Beheadings. Torture. Rape. Extortion. Lies. Hit squads.
Sounds like a made-for-movie espionage plot. All of this – and more – are alleged in the latest round of documents released by Wikileaks. Some 400,000 documents paint an ugly picture of U.S. and Iraqi military operations from 2004-2009.
Wikileaks is the brainchild of Julius Assange, an Australian who is often referred to as the “Robin Hood of hacking.” The website posts secret documents and information in the public domain because Assange believes that total transparency is for the good of all people.
There are conflicting views about whether such releases put American soldiers in danger and are a threat to our national security. My concern is that us NOT knowing puts American citizens in danger and, for that reason, we need to know what people who claim to be defending us are really doing – in our names and with our public dollars.
Wikileaks has already released damaging videos and documents about U.S. troops in the war against so-called terrorism. Back in April 2010, the site released a secret video taken in 2007 of a U.S. helicopter attack in Iraq that killed a dozen civilians, including two unarmed Reuters journalists. The disturbing video directly challenged the account initially given by the military as to what happened. A few months later, Wikileaks shook up the media and military status quo by releasing about 70,000 classified military records from the Afghanistan war.
By this time, Assange was seen as a threat and attempts to undermine his credibility began. A Fox News contributor called for Wikileaks to be declared “an enemy combatant.” Rape charges were lodged against the whistleblower by two unknown Swedish women but were later dropped. Threats to take down the site abounded. Wikileaks prevails.
What Wikileaks has done for us is to show the other face of war in Iraq and Afghanistan that explains the contempt towards this country. The Afghan and Iraqi peoples already know the atrocities detailed in the leaked documents. Their families and communities are the victims of the rapes and murders by both US and Iraqi governments. Here at home, we have been constantly lied to by the government and distracted by foolishness. The documents are reasons for the growing anti-American sentiment throughout the world and why we could be targets in the future. Now, we cannot claim ignorance of the situation; it has been laid before us.
Among other disclosures, the latest records revealed US-backed Shi’ite hit squads that helped inflame the relations between Shi’ites and Sunnis; the unprecedented numbers of contract forces like Blackwater who carried out their own brand of atrocities condoned by the US military; the number of Iraqi civilian deaths to be higher than told; the inhumane and unnecessary brutality of the US and Iraqi forces towards civilians; the fallacy of the surge; and the further evidence that there were never weapons of mass destruction.
Although there is no evidence yet to prove this, I strongly believe the kind of war that the U.S. is waging in those two countries is directly linked to the rise of post-traumatic stress syndrome in the military. These men and women are demonstrating high levels of violence in their homes and communities. A recent study in the journal Military Medicine reported that 62 percent of those surveyed are receiving some kind of mental health care for their PTSD symptoms, depression, alcohol use and other difficulties. Further, the study further indicated that all who needed help were not receiving it which would make the number of cases increase dramatically.
The question now is how the Obama Administration will respond to the latest round of revelations. We already know it has refused to charge Bush-Cheney-Rumsfield with war crimes despite the mounting evidence of such. US citizens must put some pressure on the administration and Congress to stop the sickening charade that military forces are engaged in a just war. The military aggression must end and the billions spent on destroying other peoples’ countries and cultures must be diverted to addressing the social needs on our own shores. This would be a very good start.