The dirty little secrets of the Afghan war

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Wikileaks, the document-leaking organization that has previously released internal U.S. military videos, on Sunday disclosed more than 75,000 confidential files related to the war in Afghanistan.

The group gave the documents in advance to The New York Times, Germany’s Der Spiegel, and the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper, which independently confirmed their authenticity. The Guardian called the disclosure a “devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan,” saying it reveals how the U.S.-led coalition has killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have risen, and NATO commanders worry that neighboring Pakistan and Iran are aiding the insurgency.

About 76,900 of the files–which the group calls the “Afghan War Diary”–appeared on Wikileaks.org at around 4 p.m. PDT. Wikileaks says it has delayed the release of an additional 15,000 files to allow names and other sensitive information to be removed.

The U.K. public service broadcaster Channel 4 performed its own analysis of the dispatches from individual military units, which cover the war from 2004 through the end of 2009, and concluded that 15,506 enemy deaths were reported. At least 4,232 civilians were killed, and 1,138 NATO troops were killed.

The full impact of the files may not become apparent for days, or even months, as researchers, journalists, or anyone with an Internet connection and a modicum of curiosity takes the opportunity to pore over the data. Uncompressed, the files total about 100 megabytes, which is about 20 times the size of the complete works of William Shakespeare.

A Spiegel Online special report dubbed the documents a set of “explosive leaks.” The Times disclosed that it been given the material “about a month” ago and that it has “not linked to the archives of raw material,” even though its coverage included the domain name Wikileaks.org in the first paragraph–posing little obstacle to anyone interested in perusing the raw data.

Reaction in Washington political circles is already beginning. The Times posted a White House memo to reporters sent Sunday evening, without naming which Obama aide wrote it, seeking to downplay the disclosure as not surprising, and saying that “Wikileaks is not an objective news outlet but rather an organization that opposes U.S. policy in Afghanistan.” And Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the Foreign Relations Committee, said the release demonstrates that “calibrations” to the U.S. policy toward Afghanistan were necessary.

The documents revealed a greater amount of violence in Afghanistan than had previously been reported by the military or the media, Julian Assange, the organization’s co-founder, told the Times.

“It shows not only the severe incidents but the general squalor of war, from the death of individual children to major operations that kill hundreds,” he told the newspaper. (Wikileaks has not revealed the source of the files.)

One of the more intriguing references in the data relates to Task Force 373, which appears to have been instructed to kill its targets without arrest or trial. One report of its activities in pursuit of a suspected Al Qaeda leader said there was an “initial assessment of 7 x NC KIA (children),” meaning seven children killed in action. Another says: “The original mission was aborted and TF 373 broke contact and returned to base. Follow-up Report: 7 x ANP KIA, 4 x WIA.” Translated, that means that the U.S. soldiers were shooting at and killed seven Afghan police officers, which the Defense Department neglected to disclose in its press release.

In a statement, White House national security adviser James Jones criticized the release of the documents, saying the disclosure could put American lives and national security at risk:

The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organizations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk, and threaten our national security. Wikileaks made no effort to contact us about these documents–the United States government learned from news organizations that these documents would be posted. These irresponsible leaks will not impact our ongoing commitment to deepen our partnerships with Afghanistan and Pakistan; to defeat our common enemies; and to support the aspirations of the Afghan and Pakistani people.

Map based on Wikileaks data, showing civilian deaths in red, was created by the U.K. Guardian newspaper

A video leaked earlier this year that Wikileaks titled “Collateral Murder” shows a U.S. military helicopter in Iraq destroying a vehicle that was preparing to rush a wounded journalist to a hospital. The Apache pilots appeared to mistake a news crew, who were holding cameras, for armed insurgents.

Army intelligence specialist Bradley Manning, the serviceman who allegedly provided the videos to Wikileaks, has been charged with unlawfully divulging classified information and could face a significant prison sentence.

Source: CNET through Modemac

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Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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13 years ago

I’m trying to think of a war that wasn’t dirty but no joy.

Problem is, humanity has got very good at war and a lot seem to like it.

Mind you, we can’t have any ‘World Wars’ anymore so we have to settle for ‘small’ wars or ‘contained’ wars or, if you like, ‘warettes’.

Death still occurs on a sickeningly regular basis but there you go.

Politicians like to leave a legacy…most people do if they can.

Humanity’s legacy once we’re gone and aliens do an archaeological dig of Earth?

‘Humanity? Well, they were quite keen on war’….

13 years ago

I really have no more to add about the Afghan occupation other than there is great wisdom in the old phrase “shit happens.” I’m sorry the Afghans have struggled for a thousand years. There’s not a whole helluva lot we can do about it. And despite the protestations of right wing fools who claim we must do something, their unwillingness to pay for it through tax increases show’s their acceptance of this also.

the jeanmachine
13 years ago

Mr. Mad I’m sorry but fuck that war. Fuck it. We have no bus. being there. Leave that horror place to the horrors that live there.

Jess
13 years ago

Didn’t we kind of already know how things were over there by watching them during the Soviet/Afghanistan war? Hell, we can go back to Alexander in the 4th? century to know this was a bad decision. Shrub made a huge mistake not following through on this and high tailing it to his war of choice. wiki leaks is a world wide treasure is all I can say.

13 years ago

Mike
The Wikileaks site is down for now, perhaps to many people hitting it or someone has taken it down.

13 years ago

Mike
Excellent work on this. I tried to get to the site in question and all I get is a white page. Perhaps the site was taken down. I started looking into this early this morning. Crazy stuff!
If you don’t mind I’d like to link to your post. Of course with full acknowledgment.
Like you all said, this is the turning point.

Reply to  Professor Mike
13 years ago

Maybe there isn’t a hook. Wikileaks seems to like publishing information for the sake of publishing information – for public openness, if you will.

13 years ago

“Wikileaks made no effort to contact us about these documents …”

Duh! The people at Wikileaks would have to be crazy to think notifying the U.S. govt ahead of time was a good idea.

This is, as Krell says, a turning point in the Afghanistan war. Thank you, Wikileaks and undisclosed source(s).

13 years ago

This is the turning point of this war. Just like the Pentagon Papers that were leaked by Daniel Ellsberg to the New York Times during the Vietnam war, this will destroy what is left of public support.

Interesting note…When the Pentagon Papers were given to the Times, a young assistant U.S. Attorney General William Rehnquist asked the paper to cease publication. Then he sought an injunction in Court. It wound up at the Supreme Court.

On June 30, 1971, the Supreme Court decided, 6–3, the injunctions were unconstitutional prior restraint and the government failed to meet the heavy burden of proof required for prior restraint injunction. The ruling is generally considered a victory for an extensive reading of the First Amendment.

Well, everybody knows where William Rehnquist is now. I wonder if the court would rule the same way? Finished wondering…it has been 2 seconds….HELL NO!!

They would NOT rule the same way! This Supreme Court is not much into First Amendment anything…

13 years ago

Is there a citizen’s medal equivalent to the Silver Star that we could give to Manning?

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