From the always informative Crispin at Wings Over Iraq.
I've had my fun poking the detestable Julien Assange's 'shtruggulings' of late, his desperate attempts to maintain celebrity. But, a very legitimate worry has been brought up by a few people. The thoughts are nicely collected for one-stop-shopping at WOI.
The Af/Pak document dump could very well end up populating hit lists for local enforcers in the Taliban crime family. Locals that cooperate with ISAF would be in increased danger, and killings would likely increase in areas of decreasing ISAF presence, if and when draw-downs occur. How great this risk is depends on the extent to which the government in Afghanistan is able to control its country at that time, and the extent to which the detestable Assange deigned to delete visible names of locals from the reports he has posted. Given his track record and zealotry, the prospects are not good.
Julien Assange, and his source would have blood on their hands. Absent any speedy legal recourse, how can we prevent such collateral damage in the future? How can we stop the deluge of classified documents? Even if it were possible to convince traditional media outlets such as the NTY to refuse to publish stories about Wikileak contents, the site itself would still exist. And, even if it were possible to take down the existing site, how long would it be before another took its place, or several, or might Asschapeau and gang simply decentralize their dissemination, flooding numerous web outlets, knowing full well that some will bite and subsequently broadcast the content? Is this the beginning of an age of no secrets, or will adaptations, and countermeasures be created?
Let's hope innocent people will not die in service to Assange's overweening appetite for celebrity.
That would indeed be Collateral Murder.
No comments:
Post a Comment