Wikileaks Release 90,000 Records On Afghanistan War

Started by give her dixie, July 26, 2010, 03:34:45 PM

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give her dixie

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/25/afghanistan-war-logs-military-leaks

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.

The war logs also detail:

• How a secret "black" unit of special forces hunts down Taliban leaders for "kill or capture" without trial.

• How the US covered up evidence that the Taliban have acquired deadly surface-to-air missiles.

• How the coalition is increasingly using deadly Reaper drones to hunt and kill Taliban targets by remote control from a base in Nevada.

• How the Taliban have caused growing carnage with a massive escalation of their roadside bombing campaign, which has killed more than 2,000 civilians to date.

In a statement, the White House said the chaotic picture painted by the logs was the result of "under-resourcing" under Obama's predecessor, saying: "It is important to note that the time period reflected in the documents is January 2004 to December 2009."

The White House also criticised the publication of the files by Wikileaks: "We strongly condemn the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organisations, which puts the lives of the US and partner service members at risk and threatens our national security. Wikileaks made no effort to contact the US government about these documents, which may contain information that endanger the lives of Americans, our partners, and local populations who co-operate with us."

The logs detail, in sometimes harrowing vignettes, the toll on civilians exacted by coalition forces: events termed "blue on white" in military jargon. The logs reveal 144 such incidents.

Some of these casualties come from the controversial air strikes that have led to Afghan government protests, but a large number of previously unknown incidents also appear to be the result of troops shooting unarmed drivers or motorcyclists out of a determination to protect themselves from suicide bombers.

At least 195 civilians are admitted to have been killed and 174 wounded in total, but this is likely to be an underestimate as many disputed incidents are omitted from the daily snapshots reported by troops on the ground and then collated, sometimes erratically, by military intelligence analysts.

Bloody errors at civilians' expense, as recorded in the logs, include the day French troops strafed a bus full of children in 2008, wounding eight. A US patrol similarly machine-gunned a bus, wounding or killing 15 of its passengers, and in 2007 Polish troops mortared a village, killing a wedding party including a pregnant woman, in an apparent revenge attack.

Questionable shootings of civilians by UK troops also figure. The US compilers detail an unusual cluster of four British shootings in Kabul in the space of barely a month, in October/November 2007, culminating in the death of the son of an Afghan general. Of one shooting, they wrote: "Investigation controlled by the British. We are not able to get [sic] complete story."

A second cluster of similar shootings, all involving Royal Marine commandos in Helmand province, took place in a six-month period at the end of 2008, according to the log entries. Asked by the Guardian about these allegations, the Ministry of Defence said: "We have been unable to corroborate these claims in the short time available and it would be inappropriate to speculate on specific cases without further verification of the alleged actions."


Rachel Reid, who investigates civilian casualty incidents in Afghanistan for Human Rights Watch, said: "These files bring to light what's been a consistent trend by US and Nato forces: the concealment of civilian casualties. Despite numerous tactical directives ordering transparent investigations when civilians are killed, there have been incidents I've investigated in recent months where this is still not happening.

Accountability is not just something you do when you are caught. It should be part of the way the US and Nato do business in Afghanistan every time they kill or harm civilians." The reports, many of which the Guardian is publishing in full online, present an unvarnished and often compelling account of the reality of modern war.

Most of the material, though classified "secret" at the time, is no longer militarily sensitive. A small amount of information has been withheld from publication because it might endanger local informants or give away genuine military secrets. Wikileaks, whose founder, Julian Assange, obtained the material in circumstances he will not discuss, said it would redact harmful material before posting the bulk of the data on its "uncensorable" servers.

Wikileaks published in April this year a previously suppressed classified video of US Apache helicopters killing two Reuters cameramen on the streets of Baghdad, which gained international attention. A 22-year-old intelligence analyst, Bradley Manning, was arrested in Iraq and charged with leaking the video, but not with leaking the latest material. The Pentagon's criminal investigations department continues to try to trace the leaks and recently unsuccessfully asked Assange, he says, to meet them outside the US to help them. Assange allowed the Guardian to examine the logs at our request. No fee was involved and Wikileaks was not involved in the preparation of the Guardian's articles.
next stop, September 10, for number 4......

bcarrier


Hereiam

Would sicken you they way that the governments are trying to discredit the own of Wikileaks.

red hander


give her dixie

Bradley Manning has just been sentenced to 35 years in jail for releases documents that told the truth about the US role in Iraq and Afghanistan.

next stop, September 10, for number 4......

muppet

Quote from: give her dixie on August 21, 2013, 03:28:40 PM
Bradley Manning has just been sentenced to 35 years in jail for releases documents that told the truth about the US role in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are organisations and countries that have shot people for speaking the truth. Others have been excommunicated for doing the same.

The US is not alone on this.
MWWSI 2017

seafoid

Quote from: muppet on August 21, 2013, 06:05:18 PM
Quote from: give her dixie on August 21, 2013, 03:28:40 PM
Bradley Manning has just been sentenced to 35 years in jail for releases documents that told the truth about the US role in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There are organisations and countries that have shot people for speaking the truth. Others have been excommunicated for doing the same.

The US is not alone on this.
it is some way away from hope and change. The US is particularly vindictive to those who expose its modus operandi.
3 tn dollars would have bought a lot of healthcare for the 50m Yanks with no insurance.

give her dixie

Bradley Manning exposed a lot of stuff, but the one that stands out is the Collateral Damage" video which showed the US murdering innocent people in Iraq. The killers havn't spent a minute in jail, nor will they.

This is the raw footage of that attack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu4TW7HNK7U&nomobile=1


To add insult to injury, just yesterday Obama requested that George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Paul Wolfowitz be granted procedural immunity in a case alleging that they planned and waged the Iraq War in violation of international law.

http://warisacrime.org/content/obama-doj-asks-court-grant-immunity-george-w-bush-iraq-war

When George Bush famously stated "They hate us for our freedoms", he must have meant the freedom he and his cronies are guaranteed from any prosecution for the invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan where hundreds of thousands died.

To me, Bradley Manning is a hero for standing up and telling the truth

next stop, September 10, for number 4......


Syferus

Quote from: Puckoon on August 22, 2013, 11:13:22 PM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23798253

Chelsea Manning :o

That has to be the most bizarre story I've seen RTE News report on. They sounded embarrassed delivering it.

muppet

Quote from: Syferus on August 22, 2013, 11:22:39 PM
Quote from: Puckoon on August 22, 2013, 11:13:22 PM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23798253

Chelsea Manning :o

That has to be the most bizarre story I've seen RTE News report on. They sounded embarrassed delivering it.

(S)He'll be taking leaks differently from now on then.
MWWSI 2017

All of a Sludden

I'm gonna show you as gently as I can how much you don't know.

magpie seanie

I don't agree that Manning is a hero. He/she was used by others to promote a political agenda. This is not about truth or right or wrong. What did Manning hope to achieve? I see two possibilities: (1) Get other countries to rise up and say - bad USA, we will kick your ass and stop this or (2) get public opinion in the US to rail aginst what their military are doing and force them to clean up their act. Manning didn't come remotely close to either. This action was stupidity in my book.

theticklemister

Quote from: magpie seanie on August 23, 2013, 09:28:52 AM
I don't agree that Manning is a hero. He/she was used by others to promote a political agenda. This is not about truth or right or wrong. What did Manning hope to achieve? I see two possibilities: (1) Get other countries to rise up and say - bad USA, we will kick your ass and stop this or (2) get public opinion in the US to rail aginst what their military are doing and force them to clean up their act. Manning didn't come remotely close to either. This action was stupidity in my book.

What about simply showing what the US government do? Is that not good enough?

give her dixie

Quote from: magpie seanie on August 23, 2013, 09:28:52 AM
I don't agree that Manning is a hero. He/she was used by others to promote a political agenda. This is not about truth or right or wrong. What did Manning hope to achieve? I see two possibilities: (1) Get other countries to rise up and say - bad USA, we will kick your ass and stop this or (2) get public opinion in the US to rail aginst what their military are doing and force them to clean up their act. Manning didn't come remotely close to either. This action was stupidity in my book.

I'm glad I don't read the same books as you do.
next stop, September 10, for number 4......