Several weeks ago, I wrote about the potential for WikiLeaks to change the political world as we know it.
That was in response to the impending leak of several hundred thousand United States war documents. Like Transformers producer Michael Bay, however, WikiLeaks is not content with just one explosion; this time they’ve decided to nuke the moon.
Specifically, WikiLeaks has leaked about 250,000 documents the White House has referred to as “stolen” and classified, as reported by several news organizations including The New York Times. These documents contain information on diplomatic wheelings and dealings between the United States and foreign regimes – notably, discussions of a unified Korea and exhortations from the House of Saud – the royal family of Saudi Arabia – to the United States in favor of attacking Iran. These documents, needless to say, have the potential to be tremendously damaging to not only the United States, but her allies and diplomatic partners as well.
Now we have a small problem: Was WikiLeaks correct in releasing these documents? In my previous column, I lauded the organization as having the potential to change the world and inform the populace about such vital topics as an ongoing war, but is this the same?
Certainly, the leaking of classified documents puts the government in a sticky situation. There are deals made and broken behind closed doors and in back rooms that are never meant to see the light of day; this is the very backbone of diplomacy. There is, in fact, a reason documents are classified: If the public knew everything that happened all the time, diplomacy would be largely impossible. Unsavory decisions must sometimes be made in order that, later, “good” decisions can also be made. That’s the essence of deal making, right there.
It’s also important to note that these leaks can have potentially devastating effects on the international community. Consider Iran’s position: According to these leaked documents, Iran’s neighbors have been essentially begging the United States and her allies (including Israel) to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, essentially launching a third war in the Middle East. Iran, in the face of these tangible, traceable documents, is necessarily going to be on the defensive and, with a foreign policy as aggressive as that of Iran, it might look more to the world like an offense than any sort of defensive measure.
Even worse, let’s consider Pakistan. According to the leaks, America has been attempting to take some enriched uranium from Pakistan for fear it would find its way into anti-American hands. From the Pakistani perspective, America is trying to take Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. It seems cut and dry until the realization hits that Pakistan is one of America’s best allies in the war on terror, allowing us to bomb within Pakistani borders in order to neutralize al-Qaida. Tensions have been strained recently because of the bombing campaign. How much more strained can they be until they break?
Is WikiLeaks acting in favor of transparent, accountable, democratic and free government? Broadly speaking, yes. From another perspective, the site is endangering a large portion of the world by releasing documents that were never meant to see the light of day. Is transparency worth so much?