Here is what I don't understand about all of this and how it relates to us at Hayabusa.org:
First, did the guy betray his country? I'm not sure. I know that the UCMJ actually protects those who try to do the right thing by exposing things that are absolutely wrong either through the chain of command (by side stepping someone in that chain if need be) or via other methods (ie the media or otherwise). Where this gets sticky is when we start looking at the classification of documents. They are "national secrets". So let's just leave that on the back burner for now for the sake of discussion - we will return to this though.
Now that we're not discussing "national secrets" and we're looking at the reality those leaked items warehouse, my first thought is to the video shot from a helicopter that is observing and then opening fire on potential Al Qaeda operatives. That video is what landed the young PFC in the brig and started the whole interest in WikiLeaks.
While those are human lives that I think should be spared unless we're 99.99% sure (or more) of who they are, also I don't know the conditions nor have the intel to support or speak out against the actions of that gunship. However, there are several very disturbing facts to me as a 37 year old former Marine.
1. There were an awful lot of mobilized infantry on the scene IMMEDIATELY after the chopper had killed or wounded everyone. Why were we not looking to use those troops to secure the area and ultimately the living hostages. Good intel work is made better through questioning not killing.
2. There were two children in a van that arrived to take the wounded away after the first group of men were fired. These children were clearly seen through the passenger window of the van and identified as such. We (the US forces) directed the chopper to fire on the van anyway, seriously wounding both children.
3. The initial group of men that were fired upon were not in fact Al Qaeda. One was a reporter for either the newpaper or TV station - I forget which. (It's in the documents that WikiLeaks released though - we did identify our "whoops")
4. In the video the first ground troops on the scene pulled the fairly limp wounded bodies of those children out of the van first and rushed them to be evacuated from the area and treated.
Now, we need to ask ourselves a couple questions here.
Why are were accepting our governments cover-up of these types of events simply because they are "our government"?
When is it okay to have alternate (ie non-lethal - by using troops on the ground to capture and interrogate these individuals) means of removing a threat and instead resort "shoot first, cover up later" methods?
If these were your friends standing around talking who get shot up. Then you race over like any NORMAL HUMAN in your van to help them once the shooting seems to have stopped... only to have your 4-6 year old daughter shot up in your van... would you want that force to remain in your country?!
Finally, as a twenty year old Marine, I can tell you, if I saw this type of material, I would have been very conflicted about what to do with it. This is
potentially a war crime that not only did we commit, but we also identified it as a mistake, and then documented it.
Now, in order to keep our dark little screw up under wraps we label it as "secret" or "top secret", thus preventing our citizens back home from knowing about it. The helicopter pilot did his job as instructed and he has no clue what the actual damage was. The troops on the ground don't truly know how or why this all happened as "collateral damage" is something that is easy to explain and unfortunately, accept. And because all the moving parts don't relate to one another directly, no one individual - save our PFC and several others in the intel world - can put it all back together. Thus, the US citizens and media will never hear of this.
Seems pretty dastardly to me at best.
I'm a little unsettled to hear so many of my fellow board members get hung up on "national security" and not see clearly the offensive nature with which our government operates at times. The cover-ups (ahem, security classifications associated with the documentation of reality) are just the rancid red fruit on top. Why shouldn't we know this?
Our country is behaving like the playground bully at times and THAT is what is most upsetting to me. I'm proud that the PFC was human though I agree he should have gone through proper channels first (he may have but we don't have the whole story).
I agree with ya brother, but if anything they could have been a little selective about what they released. If I had a copy of something that was a war crime then sure I would have made a couple copies and then brought them to the proper authorities, not post them for the world to see. There is a difference bigger then a thin line between doing the right thing and trying to hurt thouasands of soldiers still in harms way.
Excellent....
