In a SPIEGEL interview, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, 39, discusses his decision to publish the Afghanistan war logs, the difficult balance between the public interest and the need for state secrets and why he believes people who wage war are more dangerous than him.
SPIEGEL: You are about to publish a vast amount of classified data on the war in Afghanistan. What is your motivation?
Assange: These files are the most comprehensive description of a war to be published during the course of a war — in other words, at a time when they still have a chance of doing some good. They cover more than 90,000 different incidents, together with precise geographical locations. They cover the small and the large. A single body of information, they eclipse all that has been previously said about Afghanistan. They will change our perspective on not only the war in Afghanistan, but on all modern wars.
SPIEGEL: Do you think that the publication of this data will influence political decision-makers?
Assange: Yes. This material shines light on the everyday brutality and squalor of war. The archive will change public opinion and it will change the opinion of people in positions of political and diplomatic influence.
[More]
Related:
Leaked War Files Bolster Suspicion of Iranian Ties to Extremists
U.S. Braces for Blowback Over Afghan War Disclosures
Pentagon Eyes Army Intelligence Analyst in Leak of Afghan War Documents
There are no secrets if everyone has a security clearance
Updates:
1:17 pm EDT, July 27th, 2010 — Leaks raise U.S. policy doubts
1:18 pm EDT, July 27th, 2010 — EDITORIAL: Leaking death
1:19 pm EDT, July 27th, 2010 — America plays the fool in Pakistan’s double game
1:24 pm EDT, July 27th, 2010 — When nothing is secret any more
1:25 pm EDT, July 27th, 2010 — Security and the anarchy of the internet
1:26 pm EDT, July 27th, 2010 — WikiTrouble
1:27 pm EDT, July 27th, 2010 — Document Leak May Hurt Efforts to Build War Support
“Wikileaks founder Julian Assange hopes that the leak will inspire more people to come forward with classified documents. “Courage is contagious,” he says, well pleased with himself. But I don’t think Assange’s actions can be called courageous at all. They are thoughtless at best, mad at worst, and they tell us something truly alarming about the trajectory of internet culture. ”
Iranian ties? Methinks Mr Assange may be influencing the direction of unintended consequences from his data release. Who’s he working for again?
Well I think the publication of all these documents may well be a coordinated effort to refudiate the Politically Correct method employed in trying to win through bribery, subterfuge and keeping what is in place, in place.
I have yet to make up my mind about this leak but I tend to agree with the author in the last link. While Assange appears much concerned about stopping this war he has said little or nothing about what will happen if he succeeds. The man suffers from “tunnel vision” and sees only one side of a very complex situation.
I’m thinking about all the children in that country now attending school who will eventually inherit and change in profound ways a very backwards seventh century nation. That will take a lot of time — some thirty years I guessed long ago.
If we give up and leave, those children in many cases will die horrible deaths, the schools will close and Afghanistan will revert to what it once was (and still is). A mind boggling country built on hate for all the west stands for and the contacts (Iran) to do great harm. They will come again just as they did on 911.
Therefore I feel that Assange should be arrested and prosecuted, not because he is trying to stop a war he has no grasp of. Rather, because he has betrayed an entire country — Afghanistan. Worse he has attempted to betray the future which is within their reach with persistence from the west which may dissipate in future thanks to his misguided efforts.
For now (and I’ve said this many times) Iran must have it’s war making ability destroyed because this country is the one that is causing all the trouble for everyone everywhere. When Iran can no longer make war the trouble will stop and that is the bottom line.
You can take that to the bank.
The leaks don’t offer much other than causing us to reflect on why we are in a War that the politicians of the West do a lousy job of explaining.
We should only go to war in our own best interests and we should minimize harm to innocents in the process. So far we’ve lived up to that. But is it still in our interest to attempt nation building in Afghanistan where there is no nation, only tribes?
The answer was yes in Iraq which worked because its ecology (oil) can sustain its population of 25 million but is that size of population sustainable in Afghanistan? Doubtful.
The next problem is, we should only fight what is winnable and how do we define winnable in what Jack correctly calls a potentially 30 year time span? We can’t win against an enemy we won’t name. The enemy isn’t Afghanistan and it isn’t just al Qaeda or the Taliban; it’s a number of failed states and non-state actors. In short, it’s the global movement of Islamofascism, but we won’t name the enemy, so how can this be winnable?
Iraq has become a nation; but doubtfully Afghanistan will, nor will Pakistan…too many tribes and lousy ecologies. Iran might work someday because again it has an ecology that might support its population given sane leadership. But the whole region is built on the ancient traditions of tribalism which won’t work in large populations in a global economy.
We tried our best in Afghanistan; they now have an opportunity to nation build if they have the desire and can find the leadership. That’s not our duty any longer, it’s up to them.
Islamofascism is yet another form of utopianism, this time a utopianism of the past (as opposed to a utopianism of the future currently promoted by the Obamarx gang). We’ll never conquer utopianism any more than we’ll eliminate crime or poverty. We will always have to strive to minimize these ills.
Meanwhile we still have the enemy within to contend with, our modern version of the Cold War. So given the lack of definitions on winnablity, we should stop spending blood and treasure in Afghanistan and concentrate on making Canada strong enough to withstand the progressive forces within; PMSH cannot afford more political capital on Afghanistan because no Western Country is willing to name the enemy.