Is WikiLeaks a treasonous enterprise that should be outlawed – or is it an emerging bulwark of democracy? The conversation that commenced last summer with WikiLeaks’ release of a trove a classified documents about Afghanistan has begun all over again with the release of the Iraq War logs, which is being called the largest release of classified military information in history.
For Germany’s Berliner Zeitung, columnist Uwe Vorkotter writes that WikiLeaks is an asset to democratic society, and cites Beijing’s tantrum over news that a Chinese WikiLeaks is being planned as evidence of its cleansing power. Vorkotter writes in part:
The fact that nearly 400,000 documents were uploaded last weekend doesn’t mean that the history of the Iraq War is now being rewritten. The reports and logs of the troops have nothing to do with the pivotal political lie George W. Bush told to justify the war before the United Nations and the global public
Nor are these Pentagon documents central to the political miscalculation of the previous American administration or it’s coalition of the willing: removing Saddam Hussein from power meant bringing peace and democracy to Iraq and the entire Arab world. This crusade of the Christian West has failed and the chief crusader has been driven from the White House. Here again, there are no new insights.
Nevertheless, the publication of the documents is invaluable. … A democracy’s strength lies not least in the capacity to address it’s darkest hours. The Iraq War was one of U.S. democracy’s darkest hours. The Chinese government, it was reported yesterday, is concerned that a local WikiLeaks-style organization could soon be launched. That concern is well founded. After all, the power of authoritarian governments depends on the ability to decide what is secret and what is public – on what people can learn and what remains with officials. Precisely for this reason, it is essential for this to be done.
In fact, WikiLeaks is not guilty of high treason, but of providing a service to democracy.
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