Would Anyone Like to Read all 400,000 Wikileaked Documents Before Commenting?
No, I surely have not read them all. How could anyone have read them in the time it's taken for everyone in the world to pronounce judgment on them? I'm guessing a few media talking points were released with them, no?
I have absolutely no idea what one might reasonably conclude from them, having not yet read them. Here's a lone voice, however, suggesting that they might plausibly be interpreted as something other than a root-and-branch indictment of America's stone-eyed, child-slaughtering, virgin-raping imperialist war machine. I received this e-mail from "Timothy Thompson" last night. I offer it to the world in case someone else who hasn't read the documents wants an easy way out.
Documented torture in Iraq will be the headline for NYT, AJE, Guardian, & Der Speigel coverage.
There is however a lot in the second trove for conservatives. It will, predictably, go unmentioned unless someone like mentions it and then uses a truncheon to beat its meaning into some thick skulls.
Here's the 1st item: the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps were/are up to their necks in Iraq. Bluntly put, Iran was/is arming Iraqis to kill American and Coalition troops. For example, the IRGC Quds Force used Hezbollah as their direct operators; US special forces regularly targeted them.
The American & Coalition response in Iraq was measured and restrained. Under the laws of war, Iran committed repeated acts of war against the USA. We had every right to retaliate against Iran by any lawful means. We didn't. A very significant legal point in an era of liberals screaming about legal aggression by the USA. We can, in fact, use the IRGC operations in Iraq (which are ongoing) as justification for attacking Iran any time we please.
The picture painted is that a lot of people are shooting at us in Iraq. They are fighting dirty. Our Iraqi allies are fighting back real dirty. Iran is not-quite-so-covertly using Shia militias and Hezbollah to shoot at us. The American response was/is very restrained and measured.
The liberal press will miss that America under both Bush & Obama is letting Iran know that we will fight them outside Iran, but we'd rather not. We are also letting Iran know that we are fully prepared to fight them in Iran, but we'd really rather not. This is a mature and statesmanlike response to a nutcase nation.
Twitter is predictably abuzz with the torture stuff and how we shoot civilians at checkpoints. As I keep reminding the really cute [I am editing this out for you, Timothy, I suspect you'd prefer me to, no?] the "civilians" in the cars kill *far* more innocent Muslims than we do. There are no presumed civilians in asymmetric warfare. We even managed to kill the head of the Italian Secret Service, Nicola Calipari, at a checkpoint. War is a bloody business where innocents die by the carload.
No one seems to be giving the USA credit for its remarkable restraint and humanity in Iraq.
So, there you go. Me, I think I'll refrain from commenting until I've read at least, say, ten percent of the documents. Sound fair? At an optimistic rate of a document per minute, that should take me about a year. I'll get back to you then.
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Comments :
May '10
Re: Would Anyone Like to Read all 400,000 Wikileaked Documents Before Commenting?
Was this doc dump an attempted October surprise?
Jun '10
Re: Would Anyone Like to Read all 400,000 Wikileaked Documents Before Commenting?
American soldiers shot some Iraqi civilians, and some press cameramen with shoulder-mounted video cameras, because soldiers don't read minds--they read actions. The soldiers that are willing to wait, to engage in mind-reading, often go home in a box.
Aug '10
Re: Would Anyone Like to Read all 400,000 Wikileaked Documents Before Commenting?
Doubtful that these contain horrors never imagined. Look at how the bar is lowered. Humiliation elicits the Abu Ghraib hysteria which appeared on the front page of said NYT exponentially more than the Holocaust during that other war. The exponential reverse is infinitesimal, and the NYT infernally deceptive.
Aug '10
Re: Would Anyone Like to Read all 400,000 Wikileaked Documents Before Commenting?
I believe that no one, not even its alleged translators, has ever read Remembrance of Things Past. I believe that somewhere within those thousands of pages, Marcel Proust correctly predicted the winners of the first fifty Super Bowls
Prove me wrong.
Jun '10
Re: Would Anyone Like to Read all 400,000 Wikileaked Documents Before Commenting?
War is hell, [expletive] happens, the rest is just details.
May '10
Re: Would Anyone Like to Read all 400,000 Wikileaked Documents Before Commenting?
Both the atrocities and the Iran in Iraq story were given equal measure in the Saturday NYT. I have not seen Sunday's yet...
Aug '10
Re: Would Anyone Like to Read all 400,000 Wikileaked Documents Before Commenting?
I don't think even Julian Assange could have carefully filtered 400,000 documents for whatever ideological motive he may have. And since we really were the good guys over there, it's hard to see how any major document dump could make our side look entirely bad. But who the hell is Julian Assange to make that decision? The self-righteousness of the left seems boundless, and then someone like him comes along and you realize the poverty of your imagination.
Jun '10
Re: Would Anyone Like to Read all 400,000 Wikileaked Documents Before Commenting?
It's been my experience that Americans with no experience of war tend to think of war as a game, with rules and clear winners and losers. All nice and neat with rules and sportsman-like behavior. They've heard the line "War is Hell" but they just don't understand what that means. The the other guy isn't interested in "playing fair," he's interested in winning at ALL costs.
It's a shame most Americans don't seem to hold the enemy to the same standard which they judge our troops. It's a shame most Americans will gloss over the evil of the enemy revealed by these documents and solely focus on our mistakes.
Oct '10
Re: Would Anyone Like to Read all 400,000 Wikileaked Documents Before Commenting?
I wonder how this guy sleeps at night and NOT because of qualms of conscience. Were I to do something like this I'd have to relegate myself to a life of hiding and running. I wonder the same thing about the guy who stabbed Gen McChrystal in the back. I think I'd pick on somebody who wasn't the top Special Forces guy in the world. A lifetime is a long time to be looking over your shoulder. I won't be surprised when these guys disappear.....