More Gulf Leaks - of a Different Sort

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“Massive Leak of Secret Files Exposes True Afghan War” – The Guardian - (Gasp!!)

“Leak Itself Gains More Attention Than the Contents” – Washington Post (Yawn…)

"Nothing We Didn't Already know..." Post article content

“The emerging picture from this leak adds up to little more than what we knew already – that the war in Afghanistan was deteriorating over the past several years, and that we were not winning" - John McCain.

“Leaks? What Leaks? You mean oil?” – New York Times (Hey, we got a story here… how do you turn this computer on?...)

(Okay, just kidding about the New York Times headline)

There are many comments to the effect that there is “nothing new” in the Afghanistan war files revealed by WIKILEAKS in the last 24 hours, nothing that we didn’t expect to see. In other words, military & America-speak for “None of this is important so don’t pay any attention to it.” (and even if it is important we’re not going to admit it…)

Poor military. Poor politicians. They hate it when secrets get revealed. Of course, they’re in the business of secrets, aren’t they? When a covert story becomes a cover story, then the whole point of covert becomes moot.

Earlier today the headlines were groaning and a little panicky – Wikileaks blew the cover, everything is going to hell in a hurry, all the secrets are out, no telling what the damage will be, etc...

The Guardian broke the story. The Washington Post picked it up. The New York Times?

Never even ran the story in their early online edition, until this afternoon someone over there finally realized this was a real news story. Here is their eventual headline: Document Leak May Hurt Efforts To Build War Support.

War support?
In other words, the leak may hurt President Obama’s efforts to “sell” the war.

It is, I admit, difficult to contain my reaction to this, so I must at once let my readers know how I feel:

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha ….

War support? Our troops have been over there for 9 years! We’re in the most unpopular war(s) in America’s history next to Viet Nam. It’s no secret on the street that the vast majority of Americans (& non-Americans) want us out of there. Obama said in his campaign speeches that many of the troops would be on their way home by now, and what happened?

He didn’t do it. Instead he escalated the war. So…he lied.

And he is worried that some leaks about an ugly nasty dirty slimy war that goes on and on and scrapes against every Geneva convention is going to make it difficult for him to “sell” us on the war?

Am I missing something here?

Still, I digress somewhat. The gist of “official” reactions to the leaked documents was “nothing we didn’t already know.” But I say…Who? Nothing WHO didn’t already know? You guys the military or you guys the politicians? You don’t mean we the public, do you? Or do you?

I say the public doesn’t know very much about the Afghan war at all, and hasn’t ever since its inception, or the Iraq war, or Pakistan, or the debacle with Iran. All we get here at home are pictures in the paper of some soldiers frisking someone in some town, or someone in robes walking down a road. They could be anyone, anywhere in the Middle East. How are we to trust the story we are being told? Videos on the news show the same 10 second footage four or five times over the course of a news story, and, from that, we the people in America are supposed to know what is going on over there?

Thank God for the internet or we wouldn’t get any news at all, no shots of Israeli soldiers beating up old ladies and children, or intimidating teen age boys, or dropping onto ships loaded with Gaza relief supplies and killing several people. No shots of depleted uranium turning people’s faces into play-dough and melting their limbs off.

If the leaking of documents means that your military war councils have been screwed up, General, then I say Thank God Almighty! Screw the war! Everyone else is going out of business in this country thanks to your bloated military budget. Why shouldn’t you be out of a job also?

The leaked documents purport to show, among other things, how ill-treated civilians have been by soldiers of all sides in this war. If that is the only thing to come out of these documents into the public consciousness, then I say Good for Wikileaks for getting the documents out there, before you insane politicians and military people shut off the internet and do something really stupid.

If death and destruction and torture is old hat to you, and nothing really new, then I would love to be a fly on the wall when you all meet your maker.
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