92,000 damning documents

[doktorb]

"one of the biggest leaks in US military history ... a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency".

Hundreds of civilians including many women and children have been killed by coalition forces in several instances that were not previously revealed.

According to Der Spiegel, "the [leaked] documents clearly show that the Pakistani intelligence agency is the most important accomplice the Taliban has outside of Afghanistan.

The New York Times was especiallly alarmed by the level of collusion with the Taliban, having concluded that Pakistan “allows representatives of its spy service to meet directly with the Taliban in secret strategy sessions to organize networks of militant groups that fight against American soldiers in Afghanistan, and even hatch plots to assassinate Afghan leaders.

[Beet]

The US should get out of Afghanistan.

[Lunar]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/0710/The_big_leak.html

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Moderate hero Obama is mad that the truth got out.

[doktorb]

Some of the specific details in the newspapers this morning are just too shocking for words - troops who were (or are!) too jittery and nervous shooting civilans which are more often than not covered up or "reported differently". Troops not aware if some or all communication is being traced by as many as half-a-dozen countries.

Other paragraphs just deserve quoting in full for other people to make up their own minds;

"Hundres of files detail the efforts of insurgents, who have no aircraft, to shoot down western warplanes. The war logs detail at least 10 near-misses by missiles  in four years against coalition aircraft, one while refuling at 11,000ft and another involving a suspected Stinger missile of the kind supplied by the CIA to Afghan rebels in the 1980s"

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Moderate hero Obama is mad that the truth got out.

Indeed so.


"The White House responded swiftly and sharply to publication Sunday evening of more than 91,000 secret documents painting a bleak picture of the Afghanistan war, calling the leak “irresponsible” and saying that the source – the whistleblower website WikiLeaks — “opposes U.S. policy in Afghanistan.”  

Read more at the link.......no (c) info, live with it.

And again here

[opebo]

Anyone who required the revelation of these documents to understand that Afghanistan was a doomed waste and a boondoggle is a silly ass.

[memphis]

I don't get what is so shocking. War is messy.  Always has been. Always will be.

[doktorb]

I don't get what is so shocking. War is messy.  Always has been. Always will be.

It's not just "war is messy" that is so shocking. It is the amount of innocent deaths which were covered up. The number of Afghans killed with families "paid off". The hitherto unknown extent of Pakistani involvement in the border area. It's a disgraceful record of a costly, never ending war.

[??????????]

Wikileaks is the talibans propaganda arm.

[doktorb]

Taken from the figures to hand :

Enemy killed: 15,506
Civilians killed: 4,232
Afghan Army (ANA) killed: 3,819
Nato forces killed: 1,138

[memphis]

I don't get what is so shocking. War is messy.  Always has been. Always will be.

It's not just "war is messy" that is so shocking. It is the amount of innocent deaths which were covered up. The number of Afghans killed with families "paid off". The hitherto unknown extent of Pakistani involvement in the border area. It's a disgraceful record of a costly, never ending war.

Those are messy circumstances. Did you ever think otherwise?

[Silent Hunter]

Taken from the figures to hand :

Enemy killed: 15,506
Civilians killed: 4,232
Afghan Army (ANA) killed: 3,819
Nato forces killed: 1,138

Over 9 years, that's not really that many, compared to other wars.

[doktorb]

Taken from the figures to hand :

Enemy killed: 15,506
Civilians killed: 4,232
Afghan Army (ANA) killed: 3,819
Nato forces killed: 1,138

Over 9 years, that's not really that many, compared to other wars.

Wrong. That's over the period of these documents.

[Silent Hunter]

Taken from the figures to hand :

Enemy killed: 15,506
Civilians killed: 4,232
Afghan Army (ANA) killed: 3,819
Nato forces killed: 1,138

Over 9 years, that's not really that many, compared to other wars.

Wrong. That's over the period of these documents.

That's the total number of deaths in six years?

[opebo]

I will say Julian Dessange is a modern hero, and there are so very few.

[Earth]

This is fantastic.

Wikileaks is the talibans propaganda arm.

What a dumb thing to say.

[Boris]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100726/national/cda_afghanistan_wikileaks

[??????????]

Earth, quit supporting treason.

[Frodo]

So who decided to play the part of Daniel Ellsberg? 

[The Mikado]

And...?

Damning is a bit harsh, for what its worth.

[Lunar]

Watch this

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/07/the-man-behind-wikileaks.html

[Torie]

The administration seems to have a candor problem if this is even remotely true. Not good. The biggest mistakes administrations often make, is hiding the ball. When caught, sometimes administrations don't recover. That is one of the things that put down that pathological liar, LBJ, and of course Nixon.

[Ban my account ffs!]

I don't get what is so shocking. War is messy.  Always has been. Always will be.

It's not just "war is messy" that is so shocking. It is the amount of innocent deaths which were covered up. The number of Afghans killed with families "paid off". The hitherto unknown extent of Pakistani involvement in the border area. It's a disgraceful record of a costly, never ending war.

Those are messy circumstances. Did you ever think otherwise?

Ever heard the phrase "the devil is in the details"?

People might agree that "war is messy" and might support the war until they find out just exactly what "messy" means.

I'm glad the documents were leaked.  It's well time we got out of Afghanistan completely.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Earth, quit supporting treason.

The only treason here is that the government is engaging in largely secret wars, killing innocent civilians, and covering it up. 

If the only way to get a population to support a war is to withhold the vast majority of details, then it's not our war to fight.