Loss of Privacy

Wikileaks has released 92,201 records pertaining to Afghanistan, including intelligence reports and paramilitary operations. In the leak, Pakistan is identified as an insurgent ally.

Wikileaks editor Julian Assange, in an exclusive interview with Channel 4 News said he believes this is “the most comprehensive history of a war ever to be published – during the course of the war”.

The Afghan War Diary an extraordinary secret compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010. The reports describe the majority of lethal military actions involving the United States military. They include the number of persons internally stated to be killed, wounded, or detained during each action, together with the precise geographical location of each event, and the military units involved and major weapon systems used.

The White House is condemning the release. No surprise there.

Reaction in Washington political circles is already beginning. The Times posted a White House memo to reporters sent Sunday evening, without naming which Obama aide wrote it, seeking to downplay the disclosure as not surprising, and saying that “Wikileaks is not an objective news outlet but rather an organization that opposes U.S. policy in Afghanistan.” And Sen. John Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the Foreign Relations Committee, said the release demonstrates that “calibrations” to the U.S. policy toward Afghanistan were necessary.

The time line and spin from the White House at the New York Times.
The Guardian has an interactive map detailing events related to the leak.  They have some of the best coverage detailing the events and the leak.
Channel 4 has several stories and the video below about the unseen Afghan war.

CNN has an article. If CNN does what it usually does, there will be pentagon officials speaking on the news about how bad the leak is and not discussing what’s actually in the leak.
Boing Boing has a story with several links to other places to read and digest the information.
Spiegel also has a story and some photos.
Glenn Greenwald wrote a piece last week about the motives behind the whistle-blower prosecutions. It’s highly relevant to this story.
Reddit also has a very lively discussion on the matter.

WikiLeaks is down at the moment, unable to sustain the weight of the hits it’s receiving over this current leak. The documents in question can be found here and a dedicated website for the information can be found here. In the meantime, you can also grab a torrent of the files and download it. This will help decrease the load on the WikiLeaks page.

One of the more interesting aspects to this entire story is the recurrent question of why does WikiLeaks now do the investigative journalism that the newspapers should be doing? Yes, they are reporting on the story, but it is WikiLeaks that is gathering information and it is Julian Assange that is putting his ass on the line. Granted, he had some major help from places, such as the Guardian, in figuring out what it was that he had, but regular journalists used to perform this task. WikiLeaks essentially become the middleman as the newspapers are afraid to take a stand. Still, credit needs to be given to the Guardian for taking a small stand and sifting through and categorizing the information and helping Assange.

Anyone with even a passing interest in the quagmire that is Afghanistan should be reading this. Then, consider donating to WikiLeaks so they can continue their work.

Another great TED talk.

The controversial website WikiLeaks collects and posts highly classified documents and video. Founder Julian Assange, who’s reportedly being sought for questioning by US authorities, talks to TED’s Chris Anderson about how the site operates, what it has accomplished — and what drives him. The interview includes graphic footage of a recent US airstrike in Baghdad.

While the painful heat ray gun was still in development, the Israelis began working on a portable pain ray. After more testing, the US Army is now all too happy to use show off their gun in Afghanistan. The company had previously attempted to use it in the US, with the DHS wanting it, but little has come from it. The heat ray gun, as the Army claims, burns the skin, but doesn’t leave any permanent damage. Known as the active denial system (ADS), it has been in development for the military for a few years. The ADS is meant to disperse crowds and beat back the enemy.

It uses a focused invisible beam that causes an “intolerable heating sensation”, but only penetrates the skin to the equivalent of three sheets of paper.

The discomfort causes whoever it’s pointed at to immediately start moving away. They often scream but the US military says the chance of injury from the system is 0.1%.

The beam produced by the ADS can travel more than 500m (1,640ft) and is seen as an important new way to limit unnecessary deaths and minimise war zone casualties.

Developers also say it could also be adapted to other operations, like fighting drug smuggling at sea and general peacekeeping operations.

With all the recent border activity with Mexico, the DHS might be able to try and sell the ADS to the general public again, claiming that it will help in the fight against illegal immigration and drug smuggling.

The BBC also notes that the US is continuing its research into a portable device, such as the one the Israelis have developed. As I wrote three years ago, this device has serious implications for damage and injury to individuals.

What is likely to happen is that your retina is going to be cooked due to the heat if it’s overused. In a short span, it will probably just melt your contact lens onto your cornea. 1/64th inch is more than enough to cause permanent eye damage.

Law enforcement and the military will over use this weapon as they did with the taser. It will be touted as a safe weapon, so, instead of proper policing, they will rely on electrical gadgets that they don’t fully understand.

This is already a long range torture device. One should hope that it never becomes completely portable and backpack sized.

It is absolutely disgusting how people continue to say that we should support the troops and contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. I can’t and won’t. This video aptly explains why so many people believe as I do.

There may have been men and women who had good intentions when they joined the military, but they are just as guilty as their superiors for not refusing illegitimate orders and for violating international laws and committing vile acts of rape and murder.