It's being reported today that a Private First Class has been singled out by NATO and the Pentagon as the source of the Wikileaks.org 90,000 Afghanistan documentation of the horrors going on in country, and that he has arrived in the U.S., having been in Europe at the time of his arrest. Ironically the only government official to speak out about the specific Private and his charges has been the uniformed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullens. Our civilian leadership has made no specific comment.
The argument coming from the Pentagon has been that even though the leaked information is all prior to 2010 and no current positions are revealed, and that even though the documents document Pakistani government policy over a year ago and that the current administration's efforts have influenced Pakistani policy for the good, that somehow American troops have been endangered by the release of these documents and that the leakers are "traitors" and such.
Given the alleged sensitivity of this "intelligence" in that it risks our troops lives, one would think that only high level personnel would have access to it.
It appears that today the Pentagon is trying to have their cake and eat it too. The word leaking out of the Defense hierarchy today is that the Wikileaks documents were actually not highly classified, and that a Private First Class would not only have access to the 90,000 documents that allegedly "put our troops at risk", but that he and maybe another one or two low-level accomplices are totally responsible.
It's not too surprising that low-level fall guys are being sought for potential trials and courts martial, nor that the Pentagon under Secretary Gates is trying to have it's cake and gobble it up, as well. What's really disturbing, however, is that it's a uniform(Mullens) who is prejudging the specific case against this Private publicly. Wasn't it just a few weeks ago another uniformed General officer was talking too much and trying to do ends-around civilian leadership?
The argument coming from the Pentagon has been that even though the leaked information is all prior to 2010 and no current positions are revealed, and that even though the documents document Pakistani government policy over a year ago and that the current administration's efforts have influenced Pakistani policy for the good, that somehow American troops have been endangered by the release of these documents and that the leakers are "traitors" and such.
Given the alleged sensitivity of this "intelligence" in that it risks our troops lives, one would think that only high level personnel would have access to it.
It appears that today the Pentagon is trying to have their cake and eat it too. The word leaking out of the Defense hierarchy today is that the Wikileaks documents were actually not highly classified, and that a Private First Class would not only have access to the 90,000 documents that allegedly "put our troops at risk", but that he and maybe another one or two low-level accomplices are totally responsible.
It's not too surprising that low-level fall guys are being sought for potential trials and courts martial, nor that the Pentagon under Secretary Gates is trying to have it's cake and gobble it up, as well. What's really disturbing, however, is that it's a uniform(Mullens) who is prejudging the specific case against this Private publicly. Wasn't it just a few weeks ago another uniformed General officer was talking too much and trying to do ends-around civilian leadership?
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