The War Logs: Reaction to Disclosure of Military Documents on Afghan War (updated)

[ProSense]

Updated to add background:

Afghanistan war logs: Massive leak of secret files exposes truth of occupation

• Hundreds of civilians killed by coalition troops
  
• Covert unit hunts leaders for 'kill or capture'
  
• Steep rise in Taliban bomb attacks on Nato
  
• Read the Guardian's full war logs investigation

Nick Davies and David Leigh

A huge cache of secret US military files today provides 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.

The disclosures come from more than 90,000 records of incidents and intelligence reports about the conflict obtained by the whistleblowers' website Wikileaks in one of the biggest leaks in US military history. The files, which were made available to the Guardian, the New York Times and the German weekly Der Spiegel, give a blow-by-blow account of the fighting over the last six years, which has so far cost the lives of more than 320 British and more than 1,000 US troops.

Their publication comes amid mounting concern that Barack Obama's "surge" strategy is failing and as coalition troops hunt for two US naval personnel captured by the Taliban south of Kabul on Friday.

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The War Logs: Reaction to Disclosure of Military Documents on Afghan War

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

The At War blog will be providing coverage of the reaction to the release of an archive of classified military documents described below that paints a grim portrait of the war in Afghanistan. The New York Times had access to the documents and published a series of reports that are gathered here.

9:56 p.m. |Kerry Says ‘Serious Questions’ Raised by Documents

Senator John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the documents released by WikiLeaks raised serious issues about the U.S.’s handling of the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“However illegally these documents came to light, they raise serious questions about the reality of America’s policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan. Those policies are at a critical stage and these documents may very well underscore the stakes and make the calibrations needed to get the policy right more urgent.”

6:46 p.m. |White House Offers Advice to Reporters

The White House e-mailed the following statement with the subject line “Thoughts on Wikileaks” to reporters on Sunday evening. In the memo, the White House advised journalists on possible reporting tacks to take on the documents and pointed them to an excerpt from The Guardian newspaper’s report:

You all should have received a written statement from General Jones (see update below) about the wikileaks release. Please let me know if you didn’t.

A few thoughts about these stories on background:

1) I don’t think anyone who follows this issue will find it surprising that there are concerns about ISI and safe havens in Pakistan. In fact, we’ve said as much repeatedly and on the record. Attached please find a document with some relevant quotes from senior USG officials.

2) The period of time covered in these documents (January 2004-December 2009) is before the President announced his new strategy. Some of the disconcerting things reported are exactly why the President ordered a three month policy review and a change in strategy.

3) Note the interesting graphs (pasted below) from the Guardian’s wikileaks story. I think they help put these documents in context.

4) As you report on this issue, it’s worth noting that wikileaks is not an objective news outlet but rather an organization that opposes US policy in Afghanistan.

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Pakistan Aids Insurgency in Afghanistan, Reports Assert

Whoa!

[boppers]

1. Ah, that's why Assange has been so quiet lately

It was speculated that this might be what he was working on, good to see it bear fruit.


edit:typo

[ProSense]

2. Kerry is holding a hearing on Afghanistan this week

On Tuesday at 9:30 a.m., should be interesting.

[boppers]

3. Have you seen the LBN thread?

Apparently it got lots of traction there.

[ProSense]

4. Yes,

after I posted this. The update is from the link there.

[Ramulux]

5. This quote is key

"As you report on this issue, it’s worth noting that wikileaks is not an objective news outlet but rather an organization that opposes US policy in Afghanistan."

This says so much about how the white house views the media in this country. So its perfectly reasonable to bow down to a "conservative" non-objective news network like fox news but if an organization is against the war in Afghanistan suddenly their information is suspect.

The white house keeps being given these amazing opportunities to score real political wins but they keep shooting themselves in the foot by being indecisive, insecure, and seemingly afraid to take a real ideological position on an issue. The whole Sherrod controversy and now this leak could have been used to gain real political capitol but they keep blowing it.

[vaberella]

6. What should be noted...

It's also probable that because of the shit that transpired between the DOA and FauxNoise that the Admin is now going to start fighting back a bit more.