Legal Commentary

Wikileaks: Biggest Leak Yet of Military Documents

By Jeralyn

Wikileaks has published a 200,000 pages of secret documents on the Afghan war.

The files, published online by The Guardian, the New York Times and Germany's Der Spiegel, include details of 144 incidents in which Coalition forces have killed civilians.

The Guardian says the leaks show that troops killed hundreds of civilians in previously unreported incidents.

The White House is livid.

US national security adviser James Jones says the publication of the documents puts the lives of soldiers and civilians at risk.

"The United States strongly condemns the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organisations which could put the lives of Americans and our partners at risk and threaten our national security," he said in a statement.

[More..]

The papers say, "a real-time history of the war reported from one important vantage point - that of the soldiers and officers actually doing the fighting and reconstruction.".

The NY Times has a "War Logs" page up with reactions to the disclosure.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 25, 2010 (boomark / email).