Leaked Docs Expose Failings in Afghanistan

(CBS)  More than 90,000 documents, most of them secret, show how the U.S. has been losing the war in Afghanistan one day at a time.

"The real story of this material is that it's war," Julian Assange, the head of Wikileaks, which posted the documents on the web. "It is one damn thing after another."

Assange hopes researchers will mine the documents for a real picture of the war, including whether U.S. troops committed war crimes, reports told CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

David Martin: WikiLeaks Vs. the Pentagon Papers

This new trove of documents covers six years of war in Afghanistan through the kind of reports, both accurate and inaccurate, every commander receives at his morning briefing.

More on the WikiLeaks release:

Hotsheet: WH Tries to Kill the Messenger
WikiLeaks Founder: Many More Documents to Come
WikiLeaks: Evidence of War Crimes in Afghan Docs
Afghan Gov't "Shocked" by Leak of War Documents
Pakistani Officials: WikiLeaks Claims "Outrageous"

For instance, this report of the first use of a heat-seeking, surface to air missile against an American aircraft, a weapon that would cripple U.S. air power if the Taliban ever got them in large numbers.

The Pentagon says it will be take days, if not weeks, to determine the damage done by the massive leak of classified material.

Bruce Reidel, who directed a review of the Afghan war at the start of the Obama administration, says the sight of so many secret documents on the web is likely to discourage Afghans from risking their lives to help the U.S.

Special Report: Afghanistan

"Intelligence collection in Afghanistan has been hard from the get go," Reidel said. "This makes the challenge of winning the war even harder than it was."

But most of the reports document what is already well known.

For years, the U.S. has not had enough troops in Afghanistan, resulting in remote outposts in need of help from being overrun.

The Afghan government has been corrupt and inefficient.

According to the report, "The general view of the Afghans is that the current government is worse than the Taliban."

American air strikes and commando raids have killed too many civilians. One of the reports describes a raid that was intended to take out a high ranking Al Qaeda operative but ended up killing seven children.

Washington Unplugged: Wikileaks Paint Grim Afghan Picture

The assumption, is that this was done by 22-year-old private first-class Bradley Manning, who was charged with releasing classified information earlier this month. He has been charged with downloading a classified video of a helicopter gunship killing civilians in Baghdad.

That video subsequently showed up in WikiLeaks.

There's more to come. WikiLeaks claims it is readying another 15,000 documents for release.

[DocD--2008]

Its really time to shut down wikileaks for good, put them in jail. If one person dies from their releasing this info, the CEO needs to be up for murder.

[George_Weisz]

I recall my days particularly in Saigon- when the obvious became so compelling. They used to shout the epithet, "We have met the enemy - and the enemy is US". In those days one more sortie, one more patrol onto VC, one more strategic talk - to add to the dozens as already had been the case - would have resulted in more of the massive failure.

When we ask this question, blaming a single individual for such a multifocal failure, we need to know that the obvious answer IS the answer. We have backed thug after cousin of thug after snitch and - just like in Viet Nam - failure. We have played and paid BOTH sides.

We stand repeating history again, different venue, and increasing scale, and increasing thin veils of secrecy - all this does NOTHING but increase the damage to US.

It CAN be too late and wonderland presentations such as villifying one person such as OSB or the distributed (translate: inetitable)Wikileaks is stupid.

If the world gets traction behind war trials, which seems likely, I am sure justice will be seen. And it won't have Assange towards the first to try in the protocols. We already have seen things like D Rumsfeld escaping through Paris via the nanny embassy with immunity, scurrying down a tunnel like a spider through a hole.

Who can stand against the world? Not even an empire - much less one as flawed as what the last decade in US policy has stillbirthed upon the planet.

Time for justice? Indeed.

[margroks]

This is really not news. People have been saying this for years. I've heard people who have had been in Afghanistan speak about this subject so this only appears to confirm what was already known or at least strongly suspected. That said, such leaks might cause problems for the soldier in the field or not. It is definitely a problem for people in the military who are expected to follow chain of command and not reveal sensitive info. I predict there are people who will be discharged as a result.

[wyodutch]

And the Great patriotic War to protect the Fatherland continues bravely...
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Federal News Radio, July 27, 2010: - The Defense Department is unable to account for $8.7 billion of the $9.1 billion in Development Fund for Iraq monies in received for reconstruction in Iraq. This according to a study published today by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.
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This situation occurred because most DoD organizations receiving DFI (Development Fund for Iraq) funds did not establish the required Department of the Treasury accounts and no DoD organization was designated as the executive agent for managing the use of DFI funds, the report states.
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"The breakdown in controls left the funds vulnerable to inappropriate uses and undetected loss," SIGIR says
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Meanwhile, lets focus on blaming WikiLeaks.

[George_Weisz]

You talk about money here. Unfortunately the disputative 9 bill is a drop in the bucket. Stay tuned.

Perhaps the safely distributed Wikileaks is not to blame after all, perhaps they are not so stupid after all.

In fact, is anyone else waiting for the other shoe to drop in the outing of the lies and coverup that has been allowed to take place for a decade or so? Sure, I am. Just wait.

I am thinking footage of killing of Afghan citizens by gunships, and multiple independent attacks on civilians; not to mention abortive diplomacy-by-thugwork propped like a horizontally-positioned puppet.

Oh yes, the stupid bad guys at Wikileaks just began by releasing secret stuff. Now they are scared and worried. Yeah right. Well what about other arrows in their quiver?

Who wants to guess about this one:
Will the higher levels of secrecy when Wiki outs them (TS or even
SCI) REALLY show total failure?

Takers anyone?

[love2ridend]

To those think this is great. Maybe if you had a son or daughter in Afghanstan and they were ambused because classified information was leaked to the enemy. You may have a diffrent opinion. Remeber CBS news had Mike Wallace famous quote. Wallace proclaimed that if he were traveling with enemy soldiers he would not warn U.S. soldiers of an impending ambush.

[ToolMangler1]

Of course he wouldn't. If he were with the enemy, he would be 'with' the enemy.

[Rajah88]

This information release is further indication that, like the Vietnam War, the purpose of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, is to perpetuate war to benefit THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL MAFIA. Taxpayers be damned.

Americans spend a trillion dollars a year on such wars but cannot bring their elected officials to spend a trillion dollars, over 10 years, on domestic healthcare or infrastructure repair.

America*s priorities are inverted and YOU are being robbed, while our nation*s sons and daughters die for nothing.

[George_Weisz]

There is nothing as powerful as the idea whose time has come. History's iron tongue of truth is tolling again.

Wikileaks' time has come to change the massive blunder. One little capable warrior;one blinded monolithic ignoramus, tangled; one David stands against the enraged Goliath.

Sources:
Worldwide opinion. Why? Open sources trump any poorly kept dirty little secrets.

Methods:
1. Let soldiers be soldiers, not poorly recruited diplomats learning on the job with full auto capability.
2. Work with, not at, specialists from the local areas so they can woo for you.
3. Do not kill the friends and neighbors of those you wish to bring over to your point of view while your assets are killing them; this looks very stupid.
4. Do not in fact resort to weapons widely viewed as sneaky and something which only chicken warriors would use.
5. All war is deception however it takes more than a stick to defeat hornets.
6. Do not pay off the enemy's side and expect to appear competent.
6. One good spy is worth a whole country.

And remember the words of Henry Kissinger:
"... I do not know what intelligence I want. But I know it when
I see it..."

[angiejana]

The ISI and the Pakistan authorities have been two-timing the US for years on end - as India/Afghanistan has been warning you for years. The enemy is not Iran or N Korea as much as this allie. The sooner we understand this, better will the tax payers money be used, and less soldiers lives lost

[MalloryDavis]

This act of revealing those 90,000 documents on the war in Afganistan is treason and subversion. Heads should roll.

[MalloryDavis]

ELEMENT51... You honestly think it's ok to subvert our secrets to the enemy? This is treason and subversion...you just may be a part of the problem.

[dickerin]

God bless Bradly Manning.

[Mortar_29]

While he is in the stockade...for a LONG time, I hope.

[freeflight2010]

Maybe CBS news should take some lessons from WikiLeaks. Instead of being the so called Gate Keepers, maybe they should try Journalism. I know it's difficult fighting your corporate masters but if want people to actually pay attention to what you have to say it will be necessary.

[DocD--2008]

Maybe you should think with your big head. If my son dies over there, it is not only these nutcases fault, its now yours too.