The Good of WikiLeaks

Asan Bibi, 9, sits on a bench as burn cream is applied to her at Mirwais Hospital, Kandahar, Afghanistan. She, her sister and mother were badly burned when a US helicopter fired into their tent in the middle of the night, 10/13/09. (photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

 

Reader Supported News | Perspective

he recent dump of war data/documents by WikiLeaks has been met with two basic reactions:

1) This is the GWOT version of the Pentagon Papers. The truth is out there. Look! Look! - OR -

2) A sigh and roll of media eyes. Nothing new. Nothing "we" didn't already know say pundits, reporters and government officials as they use the "royal we."

The American "we" are not amused - or at least should not be. But don't count on it.

Numbed and dumbed and blinded by sunshine patriots and the tinkling brass of mainstream and cable news, Americans have been sold substandard feckless politicians and trained to accept cognitive dissonance as the real normal.

Let's not view the WikiLeaks dump as our modern version of the Pentagon Papers, but rather as an indictment of the Fourth Estate and political hubris. That is really what it is.

Most of what has been revealed so far is the mundane daily field reports in that sterile impersonal military jargon intended to be reviewed and discussed among those who speak the true language of war. It is not intended for civilian rubes that lack professional accreditation and the sacred magic freedom-defender handshake. It is intended for the owners and their guardians - and that ain't us.

The media must downplay this as old news because they have failed to report the massive number of civilian casualties in any sort of context. Our modern media is part and parcel of the ruling class and an integral piece of the war machine.

"If Americans pulled back and started paying attention to this war, it would become even less popular," a senior McChrystal staffer told Michael Hastings in his Rolling Stone article, "The Runaway General." Hastings was quickly pilloried by a CBS reporter and others who whined about access and trust with commanders etc. etc. They are not concerned about trust with the American people.

The Washington Post recently ran a story, "Top Secret America," about contracting and outsourcing of CIA and other intelligence agencies' roles in protecting America. There was much chatter prior to its release about what it would mean. Once printed, the cable pundits and reporters issued the same, "It's pretty much the stuff WE already knew." Again, nothing to see - move along.

Of course, Tim Shorrock had already published a book in 2008 titled "Spies for Hire," that pretty much told us the same thing. No big media coverage then. Two years later The Washington Post joined the information age and still - crickets.

Are you seeing a pattern here?

The current WikiLeaks revelations show us the price of our so-called war on terrorism, not just the death and maiming of American troops, but the slaughter of Afghans and Iraqis carried out with the most horrendous justification by using "collateral damage" as the description of killing innocent people. This is the perspective of Afghans and Iraqis that has been ignored or demeaned far too long, and perhaps, we might begin to actually hold that conversation in the open now. Perhaps not.

The Obama administration has made it clear that it will go after whistleblowers. They want to look forward, not backward, which is code for "truth and transparency is best left to those who know best" - and that ain't "We The People." Obama appears willing to become Col. Jessep by telling us that we can't handle the truth.

And what of Bradley Manning who stands accused of being the leaker? I recommend this article by Glenn Greenwald that covers a lot of territory about PFC Manning and all the parties involved in this situation. Well worth a read.

How important is WikiLeaks? It is imperative for "We The People." It provides the means and capability for honest whistleblowers to help reveal the crimes and manipulation of the public for the benefit of the powerful and greedy and the death of democracy.

The military will continue to do what it does best: obfuscate, manipulate and escalate without consequence. The government will continue to hide truth, and the media will continue to protect its place at the cocktail party of the elite and ruling class. And "We The People" will continue to suffer at the hands of our corporate owners and what was once called democracy.

In his 2007 documentary, "Sicko," there is a moment when Michael Moore discusses healthcare with some American ex-pats living in France. One of the women says, "In France, the government fears the people but in America, the people fear the government."

Maybe WikiLeaks will receive documents from inside BP that will reveal the full truth of the destruction of the Gulf oil disaster, and the death of 11 people apparently due to lax regulation and plain mismanagement and disregard for human life.

Maybe WikiLeaks can help instigate transparency by deed rather than by lip service.

This was not the equivalent of the Pentagon Papers - but it could become that.

The truth is out there.

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