the sand?
him and ethyl rosenberg

braden, come join my sim NBA basketball league man!

Coming from a Canadian I feel it only risks world unrest and deaths so these people should be threatened with jail if they continue. It doesn't do anyone any good to see these things.

that is stupid locket.

It doesn't do people good to see what? that Arabs don't like Iran? That China is sick of N.Korea's stupidity?

All of this is common "unstated" knowledge in the world community.

If politicians and world leaders weren't such 3 yr olds life would be alot easier. And i think that open accountability and the spread of knowledge helps to control warfare and conflict more than secrecy.

if nothing else, this limits communications between governments, which generally speaking, is not a good thing.

If you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear according to the Patriot Act. I am tired of the government taking away civil liberties, the expansion of executive powers and the decreased accountability through secrecy, all in the name of the war on terror (which we have already lost for the three reasons I just mentioned).

Its unfathomable to me to hear so many people calling the soldier likely to have leaked both these documents, as well as the war documents, a hero. I second mrford in calling this treason. It is nothing less. What good can come of it?

History shows over and over again what happens when diplomacy fails. Why would anyone cheer over an attempt to weaken it? Will you too play the harp while Rome burns?

I agree, corruption within the government should never be brought to light. We should just let the politicians and military do whatever they want in the named of America. If it is for America you have to smile and nod!

Detmer I challenge you to show an example of the corruption you say these documents revealed. Secondly, what are you going to do about this corruption since you're such a patriot. I'm in Afghanistan because of your so called lost war on terror. Do you think leaking army documents pinpointing our sources makes me or anyone else here safer? Do you think it will bring us home faster?

The American government is very corrupt I agree, from top to bottom, but what good do these specific leaks do? If documents should be leaked it should be about secret budget expenditures and backroom dealings as to how some of our god awful legislation comes to pass.

The pages haven't been loading for me. I will assume this is due to server load. I've read the examples are there and I do intend to find them for myself. I'll bring them to your attention when that happens.
To combat corrupt I vote for politicians who I suspect to be less corrupt that their opponents, I am vocal on the internet and in real life about my opinions, and I do intend to run for office some day, if it works out. Basically I demand civil reform.

I am sorry you are in Afghanistan and I hope you and all the other troops can make it home safely. I recognize that you are doing your job and duty, I definitely do not hold the troops accountable for what the military does.



I have not gone through these leaks in particular and maybe these leaks aren't the ones that need to be done, but my big point is that in principle, this is a desperately needed source of accountability for the government.

With your final point on more accountability I fully agree. I see waste, as well as hear and read of examples of corruption almost daily. That being said, I don't think this material in particular was in any way helpful to your goal of civil reform or our country in general.

I'm really curious as to the motives of this leak. I really only see 2 feasible motives, neither of which really achieves much...

1. Leak the documents hoping to reveal hurtful information about either the US, or the current administration. This obviously didn't happen, as only about %10 of the documents were even considered classified, and even those were not highly classified - everything released was pretty much public knowledge and had been documented elsewhere.

2. To prove they can. Again, not a big impact as they didn't release anything that presented any sort of real security threat for the US.


One way or another, I guess this reaffirms the need for a federal CFO to oversee data security and infrastructure on a federal level.

reverse propaganda

easiest way for government IT to get more funding.

Meh, Iran's come off worst of all, it looks like they've only really played nice with Syria and Palestine... of the first 278 documents, these ones are Iran's neighbourly relations:

-Qatar told the USA that Iran were "lying to us" (http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/...le/2009/12/09DOHA728.html)
-The United Arab Emirates have purchaesed 5 Patriot Missile Batteries, but they want the USA to station some of their own there now to cover for them until their own arrive, because if Israel strikes Iran, the latter might just go nuts and hit at everyone in the region- (http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/...009/02/09ABUDHABI192.html)
-Turkmenistan caught Iran smuggling weapons into Iran from Turkmenistan, mostly AK-47s and bombs- (http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/...009/02/09ASHGABAT218.html)
-Kuwait is worried about Iran giving money to rebels in Yemen (http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/.../2010/02/10KUWAIT142.html)
-Oman is scared of the same thing as Kuwait- (http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/.../2008/08/08MUSCAT565.html)

The results of all of this are in this one- http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/...009/08/09RPODUBAI316.html

Thats just what I found in the first 278. Of the titles that actually attracted my attention. If theres another hundred of these, the USA could release one thing a day about Iran of these telegrams and the UN would happily allow the USA to invade them within a month.

In other words- I know this crap is supposed to be confidential, but if these documents on Iran are an example of what the USA has on all of the nations we're not supposed to like, the USA could completely trash the Axis of Evil in a matter of months without firing a shot. Just by releasing documents like those. If only Obama/Hillary were more brutal operators and less worried about the probable loss of trust that would be caused by the release of some of these telegrams (the Turkmenistan weapons smuggling one might be an example where that wouldn't apply), we might have dealt with the vast majority of the boogeymen in the world years ago.

I hate to have to respond to something like that with a common argument, but "years ago" Obama was just getting elected, so methinks it's not just Obama... plus the US probably wouldn't have stood for another war anyway

"years ago" Obama wasn't even a glimmer in his daddy's eye yet.

Are we really gonna pretend that this situation has just popped up in the last few years?

This is a conflict that has been on-going for the better part of 50 yrs now, Dev....even Hil-dog couldn't have stopped this from happening....not sure how much more of a brutal operator you want than that.

Check the dates on the documents. Anytime from then we could've made Iran look a little worse.

Forget the documents - there's MUCH worse stuff the US could have made public about Iran/Afghanistan/Iraq to discredit them publicly. The wake of declassified information that has come from the last 10 years has highlighted everything from humans rights abuses to genocide to international espionage.

Problem is, they obviously don't give 2 fluffs about public opinion, and aren't going to change their course just because westerners don't agree with their motives/methods.

Making things public knowledge like that Iran is smuggling weapons in (which is actually more likely the Iranian black market) only confirms what everyone already knows.

http://www.smh.com.au/...sange-20101201-18g69.html

Sarah Palin is truly stupid lol.

"The 46-year-old, who is known for her conservative views, questioned on Twitter why the US government couldn't "stop WikiLeaks' treasonous act", perhaps unaware that Mr Assange is not an American citizen, and that the activist website is hosted in Sweden with servers across the globe."

I could think of nothing worse for the US global image than to use resources that could be used fighting terrorism to instead hound an organisation aimed at encouraging accountable governance.

It shows how far the USA has fallen lol. But then i guess, a country founded on slavery and filled with racism and internal hatreds, i think maybe we simply had too rosy an image of the USA in the first place:p

+ most of the leaks are not anti-US anyway!!

Ms. Palin is a private citizen, and is not known for getting a full grasp on the situation before speaking.

NOW3P: The US gov has nothing to gain from releasing documents on Iran - the other party would deny they sent it, Iran would call them fabrications, and China would veto any move by the UN security council to do more than verbally censor Iran.

I don't think anyone would call them fabrications - from what I understand, they're mostly folks' opinions....and opinions that have been made public for that matter.

The stuff on human rights abuses isn't necessarily the stuff that'll piss off their neighbours and leave them with noone to back them up when Israel gets tired of their crap.

If Israel gets tired of anyone's crap, you'll see nearby dictators scurrying like fluff-a-roaches to get the hell outta their way.

http://www.time.com/...le/0,8599,2034040,00.html

bah, they can't do that stuff without losing the World Title of "Most Oppressed Family In Human History". how can they be victims if they're running around terrorizing people...

@Devestation: it's not as easy as that. Many of those countries leaderships cannot publicly oppose Iran because their population (and some of the powers that be there) won't allow it and/or kill them. Also if the source is the US releasing info publicly many will automatically call it propaganda and lies without verification.

Not only that but there are other competing interests who would rather not see Iran invaded for a whole host of reasons.

And yes, a lot of that leaked info isn't earth shattering according to most sources.

It makes for a fun read though. Especially stuff like:

http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/.../04/08ASTANA760.html#par3

"It is not clear what Mashkevich is spending his billions on, but it
is certainly not culinary talent. On all four occasions the Ambassador
has eaten at one of his houses, the menu has been similar and focused
on beshparmak (boiled meat and noodles) and plov. The wait staff
appeared to be graduates of a Soviet cafeteria training academy. "

lol.

It gives insight into the personal lives of multiple leaders lol.

i think the url highlighting code on this forum needs some work.

http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/.../04/08ASTANA760.html#par3
=
http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/.../2008/04/08ASTANA760.html

yea i know =(

The link about the ambassador is funny. The ambassador in Bosnia was just the opposite...he had a certain....um....flare.....to his dinner parties.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11935539

oh my, basement bot boy has a new hobby. us "the people" don't really care that much about wikileaks ya bloody bot net hacker.