Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Outraged

Have any of you read in the news in the last day or two about the thousands of military documents leaked out to the public?
I'm sorry - I try to keep my political views and things like that off of this here 'lil blog... but on this one - I've just GOT to say something. I mean honestly! I think in recent years we've taken the whole "freedom of speech" and "freedom of the press" thing a bit too far... and when innocent lives are at stake in the process - these people should be ashamed of themselves.
If you haven't heard - a website called WikiLeaks.org has now published several thousand documents from the current war - outlining everything from military strategy to naming actual individuals over in Pakistan and Afghanistan that have helped the US in the war effort. Do these people not think for a second that they've put those individuals in harm's way by publishing their name for the entire world to see?! I mean the radicals that can get a hold of these documents will surely torture these people for helping the US.
I might be wrong in this - but I just don't think that every Tom, Dick, or Harry needs to read this level of detail... and ESPECIALLY not our enemies... I mean what do you think the North Koreans are doing with this information?! If you answered, probably mounting a good counter strategy against us should anything escalate into a confrontation - you'd probably be right!
Sometimes - things are just better left unknown. I mean it's not like even within your own jobs... that you know EVERYTHING about every decision... that is why there are people promoted to positions to make choices. I don't need to know all the ins and outs of why each decision is made - just tell me the relevant facts that I need to keep doing my part.
Isn't that why we elect people in the first place? So that they can govern on behalf of the people... that's what it's supposed to be about. Now, with that said - do I think everyone in Washington is doing a good job at that - absolutely not - BUT that is why it is so critically important that we hold them accountable with our votes. Should we read every document that they talk about in order to make those decisions - every email they send... of course not! If we did... we might as well be governing ourselves... by committee.
Have any of you worked on a committee lately? Pretty ineffective if you ask me... even more ineffective than our current government.
The whole thing just blows my mind, and the irresponsibility of it all is even worse. These folks did a horrible thing in my opinion, and hiding behind a loophole in a law is just not right. I say - you apologize and take the information down... even though at this point - anyone that has a slight beef with the US has been empowered beyond anything we could ever imagine.
It's called being a good citizen - and putting the lives of our fellow Americans, military employees, and even citizens of other nations in danger - is just deplorable!
Alright - end rant.

2 comments:

  1. I just heard about it on The Today Show this morning. The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, was less than apologetic in his interview. He was mildly, at best, concerned that the blood "may" be on his hands should the lives of Afghan informants be at risk or possibly become casualties of the war effort because of this leaked information.

    But let's not forget the person/people responsible for leaking the information in the first place. Sure, WikiLeaks has a great deal of responsibility in this matter, but the government needs to find the party who initially released the information and try/convict them for treason.

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  2. I saw a lot of news about this on the Today Show as well and it said it was someone in our military that was low ranking...so it makes me wonder how he got his hands on these documents? It's really scary to think how this all happened...

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