Democracy Arsenal

« The Neocon New START Whip | Main | Why Democrats Lose on National Security »

October 22, 2010

Heather's take on Wikileaks
Posted by The Editors

DA blogger and NSN Executive Director Heather Hurlburt has a piece on Wikileaks up on the Huffington Post:

This afternoon's new tranche of Wikileaks seems to add a numbing amount of new, awful detail to what we already knew about the Iraq war. They are a flood on top of a steady, if less headline-grabbing, drip from other sources: Salon's report that an originator of the military's coercive interrogation program was rewarded with a no-bid Pentagon contract, Truthout's reporting on the legal directive intended to cover experimentation or testing of the program on detainees.

The wikileaks "model" has two major demerits: first, it's still wrong to put Iraqi lives at risk and/or release personal details about soldiers and civilians who fought, informed, died or just had the misfortune to live in Iraq over this period. But second, the flood of data makes it harder, not easier, to see the patterns that we still need to learn from this misbegotten war. And the sheer, accumulated horror of it will accelerate the pace at which some Americans will turn away from wanting to learn anything at all.

Full piece after the jump.

This afternoon's new tranche of Wikileaks seems to add a numbing amount of new, awful detail to what we already knew about the Iraq war. They are a flood on top of a steady, if less headline-grabbing, drip from other sources: Salon's report that an originator of the military's coercive interrogation program was rewarded with a no-bid Pentagon contract, Truthout's reporting on the legal directive intended to cover experimentation or testing of the program on detainees.

The wikileaks "model" has two major demerits: first, it's still wrong to put Iraqi lives at risk and/or release personal details about soldiers and civilians who fought, informed, died or just had the misfortune to live in Iraq over this period. But second, the flood of data makes it harder, not easier, to see the patterns that we still need to learn from this misbegotten war. And the sheer, accumulated horror of it will accelerate the pace at which some Americans will turn away from wanting to learn anything at all.

So, what are the larger lessons to draw - again?

War is always hell. War with unclear objectives poorly prepared by civilian commanders with little useful oversight is a lower circle of hell. Some readers will be eager to vent their anger on individual soldiers - and who wouldn't want to, with vignettes like the base lawyer who told pilots that insurgents "cannot surrender to an aircraft," so the crew shot them all? But what the documents don't show is why: the failure to prepare, anticipate, put civilian authorities in place, and draw clear lines put Americans and Iraqis, again and again, in positions of power and responsibility they weren't ready for.

Under that stress, some made terrible decisions, the consequences of which are documented here: gross human rights abuses, more deaths for Iraqis, civilian and military, and more death for US servicemembers. Even more horrifying levels of abuse by Iraqis were, until 2009, meticulously documented but not investigated.

The Wikileaks show the short-term consequences of this. But we are still reeling from the longer-term consequences. Jihadist recruiters and authoritarian governments alike mock our commitment to human rights, and this leak will give them a new trove with which to buttress their arguments.

Our desire to fight beyond our means led to an over-reliance on contractors which by itself led to terrible consequences and now threatens to unravel aspects of our training and aid program in Afghanistan.

Our insistence on seeing Iran as a super-bogeyman instead of one problematic Middle Eastern power center among many apparently meant that we "spent an inordinate amount of time fighting Hezbollah and Iranian proxies and got distracted from fighting Shiite militias and Al Qaeda before the Surge," per Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic.

This release is going to be an unpleasant reminder of a lot of things that Americans were - understandably - eager to get past. But perhaps it can help make clear that these grim consequences - torture, civilian casualties, murderous allies - were not side effects but inevitable consequences of what Marc Ambinder called "war, poorly executed and planned."

 

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451c04d69e201348865eaf6970c

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Heather's take on Wikileaks:

Comments

It's wonderful.

In recent years, the girls around the world, the frenzy of Ugg
boots snow increase, we recognized that it is the world's best snow boots. UGG snow boots charm where is it? Ugg boots
snow swept the world in the end what is the secret? If you live in colder weather, winter snow and more areas, I hope the same in the winter fashion personality would seem, is the perfect choice.

You gave great points here. I did some research on the subject and have found nearly all people agree with your blog.
rembrandt paintings
renoir paintings

We can be even more certain that the link between propaganda and social dementia is real.

What can be wrong with increasing the "drip" of news on this? Yes, "war is hell" and we know, e.g., that the U.S. has used/is using contractors, but new facts about the extent of the usage is welcomed. I appreciate that Wikileaks reportedly has made efforts to strip problematic identifying information this time. Your comments seem fearful and pessimistic in the face of "the truth shall make you free."

to the rule, buy your baby Abercrombie and Fitch clothes with comfort and practicality in mind and keep the cute dress for special occasions. As the Abercrombie child grows older they will love to use their own clothes for their dolls to play dress up. Don't go by the you use today they will be very different. Use more than One person to get an accurate Abercrombie clothing measurement.Allow one size abercrombie & fitch bigger for thick coats.As a general rule, measuring should be done along the dog's backbone from Abercrombie Hoodies the Base of the Head to the Base of the Tail, which Abercrombie & Fitch Hoodies is referred to as the "top line measurement".

This is from the base of where the Abercrombie Shirts collar rests to abercrombie Jeans where the tail is attached.It is best to start this training as a puppy, but older dogs can also easily be trained with a little more patience. Suitable dog clothes can make Abercrombie Shorts your pet happy Abercrombie Sweaters and healthy resulting in less trips to the vet and additional savings in money and time.

Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts.

Whether 1025 ", "Louis Vuitton Price planning formulation explicit" to people of all ethnic groups for a better life ", new scientific development still emphasize more attention to "people-oriented" and " Louis Vuitton Punchy Sneaker pay more attention to guarantee and improve people's livelihood", and "security and improve the people's livelihood" as accelerating Louis Vuitton Clutches transformation of the mode of economic development essential starting point and the foothold, all the people's livelihood an unprecedented level.



«Une étoile de la mode-adolescent frappé qui ne voulait pas apparaître dans Vogue n'a pas vraiment sonner faux. Alors j'ai pris le téléphone pour dire ... où aurait-elle jamais mieux photos prises?
«Nous sommes allés avant et en arrière pendant quelques jours et, éventuellement, un accord fut conclu. La semaine prochaine, Coleen, une cible lucrative pour les paparazzi, bottes vernies,qui est habituellement à trouver les bras chargés avec des chaussures de courses, le port de la fourrure de lapin de 500 livres bottes Mukluk, bottes neige survêtements de velours rose et portant Livres 999 bling-couleur Chloe handshoes Paddington dans les rues de Manchester, seront réparties sur six pages de l'anglais Vogue, autrefois le bastion de la fière sosies Kate Moss qui a établi la tendance pour les défilés de mode à bottes neige et son plus cool et le plus inaccessible.
Ses modèles bâton-minces n'ont jamais ressemblé amplement-croupe Coleen.

What can be wrong with increasing the "drip" of news on this? Yes, "war is hell" and we know, e.g., that the U.S. has used/is using contractors, but new facts about the extent of the usage is welcomed. I appreciate that Wikileaks reportedly has made efforts to strip problematic identifying information this time. Your comments seem fearful and pessimistic in the face of "the truth shall make you free."

The comments to this entry are closed.

Subscribe
Sign-up to receive a weekly digest of the latest posts from Democracy Arsenal.
Email: 
Powered by TypePad

Disclaimer

The opinions voiced on Democracy Arsenal are those of the individual authors and do not represent the views of any other organization or institution with which any author may be affiliated.
Read Terms of Use