91,000 secret afghan war documents leaked

[tony hipchest]

called the largest leak in military history.

im suprised this hasnt been posted here yet. im sure if it were a clip and commentary of obama caught on tape picking his nose the wolves would be all over it.

whether youre rep or dem, this is fucked up...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100726/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_afghanistan_wikileaks


WASHINGTON – The monumental leak of classified Afghan war documents threatened Monday to create deeper doubts about the war at home, cause new friction with Pakistan over allegations about its spy agency and raise questions around the world about Washington's own ability to protect military secrets.
The White House called the disclosures "alarming."
The torrent of more than 91,000 secret documents, one of the largest unauthorized disclosures in military history, sent the Obama administration (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100726/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_afghanistan_wikileaks#) scrambling to assess and repair any damage to the war effort, either abroad or in the U.S. The material could reinforce the view put forth by the war's opponents in Congress that one of the nation's longest conflicts is hopelessly stalemated.


either way, there is definitely gonna be some interesting reading in these documents.

[stillers4me]

Is there NOTHING this country doesn't fuck up anymore??????????

[fansince'76]

Kind of a 21st Century version of the Pentagon Papers....

[tony hipchest]

since the cat's out the bag...

http://wardiary.wikileaks.org/



WikiLeaks today released over 75,000 secret US military reports covering the war in Afghanistan.




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.
this shit is hardcore. i cant even imagine who kicked over this can of beans (but the fact that the right and the rest of the rush propaganda cronies arent all over it like cockroaches makes me raise an eyebrow).

either way, i wish i had time to read all 91,000 reports. reading about these scumbags getting slaughtered in the field might give me a bigger woody than penthouse letters. :noidea:



Afghan War Diary - Reading guide
The Afghan War Diary (AWD for short) consists of messages from several important US military communications systems. The messaging systems have changed over time; as such reporting standards and message format have changed as well. This reading guide tries to provide some helpful hints on interpretation and understanding of the messages contained in the AWD.
Most of the messages follow a pre-set structure that is designed to make automated processing of the contents easier. It is best to think of the messages in the terms of an overall collective logbook of the Afghan war. The AWD contains the relevant events, occurrences and intelligence experiences of the military, shared among many recipients. The basic idea is that all the messages taken together should provide a full picture of a days important events, intelligence, warnings, and other statistics. Each unit, outpost, convoy, or other military action generates report about relevant daily events. The range of topics is rather wide: Improvised Explosives Devices encountered, offensive operations, taking enemy fire, engagement with possible hostile forces, talking with village elders, numbers of wounded, dead, and detained, kidnappings, broader intelligence information and explicit threat warnings from intercepted radio communications, local informers or the afghan police. It also includes day to day complaints about lack of equipment and supplies.
The description of events in the messages is often rather short and terse. To grasp the reporting style, it is helpful to understand the conditions under which the messages are composed and sent. Often they come from field units who have been under fire or under other stressful conditions all day and see the report-writing as nasty paperwork, that needs to be completed with little apparent benefit to expect. So the reporting is kept to the necessary minimum, with as little type-work as possible. The field units also need to expect questions from higher up or disciplinary measures for events recorded in the messages, so they will tend to gloss over violations of rules of engagement and other problematic behavior; the reports are often detailed when discussing actions or interactions by enemy forces.

[Devilsdancefloor]

this is fucked up! liek you said doesnt matter what side of the aisle you come from this should outrage.

[tony hipchest]

now i am no military expert, but i am a fan of simple math.

these reports are from '04-'10 = 6 yrs(365xd/yr) = 2190 days/91000 reports = about 41 reports per day, every day, for six years.

in summation, basically EVERYTHING reported in the past 6 years has been compromised and leaked.

pardon my skepticizm, but only bu..bu..bu..bush, ru..ru..ru..rush, and their right wing, propoganda pushing cronies would stoop this low.

(the silence of the right and lack of accusations and blame is deafening. normally they would be all over this shit like cockroaches.)

[steelerdude15]

O this isn't good. :nono:

[SteelerEmpire]

Can the intelligence sector keep a secret anymore ? But the contents of the information kind of verified with we've all been thinking anyway... some of our allies on the war on terror are actually our enemies...

[JonM229]

Can the intelligence sector keep a secret anymore ? But the contents of the information kind of verified with we've all been thinking anyway... some of our allies on the war on terror are actually our enemies...

I can't say this is surprising considering who our allies in the Middle East have been in the past.

[Shoes]

I can't say this is surprising considering who our allies in the Middle East have been in the past.

Exactly!

[SteelMember]

Army private eyed in WikiLeaks scandal.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp=38426084&#38426084&from=en-us_msnhp&snid=18424824

[BnG_Hevn]

Do you not think that this could have been intentional by the Obam admin to garner support to just "pull out" and use Bush as a scapegoat? I wouldn't put ANYTHING past scumbag liberals.

[venom]

Im sure the liberals of the ACLU are popping champagne as we speak . Nevertheless , I blame the Republicans because Obama is perfect and cannot do wrong .

[NJarhead]

now i am no military expert, but i am a fan of simple math.

these reports are from '04-'10 = 6 yrs(365xd/yr) = 2190 days/91000 reports = about 41 reports per day, every day, for six years.

in summation, basically EVERYTHING reported in the past 6 years has been compromised and leaked.

pardon my skepticizm, but only bu..bu..bu..bush, ru..ru..ru..rush, and their right wing, propoganda pushing cronies would stoop this low.

(the silence of the right and lack of accusations and blame is deafening. normally they would be all over this shit like cockroaches.)

Or, just maybe, you're wrong.

[NJarhead]

Do you not think that this could have been intentional by the Obam admin to garner support to just "pull out" and use Bush as a scapegoat? I wouldn't put ANYTHING past scumbag liberals.
Nah, he sent additional troops almost immediately after taking office. I THINK he is committed to seeing it through (The ONLY thing he's done that I agree with).

[JonM229]

Nah, he sent additional troops almost immediately after taking office. I THINK he is committed to seeing it through (The ONLY thing he's done that I agree with).

But according to Michael Steele, this whole war is Obama's fault and the people never wanted to go to war in the first place.

[urgle burgle]

interesting. of all things, this shouldnt be a partisan issue. this should be an American outrage, to all Countrymen(yes, to include women, transgender, transexuals, etc.). i have stayed away from all talk radio, news, and these forums for over 2 months. mostly, i had my son to entertain me, and then he went back to san diego(blessed city of southern california). i think that reprive has saved my mental facultys, at leas those i had left. now, all of this stuff, just makes me want to puke. dont know how long that will last. this is a non-partisan issue. i did watch a few minutes of fox news(the oreilly factor), which was hosted by laura ingram. she was talking to bernie goldberg. both of who i like(usually). they said these leaks may be a good thing. i then threw up in my mouth, and went fishin'. caught a nice 3 and 1/2 pound mud cat, and a 2 lb white bass, with 2 snappin' turtles. that good. this bad. i think im officially done at this point with all political discourse. well......at least beyond this obvious post.....dohhh.....

[ricardisimo]

One possibility is that there might be a peacenik or two in the Pentagon, a la Ellsberg, kind of sort of... although he wasn't a pacifist when he passed the Pentagon Papers on; he thought he was being a good soldier.

The other possibility is that the CIA and Army intelligence could be biting back after being badly used and abused by successive corrupt and inept administrations (of both parties, which speaks to Tony's initial point in a roundabout fashion). "Sometimes people push back" doesn't just refer to the Third World, as is normally assumed. It also refers to our own officers and rank-and-file.

[MasterOfPuppets]

wasn't there a disgruntled general relieved of his command in afghanistan here just recently ? :noidea:

[NJarhead]

But according to Michael Steele, this whole war is Obama's fault and the people never wanted to go to war in the first place.
And how many people believe that??? This war is NO AMERICAN's fault.

[NJarhead]

wasn't there a disgruntled general relieved of his command in afghanistan here just recently ? :noidea:

What's your point? Source of the leak? That wouldn't be possible.

[ricardisimo]

But will any of it matter in the least? Here's (http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn07302010.html) a sobering argument from the "no" camp (with some choice bits below).



Weekend Edition
July 30 - August 1, 2010
CounterPunch Diary
Do Disclosures of Atrocities Change Anything?

By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

The hope of the brave soldier who sent 92,000 secret U.S. documents to Wikileaks was that their disclosure would prompt public revulsion and increasing political pressure on Obama to seek with all speed a diplomatic conclusion to this war. The documents he sent Wikileaks included overwhelming documentary evidence – accepted by all as genuine, of:


the methodical use of a death squad made up of US Special Forces, known as Task Force 373,
the willful, casual slaughter of civilians by Coalition personnel, with ensuing cover-ups,
the utter failure of “counter-insurgency” and “nation building”,
the venality and corruption of the Coalition’s Afghan allies,
the complicity of Pakistan’s Intelligence Services with the Taliban...

...

What does end wars? One side is annihilated, the money runs out, the troops mutiny, the government falls, or fears it will. With the U.S. war in Afghanistan none of these conditions has yet been met. The U.S. began the destruction of Afghanistan in 1979, when President Jimmy Carter and his National Security Advisor Zbigniev Brzezinksi started financing the mullahs and warlords in the largest and most expensive operation in the CIA’s history until that time. Here we are, more than three decades later, half buried under a mountain of horrifying news stories about a destroyed land of desolate savagery and what did one hear on many news commentaries earlier this week? Indignant bleats often by liberals, about Wikileaks’ “irresponsibility” in releasing the documents; twitchy questions such as that asked by The Nation’s Chris Hayes on the Rachel Maddow Show: “I wonder ultimately to whom WikiLeaks ends up being accountable.”

[Godfather]

The U.S. began the destruction of Afghanistan in 1979, when President Jimmy Carter and his National Security Advisor Zbigniev Brzezinksi started financing the mullahs and warlords in the largest and most expensive operation in the CIA’s history until that time.

That blows the author's credibility out of the water right there. We sent assistance to the Afghan people so they could defend themselves from an invasion by Soviet interlopers. The USSR began the destruction of Afghanistan. We have every right to be there. The Taliban willfully provided al-Qaeda a safe haven to launch attacks on civilian targets in the US.

Not to mention, the leaks include the names of informants who helped the West. Those people and their families will now be tortured and murdered by the terrorists. The left should be proud of themselves for making heroes out of the traitors behind the leak.

[ricardisimo]

That blows the author's credibility out of the water right there. We sent assistance to the Afghan people so they could defend themselves from an invasion by Soviet interlopers. The USSR began the destruction of Afghanistan. We have every right to be there. The Taliban willfully provided al-Qaeda a safe haven to launch attacks on civilian targets in the US.

Not to mention, the leaks include the names of informants who helped the West. Those people and their families will now be tortured and murdered by the terrorists. The left should be proud of themselves for making heroes out of the traitors behind the leak.

I'm sure that exposing criminality, corruption and ineptitude is profoundly traitorous. We need more traitors like that. "The Left", such as it is in this country, has been falling all over themselves to denounce Wikileaks as irresponsible and traitorous (commenting on which is a primary point of the point of this editorial, of course) so I'm not sure to what you are referring, unless you mean this very article.

As far as the author's credibility being blown by that quote... I didn't read it the way you did, although I could see how you could. I read it as saying that we sowed the seeds we are currently reaping back in 1979, by supporting some truly unsavory characters - their only qualifications had to be violent opposition to the Soviets. We didn't support democratic opposition parties or their members, in other words... just the mullahs. And so here we are.

Afghanistan has undergone many "destructions" to be sure, and will most likely see many more still. The Soviets dealt them one, and we're dealing them another right now.

For the umpteenth time: we could have had bin Laden and Co. handed to us with a ribbon on top had we simply followed proper extradition procedures. But we didn't, because that would have succeeded, and then we would have had no pretense to invade, which I suspect was a foregone conclusion - and I'm hardly alone with that suspicion.

[Godfather]

I'm sure that exposing criminality, corruption and ineptitude is profoundly traitorous. We need more traitors like that.


Except for the fact that I specifically referred to leaking the names of pro-Western Afghans who helped us catch the terrorists, thereby exposing those brave patriots to retribution and making other sympathetic Afghans reluctant to help us. Yeah, what a hero the leaker was. If only there were more people like him in the world.

[ricardisimo]

Except for the fact that I specifically referred to leaking the names of pro-Western Afghans who helped us catch the terrorists, thereby exposing those brave patriots to retribution and making other sympathetic Afghans reluctant to help us. Yeah, what a hero the leaker was. If only there were more people like him in the world.

Which misses a basic point, namely that a badly planned and poorly executed war built upon a mountain of lies, evidently for the sole purpose of lining a select few pockets... these are the things that caused these Afghanis' lives to go down the toilet. Exposing all of these things did not do that.

Reporting the Mai Lai Massacre did not cause the Mai Lai Massacre, nor did it cause the Vietnam War, nor any of the bloodshed which followed in Vietnam. Even if reporting the massacre did nothing at all, it was still the right thing to do. Releasing the Pentagon Papers: exactly the same thing.

No one benefits from shielding corruption, criminality and ineptitude. Even if your goal is for the war in Afghanistan to succeed on a purely military basis, you should be applauding WikiLeaks right now. That's right... the Pentagon should be thanking them right now. None of these problems would get corrected before being exposed. And don't be surprised if a large percentage of the Pentagon is doing exactly that right now. Like I said, Army Intelligence, the CIA, somebody was clearly trying to settle accounts here.