Sunny Hundal: Neocons are hypocrites on WikiLeaks
[Sunny Hundal is editor of the left-wing blog Liberal Conspiracy and other online magazines.]
As soon as the WikiLeaks Afghanistan exposé came to light, it was obvious the usual suspects would start attacking the messenger than discussing the message. David Aaronovitch was quick off the mark, with others following soon enough – implying WikiLeaks was seriously damaging the war effort in Afghanistan.
The rhetoric has now reached absurd levels. The US defence secretary said the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, had "blood on his hands"; people on Fox News have called it "a terrorist organisation"; and one of the Washington Post's columnists called it a "criminal enterprise". The former Bush speechwriter also said he wanted it shut down and Assange to "be brought to justice" by any means necessary, and has previously justified waterboarding. It has been reported that one WikiLeaks editor has already been harassed by US border police.
If any of this comes as a surprise, then you don't know the twisted and hypocritical minds of neoconservatives well enough. But I'll come back to that.
To be clear, I've always supported the war in Afghanistan (but not Iraq) and think the Taliban are among the most vile terrorist groups on earth.
But the case against WikiLeaks doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Has it endangered the lives of Afghanis?..
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
As soon as the WikiLeaks Afghanistan exposé came to light, it was obvious the usual suspects would start attacking the messenger than discussing the message. David Aaronovitch was quick off the mark, with others following soon enough – implying WikiLeaks was seriously damaging the war effort in Afghanistan.
The rhetoric has now reached absurd levels. The US defence secretary said the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, had "blood on his hands"; people on Fox News have called it "a terrorist organisation"; and one of the Washington Post's columnists called it a "criminal enterprise". The former Bush speechwriter also said he wanted it shut down and Assange to "be brought to justice" by any means necessary, and has previously justified waterboarding. It has been reported that one WikiLeaks editor has already been harassed by US border police.
If any of this comes as a surprise, then you don't know the twisted and hypocritical minds of neoconservatives well enough. But I'll come back to that.
To be clear, I've always supported the war in Afghanistan (but not Iraq) and think the Taliban are among the most vile terrorist groups on earth.
But the case against WikiLeaks doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Has it endangered the lives of Afghanis?..