Marty: Leaks were hardly a secret

I was working on something else when the latest WikiLeaks
exploded in the news. In case you’ve been living in a cave
WikiLeaks made its first huge splash in July 2010, when it released
more than 90,000 classified records of incidents and intelligence
reports covering 6 years of the conflict in Afghanistan.
I was working on something else when the latest WikiLeaks exploded in the news. In case you’ve been living in a cave WikiLeaks made its first huge splash in July 2010, when it released more than 90,000 classified records of incidents and intelligence reports covering 6 years of the conflict in Afghanistan. Last week, for a second act, WikiLeaks distributed or published 250,000 classified State Department cables and dispatches covering U.S. operations worldwide. Nothing I’ve read from these documents surprises me in the least; some feelings will be hurt, but these are hardly secrets.

The subject of leaks will be hotly debated. I won’t go into the legality, morality or even the motivation of those leaking, but I offer one brief comment. Leaks of this size and breadth are not done to right some wrong, they done with destructive intent. Now for my reactions to some headline leaks from the New York Times, among others.

Item: The U.S. is in a dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel that Americans fear could be diverted for use in a nuclear device by terrorists. My reaction: Since Pakistan is a nuclear capable state with plenty of radicals in the government, Army and especially in its intelligence service which has been making trouble all along the border with Afghanistan, why would anyone be surprised?

Item: American and South Korean officials have discussed the prospects for a unified Korea should the North’s economic and political troubles lead to collapse. My reaction: We’ve been waiting for the North Koreans to collapse forever and someday they will. While we are waiting, they built an atomic bomb. If they do collapse let’s hope they go peacefully.

Item: The U.S. had to offer bribes – they call them incentives – some worth millions of dollars, to get third countries to take prisoners from Guantánamo Bay. My reaction: These prisoners are being dumped for political reasons; the bribe offers show they are too dangerous to release. No wonder they want to raise the income tax rates, the cost of buying off our ‘allies’ keeps going up.

Item: The Afghan government is corrupt. When Afghanistan’s vice president visited the United Arab Emirates last year he was carrying $52 million in cash that he could not explain. My reaction: That’s a secret? How about we get him to bribe the third countries to take the prisoners from Guantánamo Bay; I’m sure the $52 million is our money anyway.

Item: China’s Politburo is directing a global effort of computer sabotage and hacking. They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002. My reaction: Just like us.

Item: Saudi Arabian donors remain the chief financiers of Sunni militant groups like Al Qaeda and Syria has supplied a huge stockpile of arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon including sophisticated weapons. My reaction: With friends like Saudi Arabia, who needs enemies?

Item: The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, gave State Department diplomats instructions to spy on other countries’ representatives at the United Nations. Diplomats were told to collect information about e-mail accounts, credit cards and passwords, among other things. My reaction: I hope so; it’s one of the few things the UN is good for – a place to spy.

Almost everything coming out so far will have crossed the mind of any interested party or informed citizen long ago. If you’re surprised by anything but the details, you have not been keeping up.  The days of plausible deniability are long past. Essentially the world is at war – the only hard part is trying to figure out who is on which side.  

Marty Richman is a Hollister resident.