Brass hats and ass hats are not happy about what is called one of the biggest 'leaks in military history', certainly the biggest expose since Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers. Wikileaks has blown the lid off Pentagon cover, exposing the truth about U.S. wars of aggression in the Middle East, primarily Afghanistan with the Pentagon's own documents. The 'leaks' reveal 'chilling details' about the US occupation and war in Afghanistan and numerous civilians deaths at the hands of US occupying forces.
- The U.S. Military (Pentagon) had plans to destroy Wiki-Leaks
- The CIA tried to shore up support in Europe for U.S. middle east wars
- Pakistan has been 'double-crossing the U.S.
The fall of the Dutch Government over its troop commitment to Afghanistan demonstrates the fragility of European support for the NATO-led ISAF mission. Some NATO states, notably France and Germany, have counted on public apathy about Afghanistan to increase their contributions to the mission, but indifference might turn into active hostility if spring and summer fighting results in an upsurge in military or Afghan civilian casualties and if a Dutch-style debate spills over into other states contributing troops. The Red Cell invited a CIA expert on strategic communication and analysts following public opinion at the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) to consider information approaches that might better link the Afghan mission to the priorities of French, German, and other Western European publics.
Leaked 'New Pentagon Papers'
WikiLeaks has released a document set called the Afghan War Diary, an extraordinary compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010.More report highlights from Katherine Faulkner of the Daily Mail:
The reports, while written by soldiers and intelligence officers, and mainly describing lethal military actions involving the United States military, also include intelligence information, reports of meetings with political figures, and related detail.
The document collection is available on a dedicated webpage.
The reports cover most units from the US Army with the exception of most US Special Forces' activities. The reports do not generally cover top secret operations or European and other ISAF Forces operations.
We have delayed the release of some 15,000 reports from the total archive 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.
--Afghan War Diary, 2004-2010; also see: Afghan War Logs
- Special forces 'black' unit hunts down Taliban leaders
- French troops shot at a bus full of school children
- Polish troops killed wedding party in mortar attack
- Taliban have acquired deadly surface-to-air missiles --The Daily Mail
The Afghan War Diary an extraordinary secret compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010. The reports describe the majority of lethal military actions involving the United States military. They include the number of persons internally stated to be killed, wounded, or detained during each action, together with the precise geographical location of each event, and the military units involved and major weapon systems used.
The Afghan War Diary is the most significant archive about the reality of war to have ever been released during the course of a war. The deaths of tens of thousands is normally only a statistic but the archive reveals the locations and the key events behind each most of these deaths. We hope its release will lead to a comprehensive understanding of the war in Afghanistan and provide the raw ingredients necessary to change its course.
Most entries have been written by soldiers and intelligence officers listening to reports radioed in from front line deployments. However the reports also contain related information from Marines intelligence, US Embassies, and reports about corruption and development activity across Afghanistan.
Each report consists of the time and precise geographic location of an event that the US Army considers significant. It includes several additional standardized fields: The broad type of the event (combat, non-combat, propaganda, etc.); the category of the event as classified by US Forces, how many were detained, wounded, and killed from civilian, allied, host nation, and enemy forces; the name of the reporting unit and a number of other fields, the most significant of which is the summary - an English language description of the events that are covered in the report.
--WikiLeaks today released over 75,000 secret US military reports covering the war in Afghanistan.The CIA had plans to 'destroy Wikileaks'.
This document is a classified (SECRET/NOFORN) 32 page U.S. counterintelligence investigation into WikiLeaks. ``The possibility that current employees or moles within DoD or elsewhere in the U.S. government are providing sensitive or classified information to WikiLeaks.org cannot be ruled out. It concocts a plan to fatally marginalize the organization. Since WikiLeaks uses ``trust as a center of gravity by protecting the anonymity and identity of the insiders, leakers or whistleblowers, the report recommends ``The identification, exposure, termination of employment, criminal prosecution, legal action against current or former insiders, leakers, or whistleblowers could potentially damage or destroy this center of gravity and deter others considering similar actions from using the WikiLeaks.org Web site. [As two years have passed since the date of the report, with no WikiLeaks' source exposed, it appears that this plan was ineffective]. As an odd justification for the plan, the report claims that ``Several foreign countries including China, Israel, North Korea, Russia, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe have denounced or blocked access to the WikiLeaks.org website. The report provides further justification by enumerating embarrassing stories broken by WikiLeaks---U.S. equipment expenditure in Iraq, probable U.S. violations of the Chemical Warfare Convention Treaty in Iraq, the battle over the Iraqi town of Fallujah and human rights violations at Guantanamo Bay.Truth hurts. The White House and the Pentagon are said to be 'enraged'. I say --so what? I am enraged by the war of naked aggression, fought solely for the benefit of America's increasingly rich but tiny 'ruling elite'and the shills and pimps on K-street who conceived it and assisted Pentagon militarists waging that war on behalf of venal interests throughout America.
--U.S. Intelligence planned to destroy WikiLeaks
The report linked to above is not the only revelation. A 'classified' CIA analysis from March outlines PR strategies that were designed to shore up public support in Germany and France for 'a continued war in Afghanistan'.
After the Dutch government fell on the issue of Dutch troops in Afghanistan last month, the CIA became worried that similar events could happen in the countries that post the third and fourth largest troop contingents to the ISAF mission. The proposed PR strategies focus on pressure points that have been identified within these countries. For France it is the sympathy of the public for Afghan refugees and women. For Germany it is the fear of the consequences of defeat (drugs, more refugees, terrorism) as well as for Germany's standing in NATO. The memo is a recipe for the targeted manipulation of public opinion in two NATO ally countries, written by the CIA. It is classified as Confidential/No Foreign Nationals.
Wikileaks provided additional information from 'media partners'
--CIA report into shoring up Afghan war support in Western Europe, 11 Mar 2010
Mike Gravel on The Pentagon Papers
10 comments:
Excellent post, thanks. As expected, the Canadian press is downplaying the leaked reports and instead suggesting they are false and dangerous to 'the mission'. The CBC is, in many respects, becoming worse than CNN, if one can imagine such a thing.
Peerless Cynic said...
As expected, the Canadian press is downplaying the leaked reports and instead suggesting they are false and dangerous to 'the mission'.
That's just plain STUPID!
The 'MISSION' is a fuckin war crime punishable by death under U.S. law; moreover, most of this 'MISSION' is specifically OUTLAWED by numerous international conventions and treaties to which both the U.S. and Canada are signatory.
WAR CRIMES are NOT 'missions'; they are FUCKIN CRIMES.
You're exactly right Len. These are war crimes. A continuous crime spree unhindered through both Bush and Obama.
For the sake of humble speculation I'll just say that I'm not convinced about Wikileaks. This is all fairly low level stuff. Nothing that's going to bring down any higher ups or put a halt to our empire building. The MSM is pushing the Pakistan angle for what I think is preparing us, giving us 'justification' for more troops going in there and slowly expanding the war.
You've probably seen it but this statement by Assange didn't encourage me.
" What about 9/11? "I'm constantly annoyed that people are distracted by false conspiracies such as 9/11, when all around we provide evidence of real conspiracies, for war or mass financial fraud."
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/features/wanted-by-the-cia-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-14880073.html#
kenny's sideshow said...
" What about 9/11? "I'm constantly annoyed that people are distracted by false conspiracies such as 9/11, when all around we provide evidence of real conspiracies, for war or mass financial fraud."
Crooks and idiots! They will be the death of America and --worse --the world!
The US government is obsessed with it's own abilities. They are obsessed with the idea that they can call any goddamned thing they want a SECRET, thus keep it from review by the citizens they supposedly work for. In recent history (I am in my mid 60's so my recent may differ from someone else's) so many things have been classified as "states secrets" that might cause simple embarrasment or lawsuits. It is part of the "too big to manage" government of a country that is too big to manage.
Great post, Len.
Mr. Natural said...
The US government is obsessed with it's own abilities.
It is easily impressed. The US goes to war upon bullshit, murders people, Americans lose their lives, gets bogged down and, in the end, nothing has changed and those who hated us hate us even more. It is a tale told by an IDIOT!
They are obsessed with the idea that they can call any goddamned thing they want a SECRET, thus keep it from review by the citizens they supposedly work for.
And, you are right, the government is too big but worse --learns NOTHING from it every failure and its every adventure at least since Viet Nam has been a failure unless, of course, you happen to be among the top one percent of wealthy folk who alone benefit from the lies and bullshit.
the top one percent of wealthy folk who alone benefit from the lies and bullshit.
THAT'S IT Len, that is it. those scumbags are so far BEYOND wealthy that those who actually WORK for wages or MAKE something, HELL, even those who take the time to THINK...we can not even IMAGINE the disparity between their world and ours. THEY are who owns this ragged, once glorious garden planet.
TOO BIG TO FAIL? Hide and watch as this experiment in representative republic collapses...as will the planet since the power brokers will NOT allow any truth about climate change or natural resource depletion be spoke.
Oh golly,I must sound angry...
Thanks for lettin' me stop by and run my mouth a bit.
Mr. Natural said...
the top one percent of wealthy folk who alone benefit from the lies and bullshit.
That is the result of a right wing revolution crafted so insidiously by by the ruling right wing whose standard bearers have been Reagan, Bush and Bush. Texas is a specimen if not a prototype. As wealth has been transferred upward, education has declined. Wealth can be quantified; but so, too, education. The relationship between wealth distribution and educational declines is as REAL as MATH. Other related relationships resulting from GOP missrule are the increases in both crime and CORPORATE ownership of the prison system. There is a word for this: FASCISM.
Oh golly,I must sound angry...
And you should be. So am I. Being angry in these times is a sign of intelligence. Be proud to be angry about what the GOP has done TO us.
I'm very happy with this leak of information about the farce that is the Afghanistan war. We needed another Daniel Elsberg. We've been in Afghanistan for 9 years and what's the result? The American people are out billions that has been mishandles... even stolen by corrupt Afghan officials... thousands of our men and women have been injured or killed... the poppy fields are still there to finance the Taliban murderers (and killing people and ruining families here in the United States). That B S about not wanting to hurt the farmers... honestly... give me a break. Let em learn how to grown vegetables to help feed their citizens. All we're doing is giving those who want to kill Americans... a "target-rich environment." Now those guys don't have to figure out how to sneak in America to hurt and kill us... they're just a camel ride away from 135,000 of our young men and women. The greedy industrialists (you know... the ones who manufacture the planes, tanks, uniforms, guns, bullets, etc., etc. don't want the wars' money trees to stop enriching them. End the war, now!
Well known history of Reagon, escalation of the cold war are explained realistic in the World war period, I appreciate your post......
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