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Originally Posted by PiKA2001
The Wikileaks, IMHO, are damaging to U.S./foreign relations in the sense that certain ambassadors/diplomats may refrain from being so candid with us in the future due to fear of a leak. That could end up having disastrous consequences. It also makes the U.S. look negligent in securing classified info.
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As far as I know, none of the information was actually Classified - that may be purely semantic, or may be important, but I have no idea which (and I'm not at all qualified to say).
Regardless, I see what you're saying - on the other hand, the leaks actually did happen, so it's sort of the tail wagging the dog on some level ... if the leaks make it look like there is the possibility of leaks, well ...
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Other than that, Wikileaks seem to be all show, no go. I also fail to see how any of the released documents "help" Americans or foreign nationals. More people Seem to be enchanted with the fact Assange leaked the docs, not necessarily with the content itself. Where's the good stuff at? The documents that talk about how rising cancer rates in the 20th century were linked to the polio vaccine, or the CIA cable giving the order to kill JFK or MLK JR?
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This is a really good point, and kind of what I'm getting at.
A more-open US military/gov't/etc. really removes the power from future dickfaces dealing in leaked information, especially stupid minutiae or "startling" revelations like citizen deaths in a bombing run.
These things could easily have no teeth - but people love to feel like they're seeing the smoking gun, or something top-secret that they're not supposed to have. See: the website by that very name, TMZ, how the tobacco industry lost 50 yrs worth of profits, the popularity of CSI, and late-model Oliver Stone.