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Subscribe to RSSReacting to Wikileaks' release of American diplomatic cables, neither liberal nor conservative bloggers were too surprised over the messages’ actual content. But their views were less definite when it came to questions over the value of publicizing such information, the motivations of the leakers and the ease with which the cables were accessed by even low-ranking military officers.
Balloon Juice's John Cole suggested that the United States government shouldn't be too surprised such private information was leaked, given its own recent surveillance history.
This dump will just be viewed by many as an attempt to hurt the United States. I have a hard time getting worked up about it- a government that views none of my personal correspondence as confidential really can’t bitch when this sort of thing happens.
AMERICAblog's Chris in Paris characterized the leaks as a byproduct of the "lack of transparency in politics, which is not just a U.S. issue."
The decisions that our political leaders make could definitely benefit from the public being made more aware of what is going on with tax dollars... If politicians are ready to ask individuals to justify every last cent received by the meager social welfare system in the US, it's fair to ask the same from the government. The information may make many uncomfortable, but that is no reason to keep everyone in the dark.
The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen was not as sure as some other liberal bloggers that the leaks were at all a positive development for the country.
I'm not convinced that the release of these secret materials -- some have begun calling it "Cablegate" -- will be too devastating to international diplomacy, though it certainly makes the State Department's work much more difficult, especially in the short term... I would, however, like to know more about the motivations of the leaker (or leakers). Revealing secrets about crimes, abuses, and corruption obviously serves a larger good -- it shines a light on wrongdoing, leading (hopefully) to accountability, while creating an incentive for officials to play by the rules. Leaking diplomatic cables, however, is harder to understand -- the point seems to be to undermine American foreign policy, just for the sake of undermining American foreign policy. The role of whistleblowers has real value; dumping raw, secret diplomatic correspondence appears to be an exercise in pettiness and spite.
Conservative bloggers like Hot Air's Ed Morrissey were more surprised that the information being leaked was accessible to low-level officers like 22-year-old Pfc. Bradley Manning, who, according to an online conversation between Manning and a fellow hacker, "would come in with music on a CD-RW labelled with something like ‘Lady Gaga’ … erase the music … then write a compressed split file. No one suspected a thing."
Oh, please. Tell me that Manning was an encryption genius that spent years cracking some Pentagon code to access the mainframe while rappelling into an antechamber deep in a basement and into a Situation Room. Do not tell me that a corporal was allowed to carry a rewriteable CD into a secure communications area by labeling it as a pop music mix tape. I’ve been in uncleared defense contractor sites with better security than that.
That’s the real scandal. Rewriteable CDs are an obvious security hole. It’s almost as obvious as tape recorder or camera. And if Manning thought of it, there are probably more who have done similar sorts of thefts, perhaps for other ends, which may be even more problematic. After all, we know what Manning got; it’s being splashed all over the New York Times and other publications around the world. Who knows what China, Russia, or Iran may have learned by now?
Red State's Moe Lane wrote in defense of privacy when it comes to world diplomacy.
While I will happily ding President Obama for both his wrong actions and for not living up to his own side’s previously-established standards of behavior, this line of attack by Wikileaks is made up of pure garbage designed to weaken both my country and my government. The President needs his ambassadors to know what he wants; they need to be able to tell him what he can get. So it’s stupid to not be blunt and forthright in private about matters that require a softer public touch. It’s even more stupid for Wikileaks to keep publicly attacking the USA like this.
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I'm holding out for what Bible Spice has to say on her Facebook page & Twitter... lol
Then we'll know what real Americans think... also too & you betcha!
Feisty
I'm holding out for what Bible Spice has to say on her Facebook page & Twitter... lol
Then we'll know what real Americans think... also too & you betcha!
Plu-eeezee,
Double-Speak Sarah Palintopia is on grizzly ice her hunt now trying to figure it out . Only Silly Palin-ites will believe her fundamentally transformed tweet.
I forgot to add *insert snark* ;0)
I doubt there will be much thought backing up whatever Mama Grizzly has to say on the subject.
Come on guys... you know me better than that! LOL
Guess my sarcasm meter needs some more fine tuning!
Come On Mark & Company!
It has been 5 HOURS since a Palin thread!
Will you give them one so they will quit playing with themselves!
All this information deserves to be public.... If you are going to call it a crime to make these so called Government actions which are supposed to represent "the people" they should be public and the people involved should act in a manner that is respectable and able to be public. There is no reason to denounce this information about public actions. If you are acting according to law and ethics as you should being a government entity, there is no reason the information should be illegal, compromising, surprising, or embarrassing. Basically, stand behind your actions, otherwise don't throw a hissy fit when someone calls you out for not acting appropriately.
I'm holding out for what Bible Spice has to say on her Facebook page & Twitter... lol
What the heII does the Wikileaks controversy have to do with Sarah Palin?
Obsess much there red? lol
The question which needs to be asked, and what needs to be investigated is, if this information is "Classified", then how the hell is he getting it?
Wikki , Wikki, That New Zealander must be sending Oblaba nuts. Well , the Dems and the New York
Times and the Libs and Progressives started this whole thing called treachery and sedition. They have
been leaking secrets of the Bush govt like a waterfall and now they can't take it. If this New
Zealander is to charged with anything, the Oblaba govt will have to start charging those who were
leaking under the Bush regime and they were all on the Left. " A spy , a spy I say there is a spy!"
"Where my good man?"
"There, there he goes. Check the NY TIMES"
Juven, Protecting America's secrets and our troops is NOT a political issue.
Juven,
Sundance is afraid to jump off the cliff. Asked why, he tells Butch Cassidy it's because he can't swim. Butch laughs and tells Sundance he shouldn't worry about not being able to swim because the fall will probably kill him.
I'm a liberal and I do not agree with anyone who says the leaks are a positive thing. It is beyond me how anyone can think some positive comes from revealing inter-departmental, inter-agency, and inter-government communications. This is harmful to foreign policy, the war strategies, diplomacy, good will, and places lives in danger. It should come as no surprise that a low level private would have access to information needed by the high-ranking military officers he works. The only good that comes from this is it focuses on the need to re-evaluate who has access to what and rethinking the "sharing" of every piece of information between government agencies.
I'm a conservative and I agree.
I'm a conservative and I agree. Felt the same way when it happened under Bush.
Did you?
While, sure, I find all of this absolutely fascinating, I think WikiLeaks needs a raid and some people need to go to jail. Period. Jail 'em! I agree with whistle blowing corruption but this was mostly the bargaining end of diplomacy and the typical gossip that goes on IN ANY JOB because we're all human. Wikileaks just blew their credit rating wide open, in my book.
They have made the job of keeping peace that much more difficult with publishing this nonsense! As though it werent difficult enough already. Where is the outrage???
Meanwhile, I'm sure the egos and visions of grandeur within the Wikileaks upper cadre all have their little hard-ons but I most certainly hope that they get busted down to jail birds or even worse. This was superficial and gratuitous at best and destructive to peaceful diplomacy at worst.
M. Fisher, Why don't they raid the NY TIMES?
The First Amendment
Last weeks big 'sky is falling' story was "Mauled by the TSA, Thanksgiving travel to be a nightmare"... Didn't happen... The big protests were only in the headlines, and didn't materialize.
This weeks big 'sky is falling' story is "Wikileaks - Doom, Gloom and more Doom"... Will this be the '30 second sound bite' of the week?
Got to love 24/7 news... Perhaps on Christmas Eve we could have a 'Good News' day, were all news reported has to be positive, uplifting, not degrading to anyone, but supportive to everyone...
I can dream.
Note that the one guy they'll hang for all of this is a PFC in the Army. Yet from what we've seen so far, these missives don't approach the sensitivity of, or the damage caused by the outing of Valerie Plame, where the guilty parties continue to live their lives of luxury and privilege.
Palin thinks 'WIki leaks' is what's wrong with her Coleman lantern.....
WOW...you guys/gals are really obsessed with Sara Palin....hmmm....you know there's a very thin line between love and hate. Like that school girl crush on the football star; she can't have him so when she passes him in the hall, she trips him. lmfao!!!! Get it together people, your drool is showing.......green-eyed monster ring any bells?
Pelosi. Drool. Green-eyed monsters.
SO that's what all the hate on Pelosi is, huh? School girls and quarterbacks.
Neat.
drivebyobserver...Who brought up Pelosi? Certainly wasn't me. Which one gets you up more Pelosi or Palin...inquiring minds...COULDN"T CARE LESS!
I'm no Palin fan but this crowd loves Palin till it hurts and can't wait to bring her up even when no one else is even talking about her. Im not even taking any side here I'm just basing the opinion on simple observation. Many regulars on FR are apparently obsessed with the woman.
I would not be surprised if Cheney and his daughter weren't supplying Wkik Leaks with the information. Where are those two anyway? Not that I really care.
Hopefully on their way to hell...
I think the Lizard should get big daddy a Clapper for Christmas... How much fun would THAT be? lol
Clap ON... Clap OFF!!
OH, Feisty- you so Baaaadddd, girl!
(But funny as hell, you betcha)
So, Feisty, I don't care what thread this is on...
I guess you would support removing the terms limits for the office of President of the United States.
Cause he gets ELECTED too.
bob-1805084
Come On Mark & Company!
It has been 5 HOURS since a Palin thread!
Will you give them one so they will quit playing with themselves!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob, maybe it's over because the bear ate her.
It's have to be a really sick bear to eat THAT!
BEVERLY .... I know you changed threads to get away from the questions you can't answer, but...
What do jobs have to do with term limits?
You keep deflecting...job creation has nothing to do with forcing our Senators and Reps to not spend more than we can afford to spend. We can't keep borrowing money from foreign entities to satisfy our insatiable appetite.
Quit talking to me about job creation and tell me why term limits are bad.
True American-2366567
BEVERLY .... I know you changed threads to get away from the questions you can't answer, but...
What do jobs have to do with term limits?
You keep deflecting...job creation has nothing to do with forcing our Senators and Reps to not spend more than we can afford to spend. We can't keep borrowing money from foreign entities to satisfy our insatiable appetite.
Quit talking to me about job creation and tell me why term limits are bad.
So it's true you can't read. I said Hell Naw in that thread. I don't owe you an explanation because as the democracy is set up now the people will vote the bad ones out.
But, if you're a repub like Georgie boy you usually don't get voted in you get [s]elected by the judges; especially now with Citizens United. If you're a dem running against a tea bagger/republican the koch brother will spend millions of dollars to get rid of you. They spent 75 million to get rid of Nancy. Now that's bad.
Boehnor is still no match for Nancy because you know that old adage... Whatever Nancy wants Nancy gets.
So, Bev...you would support the removal of term limits for the office of President of the United States?
BTW...you still didn't tell any of us why term limits are bad. You think 50 years in Washington is a good thing?
Currently, the President of the United States has term limits and I don't see anyone calling for removal of those term limits.
What I see now is a huge call for term limits for members of Congress. The problem that I have with that is the people I see calling for term limits are always complaining about someone else's Representative or Senator and not their own. Well, guess what, if you live in Georgia and you hate Nancy Pelosi that's just too bad because you don't get to vote against her.
Seems to me that folks are just looking for The Constitution to do what they can't do.
Da Noid
Currently, the President of the United States has term limits and I don't see anyone calling for removal of those term limits.
Seems to me that folks are just looking for The Constitution to do what they can't do.
Now do you see why I say self avowed Tea bagger Constitutionalists minions are Dumb. In this case this one's even dumber. Term limits for the President; Wow. Maybe this True American better quit reading that Tea Bagger Constitutional dictionary and come out of that Fox Echo chamber.
It's sad that our State Dep't had such lax security. I hope and pray that this does not put any our troops in jeopardy. I find myself wondering why the Saudi's think we should put our young men and women in danger to protect Saudi Arabia. If they want us to bomb Iran maybe they should pay off our National Debt. Or at least stop sending $ to terrorist organizations
It's sad that PFC Manning could walk in with a Lady Gaga cd and download this information. I pray that none of this information puts our troops in Jeopardy. Why the Saudi's think that we should put our young men & women in harm's way to protect Saudi Arabia is beyond me. If they want us to bomb Iran maybe they should pay off our National Debt first then they should stop sending $ to terrorist's organizations
Sorry for the double post
Just as the administration is tripping over itself to seize dozens of pirated music sites, wikileaks is effortlessly spreading sensitive and potentially dangerous classified information all over the internet. I wonder if the memos got mixed up.
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Would like to inform you that Wikileaks.org is using your service to leak
stolen confidential documents to the World.... perhaps Hilary Clinton will
give me a reward.
I would imagine this is a form of abuse since the United States Government
is so up in arms about it.
Hi there,
I've started up a forum dedicated to wikileaks discussions and all topics related to it. Please come on by and contribute at http://www.wikileaksforum.co.uk
Thanks
There needs to be a moderate amount of bloodshed as a result of the leaks. This behavior is disorderly and unacceptable.
The US government says that wikileaks is dangerous, but Wikileaks proves the US is dangerous.