Wikileaks and Afghanistan
Wikileaks has released several thousand documents from the war in Afghanistan showing what occured from 2004 - 2009. They were released to three newspapers at once, The New York Times in the USA, The Guardian in the UK and Der Spiegel in Germany, all left leaning papers that would willingly publish the material. The release prevented the documents from being blocked and as a result the inner working of the war have been laid bare.
It's interesting to see that knowledge of Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts were known despite denials and that civilian casualties have been much higher and not been as much of a concern as might be expected.
So how much of an impact on the war is this likely to have. Will it help those troops already on the ground in Afghanistan, will it mean a faster withdrawal of troops from the War and less money spent on it.
It has been said that the documents already have enough detail that they could constitute the basis for war crimes charges. Are we likely to see anything started in the Hague or will all actions in the war be swept under the carpet.
Finally, how much impact will this have on the governments in question. Do you think the release was politically motivated or carried out in the name of free speech? Is Wikileaks justified in releasing this info despite the effect it may have in terms of National Security?
