Wikileaks: A leak that wasn’t?
Posted on 28. Jul, 2010 by Raja Mujtaba in Pak-US Relations
By Yasmeen Ali
Why are the Americans so flabbergasted by the botch up of the Allied Forces performance in Afghanistan? Are they shocked because civilians, children, women were being killed? Or that CIA had expanded paramilitary operations inside Afghanistan?. Or that these units launch ambushes, order airstrikes and conduct night raids?. Or that from 2001 to 2008, the C.I.A. paid the budget of Afghanistan’s spy agency and ran it as a virtual subsidiary? I mean, excuse me. The botch up and misrepresentation was generally known, though of course not the specific incidents.
Nine years is a long time for a war . Any war. Spending $300 billion of US taxpayer’s money and having nothing to show for it must have gone off like a bomb for the unsuspecting Americans.
Much has been written and shall continue to be written on the WIKI LEAK. WikiLeaks, an online whistle-blower, has released the ‘Afghan War Diary’, a set of over 91,000 leaked US military reports from 2004-2009. Some 75,000 reports have been released online. There has not been any ‘surprise’ in the official US circles. US National Security Advisor General James Jones said that the US “strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information…which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk” but the leaks “will not impact our ongoing commitment to deepen our partnerships with Afghanistan and Pakistan”. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the leaked reports were not based on facts and “do not reflect the current on-ground realities”.
But I will turn to three basic questions here. One, the fact, that the US and NATO forces floundering in USA was well known. It was no secret. Killings of civilians in Afghanistan was pretty much known. Papers are full of stories of how . Just to quote a few examples here; NYT 12th April 2010 ,” American troops raked a large passenger bus with gunfire near Kandahar on Monday morning, killing and wounding civilians, and igniting angry anti-American demonstrations in a city where winning over Afghan support is pivotal to the war effort.” Derrick Crowe, on April 4th 2010, posted on his site: FDL: The Seminal : “A thorough joint investigation into the events that occurred in the Gardez district of Paktiya Province Feb. 12, has determined that international forces were responsible for the deaths of three women who were in the same compound where two men were killed by the joint Afghan-international patrol searching for a Taliban insurgent.
The two men, who were later determined not to be insurgents, were shot and killed by the joint patrol after they showed what appeared to be hostile intent by being armed. While investigators could not conclusively determine how or when the women died, due to lack of forensic evidence, they concluded that the women were accidentally killed as a result of the joint force firing at the men”.
The list is long & it can go on. The point, I hope, established is that news of continuing ongoing criminal incidents was repeatedly reported. Why was it not heeded by those who should have heeded it?
Two, Obama did not start this war. But someone, along the line has to be made responsible, in all honesty, and not as a scapegoat , for the official misrepresentation of the war.
Three, Pakistan has been an ally to USA in this war and has suffered greatly .It has everything to lose by continued instability in Afghanistan and everything to gain by stability in Afghanistan. Pakistan gains nothing by prolonging the war or running a counter policy of her own. Saeed Quraishi, a political commentator, states,” As matter of fact, ISI had deep and close connections with Taliban and others since the time when both were waging a war against the Soviet Union army in Afghanistan .That connection was blessed, approved, and utilized by the American spy agencies then.
However, the connections if these still exist should be a blessing in disguise for NATO and America because this might give them a way-out to bring about some understanding with the Taliban. That is the only hope for the occupation forces to exit honorably.”
It is also intriguing that for six years the information was sitting there and after six years, it was released now.
Afghan war was a failure from the start. Historically speaking, no invader has won against Afghanistan on her home ground.
Let us acknowledge a failed war. That’s what Afghanistan has been. Always.
(The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore).
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17 Responses to “Wikileaks: A leak that wasn’t?”
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Farida
28. Jul, 2010
The House on Tuesday approved spending an additional $37 billion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, overcoming the opposition of some Democrats who have concluded that the Afghan conflict is unwinnable(Washington Post).
The disclosure Sunday of more than 91,000 secret documents about the war had little impact on the debate; most of the 102 Democrats who voted against the funding had already expressed doubts about the war in Afghanistan and Obama’s decision last December to add 30,000 troops there. They were joined by 12 Republicans.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had urged Congress to approve the legislation, saying the money will be needed soon to support troops in the field. Along with funding for operations by the Defense and State departments in Afghanistan and Iraq, the $58 billion measure includes $13.3 billion to provide payments to Vietnam War veterans exposed to Agent Orange and about $3 billion for relief efforts in Haiti.
“I am confident General Petraeus and the troops will succeed in Afghanistan, if given the time, space and resources they need,” said Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (Calif.), the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, who backed the war
What’s the whole point of this hype?Why the Drama????
Ijaz
28. Jul, 2010
The reality: The Pakistani army and the ISI are now at war with their country’s jihadists, especially the Pashtun Islamists who make up the Pakistani Taliban. Lots of military and intelligence officers have now died in this conflict. The impulse to backtrack is no doubt still there — an impulse made much more powerful by Americans who want to wash their hands of Afghanistan, and who somehow believe that Pakistan will be no worse off with an American withdrawal. But civil war north of the Durand Line would certainly follow a U.S. retreat, and Islamabad would have to support massively the “new” Afghan Taliban in this conflict. The militant forces in Pakistan, especially within the army and the civilian bureaucracy, who have argued all along that the Americans would leave defeated, would be supercharged.
I suggest America to get real. Stop listening to their Indian friends and realize the muck they have put themselves & their “allies” in.
GROW UP PLEASE! Stop thinking of us fools please.
Laila
28. Jul, 2010
Excellent research YAA.
A gimmick to pressurize Pakistan. No conspiracy against US.I respectfully disagree with Gordon Duff.Is this the strong Indian lobby at work?
Rizwan
28. Jul, 2010
Very good analysis.
A leak?
BULLSHIT!
FM
28. Jul, 2010
It is true that Americans are in a fix and find it difficult to handle or to get out of it. They are pushing Pakistan against the wall because they think we can drop the support to Taliban which they feel its there tacitly.
I as a Pakistani am concerned that has our Rulers learnt a lesson to tacle the situation or they will get lost in the game that USA will play. I doubt it is being handled carefully and suitably for Pakistan. We will be in a deeper trouble in the persut of do more??????
Asad Durrani
28. Jul, 2010
Yes YAA; that is an unwritten law of geo-politics: when a superpower becomes too big for its boots, it is led to invade Afghanistan. The US is the third one in the last three centuries.
Dr.A.K.Tewari
28. Jul, 2010
Since America and Allies and international community can not afford defeat in Afghanistan at any cost . Try to understand the meanning of current leakage in the said prespective .Pak army has already understood it but the non state actors will take time to learn it .
Inam Khan
29. Jul, 2010
Americans have an ego problem.Because of that they naver learn hard facts of life.They were defeated in Veitnam badly.They were forced out of Ethiopia having lost their famous Black Cobra Helicopter to dhoti clad shoulder firing fighters as compared to thier high tech armed soldiers. Eveyone is wise while working in his backyard.But Afghanistan is not a backyard ,it is twelve thousand away hard fighting terrain.I had a close look at so called American brave soldiers.They are encumbered with high tech gear but are very poor fighters.Presently those who cannot compete in highly competitve society register themselves in the armed forces,not by choice but matter of fact by compulsion.Gone are the days when intelligent and daring woud enrol in West Point.Quality of both officers and soldiers is very low.Now secret defense documents are being leaked by frustrated me in the military. Morale of the American miltary is low.They are tired of fighting and want to return home but pliticians wdn’t let them .American Defeat is writ on the horrizon,it wdn’t take long
frank
29. Jul, 2010
And Isreal smiles.
Marivel Guzman
29. Jul, 2010
When One single document that is classified leaks out of classified archive of the US government, the proper agencies make hell on earth for the perpetrators, let along 9,000 of those documents. Are they serious, with these wikileaks, you have to really be out of your mind to believe that those many documents are leaked. What they are doing is planting seeds of discord, they are trying to create chaos (more), to change the point finger direction, to unleash a traitor type of mass killing campaign, to get rid of the evidence (witnesses)..and to confuse the already confuse people around the world.
Please give me a brake with this leaks, and whistle blowers, the only whistle that blows is the exit ticket of the American army forces and NATO for Afghan Soil, and if they ask me t, they should be leaving every country that they terrorize, with their soldiers and with their America tax payer subsidized wars.
Yasmeen Ali
29. Jul, 2010
Thank you Marivel, for the comment it is well appreciated.
Rgds
Yasmeen Ali
Summaya
29. Jul, 2010
Very Balanced Write Up.
Yasmeen Ali
29. Jul, 2010
I am extremely grateful for the comments by all. This article was published by PAKISTAN OBSERVER as well. Here is link to PO:
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=44100
Warm Regards
Yasmeen Ali
Parvez
30. Jul, 2010
Why Wikileaks90000 document dump is Fake:
Computer data bases store documents and data sets and then they are coded for attributes such as date, location, type, source, and reliability. In addition security level to access the information is also coded into database. Lower level people get to look very limited information. Larger the information, higher is the level of security. Full data is available to organization heads only. For secure databases, the data is encrypted and even copying is not allowed. When you access a database, your ID will be recorded and displayed to security officials.
There is a possibility that somebody is maintaining a private database from raw information. A single individual can’t do it over a period of six years.
In any case it is collection of write up of agencies of NATO and their supporters in Kabul.
So there you have it. It is an official leak, only by Wikileak.
Rehmat
31. Jul, 2010
Iranian President Dr. Ahmadinejad has accused the US and Israel of planning to invade two regional Muslim countries to pressure the Islamic Republic. First I thought he meant Syria and Lebanon – but after studying the recent Wikileaks (twin Jewish sister of Wikipedia) – I have decided to bet my Canadian dollar on Pakistan and Lebanon. Why? Because Pakistan is the sole Muslim nuclear power and Lebanese Islamic Resistance, Hizbullah, is the only Muslim militia which has defeated the Jewish army twice (in 2000 and 2006).
The 91,000 ‘leaks’ documents expose US propaganda lies about its military success, carpet-bombing, civilian death and US-appointed Hamid Karzai government to cover its nine-year-old war in Afghanistan conceived by the neocons (mostly Jewish) several month before the 9/11. The two main reasons for the invasion of Afghanistan were the Caspian Sea oil/gas reserves and the supply of opium. Both of the desired aims were to benefit Zionist elites and Israel in the long run. In 2010, the US taxpayers are going to pay towards Washington’s wars for Israel in Afghanistan ($65 billion), Iraq ($61 billion) and Palestine ($6 billion). The US-Canada alliance in Afghanistan is expected to cost US$22 billion to the Canadian taxpayers.
Wikileaks have blamed both Pakistan intelligence agency (ISI) and Tehran for supporting Taliban and thus the US military failure in Afghanistan. Interestingly, Taliban were created and supported by the US-Pakistan-Saudi Arabia trio to defeat USSR in Afghanistan. British ‘Guardian’ reported on November 13, 2009 that US is still paying millions of dollars to Taliban to ensure the safety of it supply convoys to NATO forces in Afghanistan. Taliban (Wahabis) were also used against the Islamic Republic (Shia). Tehran gave political assylum to Afghan leaders sought by Taliban to be executed – former President of Afghanistan Burhanddin Rabbani and Prime Minister Gulbedin Hikmatyar.
Rabbani left Iran in December 2001 and took residence in the Royal Palace in Kabul controlled by US allies, the Northern Alliance. Hikmatyar left in 2002 when Washington threatened to bomb Iran for harboring Taliban leaders. Hikmatyar is now an ally of Mullah Omar.
In reality – Wikileaks is another attempt by the CIA/Mossad to hide the truth behind the Afghanistan war – just like the 9/11 Commission
which was set-up to provide cover to the real culprits behind the tragedy……..
http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/wikileaks-zionist-plot-to-invade-more-muslim-lands/
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