Wikileaks leaks mountains of info on Afghan war to certain news sites.

[Kuya]

The info was provided to The Guadian, Der Spiegel and The New York Times. Some information was retained because Wikileaks felt some information was too sensitive, and some might also have been retained by the news media itself.

Introductory quote:

With these caveats, the collective picture that emerges is a very disturbing one. We today learn of nearly 150 incidents in which coalition forces, including British troops, have killed or injured civilians, most of which have never been reported; of hundreds of border clashes between Afghan and Pakistani troops, two armies which are supposed to be allies(lol); of the existence of a special forces unit whose tasks include killing Taliban and al-Qaida leaders; of the slaughter of civilians caught by the Taliban's improvised explosive devices; and of a catalogue of incidents where coalition troops have fired on and killed each other or fellow Afghans under arms.

Reading these logs, many may suspect there is sometimes a casual disregard for the lives of innocents. A bus that fails to slow for a foot patrol is raked with gunfire, killing four passengers and wounding 11 others. The documents tell how, in going after a foreign fighter, a special forces unit ended up with seven dead children. The infants were not their immediate priority. A report marked "Noforn" (not for foreign elements of the coalition) suggests their main concern was to conceal the mobile rocket system that had just been used.

In these documents, Iran's and Pakistan's intelligence agencies run riot. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is linked to some of the war's most notorious commanders. The ISI is alleged to have sent 1,000 motorbikes to the warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani for suicide attacks in Khost and Logar provinces, and to have been implicated in a sensational range of plots, from attempting to assassinate President Hamid Karzai to poisoning the beer supply of western troops. These reports are unverifiable and could be part of a barrage of false information provided by Afghan intelligence. But yesterday's White House response to the claims that elements of the Pakistan army had been so specifically linked to the militants made it plain that the status quo is unacceptable. It said that safe havens for militants within Pakistan continued to pose "an intolerable threat" to US forces. However you cut it, this is not an Afghanistan that either the US or Britain is about to hand over gift-wrapped with pink ribbons to a sovereign national government in Kabul. Quite the contrary. After nine years of warfare, the chaos threatens to overwhelm. A war fought ostensibly for the hearts and minds of Afghans cannot be won like this.

List that reveals the meaning of military slang used in the reports, here are some exerpts:

Glossary

Glossary of military acronyms
Acronym Meaning

(number)IN Infantry group
(number)US Number of US personnel
(number)V Vehicles
(Time)L Local time
(Time)Z Zulu time - GMT
42 CDO RM 42 Commando Royal Marines
508 STB 508th special troops battalion
81 81mm mortar round
9-liner 9 Line MEDEVAC Request
A/C aircraft
AAF anti-afghan forces
ABP Afghan Border Police
AC-130 Gunship adapted from Hercules
ACK Acknowledge
ACM Anti-Coalition Militia
AFG Afghans
AH-1W Attack helicopter 1W - US Marines Super Cobra gunship
AIHRC Afghan Independent Human Right Commission
AK-47 Assault rifle
ANA Afghan National Army
ANAP Afghan National Auxiliary Police
ANBP Afghan National Border Police
ANP Afghan National Police
ANSF Afghan National Security Forces
AO Area of operation
AQ Al Qaida
ARSIC Afghan regional security integrated command
ASG Area Support Group
ASV armoured security vehicle
ATT At this time
ATTK Attack
AUP Afghan uniform police
B-HUTS Semi-permanent wooden structures used in place of tents
BAF Bagram Air Field

Here is a map that allows you to view where certain things happened and the details, including civilian casualties, friendly fire incidents, demostrations/protests and accidents:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/data...ar-logs-events

On civlian casualties, some quotes from an article:

US and allied commanders frequently deny allegations of mass civilian casualties, claiming they are Taliban propaganda or ploys to get compensation, which are contradicted by facts known to the military.

But the logs demonstrate how much of the contemporaneous US internal reporting of air strikes is simply false.

Last September there was a major scandal at Kunduz in the north of Afghanistan when a German commander ordered the bombing of a crowd looting two hijacked fuel tankers. The contemporaneous archive circulated to Nato allies records him authorising the airstrike by a US F-15 jet "after ensuring that no civilians were in the vicinity". The "battle damage assessment" confirmed, it claims, that 56 purely "enemy insurgents" had died.

Media reports followed by official inquiries, however, established something closer to the real death toll. It included 30 to 70 civilians.

In another case the logs show that on the night of 30 August 2008, a US special forces squad called Scorpion 26 blasted Helmand positions with multiple rockets, and called in an airstrike to drop a 500lb bomb. All that was officially logged was that 24 Taliban had been killed.

But writer Patrick Bishop was embedded in the valley nearby with British paratroops at their Sangin bases. He recorded independently: "Overnight, the question of civilian casualties took on an extra urgency. An American team had been inserted on to Black Mountain … From there, they launched a series of offensive operations. On 30 August, wounded civilians, some of them badly injured, turned up at Sangin and FOB Inkerman saying they had been attacked by foreign troops. Such incidents gave a hollow ring to ISAF claims that their presence would bring security to the local population."

The US also realised very quickly that a Polish squad had committed what appeared to have been a possible war crime. On 16 August 2007 the Poles mortared a wedding party in the village of Nangar Khel in an apparent revenge attack shortly after experiencing an IED explosion.

It is recorded under the heading: "Any incident that may cause negative media". The report disclosed that three women victims had "numerous shrapnel wounds … One was pregnant and an emergency C-section was performed but the baby died". In all, six were killed. The Polish troops were shipped home and some eventually put on trial for the atrocity. After protests in their support from a Polish general, the trial has apparently so far failed to reach a conclusion.

But most of the assaults on civilians recorded here, do not appear to have been investigated. French troops "opened fire on a bus that came too close to convoy" near the village of Tangi Kalay outside Kabul on 2 October 2008, according to the logs. They wounded eight children who were in the bus.

The influence of the then new commander, General Stanley McChrystal, can be seen, however. Brought in last year with a mission to try to cut the number of civilian casualties, he clearly demanded more detailed reporting of such incidents.

The Lewani file is marked with a new "information requirement" to record each "credible allegation of Isaf [the occupying forces] … causing non-combatant injury/death".

McChrystal was replaced last month, however, by General David Petraeus, amid reports that restraints aimed at cutting civilian deaths would be loosened once again.

Introductory article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...dian-editorial

Article on civilian casualties:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...les-engagement

The interactive map again:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/data...ar-logs-events

The Guardian hub for Afghan war:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/seri...n-the-war-logs

Wikileaks site:

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Afghan_War_Diary,_2004-2010

edit: list of military slang:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/data...-logs-glossary

[Caiti]

Wikileaks is pushing forward through the veil of mainstream media ambiguity like a boss.

[Tyche]

I looked at this earlier. Getting onto the wikileaks site is like going back to the days of the 56k modem. Site is slammed.

[Krandor]

Wikileaks is pushing forward through the veil of mainstream media ambiguity like a boss.

There's this and there's someone abusing their security clearance and leaking shit out, this clearly looks like the latter.

Someone is going to jail.

[Qalbert]

People leak shit through wikileaks? HOLY SHIT

[Kuya]

I think what they're doing is necessary. As the article mentions, NATO is tight lipped on these civilian casualties, and they are apparently rarely investigated. If Wikileaks can bring accountability to a world where media has relegated itself to he said/she said reporting, and government has decided to hide behind a wall of euphemisms and misinformation, then thank God for Wikileaks.

Democracies function on information, and Wikileaks provides that information.

[wagon]

People leak shit through wikileaks? HOLY SHIT

What rock have you been living under? Wikileaks has been the bane of US military's existence for the last couple years. Assange was on TED talking about the mission of wikileaks and why he and his team do what they do, and I hope he's since left the country and back home lol, otherwise he's gonna get some surprise visits from US authority. According to the patriot act, he can be easily declared as enemy combatant for leaking top secret classified military intell and locked up indefinitely.

[Krandor]

I think what they're doing is necessary. As the article mentions, NATO is tight lipped on these civilian casualties, and they are apparently rarely investigated. If Wikileaks can bring accountability to a world where media has relegated itself to he said/she said reporting, and government has decided to hide behind a wall of euphemisms and misinformation, then thank God for Wikileaks.

Democracies function on information, and Wikileaks provides that information.

I'm not going to lie that stuff like shouldn't be hidden, but people spitting this out for anyone to read leads to a very dangerous game.

While it certainly won't come off that way (and granted probably won't even be the intention of the government), the bigger concern here shouldn't be what got out, but why shit like this (smells like Secret/Top Secret level to me) is able to get out. Anyone in the military or government knows how tight this shit is supposed to be controlled, and if this was actually documents getting out and not hearsay, that's a very very big lapse in security.

[wagon]

I'm not going to lie that stuff like shouldn't be hidden, but people spitting this out for anyone to read leads to a very dangerous game.

While it certainly won't come off that way (and granted probably won't even be the intention of the government), the bigger concern here shouldn't be what got out, but why shit like this (smells like Secret/Top Secret level to me) is able to get out. Anyone in the military or government knows how tight this shit is supposed to be controlled, and if this was actually documents getting out and not hearsay, that's a very very big lapse in security.

There are too many hands in the pot, some will eventually do it for the money or for personal ideology. The leaks are bound to happen given the wars have been going on for more than a decade.

From reading the leaked documents, I really want to learn more about the Navy Seal commando assassin squad 373, they sound too badass.

[Rhinox]

I'm not going to lie that stuff like shouldn't be hidden, but people spitting this out for anyone to read leads to a very dangerous game.

While it certainly won't come off that way (and granted probably won't even be the intention of the government), the bigger concern here shouldn't be what got out, but why shit like this (smells like Secret/Top Secret level to me) is able to get out. Anyone in the military or government knows how tight this shit is supposed to be controlled, and if this was actually documents getting out and not hearsay, that's a very very big lapse in security.

Let me get this straight.


You're happy face about the info being leaked but you're sad face about the fact info like this was leaked?

[Kuya]

I'm not going to lie that stuff like shouldn't be hidden, but people spitting this out for anyone to read leads to a very dangerous game.

While it certainly won't come off that way (and granted probably won't even be the intention of the government), the bigger concern here shouldn't be what got out, but why shit like this (smells like Secret/Top Secret level to me) is able to get out. Anyone in the military or government knows how tight this shit is supposed to be controlled, and if this was actually documents getting out and not hearsay, that's a very very big lapse in security.

In a perfect world, the government or the governments since NATO seems to be just as guilty as the US, would only keep information classified that truly threatened national security in the sense of programs meant to collect information or undercover agents, and the government/s wouldn't censor info that mearly embarasses it or is inconveniant to it. In a perfect world, something like Wikileaks wouldn't be necessary.

It's the government's prerogative to keep certain information secret, and it's the prerogative of everyone else to make sure they're not being denied legitimate information.

[Qalbert]

What rock have you been living under? Wikileaks has been the bane of US military's existence for the last couple years. Assange was on TED talking about the mission of wikileaks and why he and his team do what they do, and I hope he's since left the country and back home lol, otherwise he's gonna get some surprise visits from US authority. According to the patriot act, he can be easily declared as enemy combatant for leaking top secret classified military intell and locked up indefinitely.

sure is windy in here

[Krandor]

There are too many hands in the pot, some will eventually do it for the money or for personal ideology. The leaks are bound to happen given the wars have been going on for more than a decade.

I'm not gonna go into detail since I'm pretty legally I can't, but anything with Secret clearance and up has very tight security control. Stuff like this getting out means someone is seriously dropping the ball.

[Rhinox]

http://www.simpsonstrivia.com.ar/sim...le-bee-man.gif

[Krandor]

Let me get this straight.


You're happy face about the info being leaked but you're sad face about the fact info like this was leaked?

I'm neutral to this specific information getting out, I'm not gonna really delve into either way.

What bothers me is that if this much information can get out and be thrown around to the media, what's to stop things that are legitimate security concerns (again, not going into detail) from getting out? This is showing a severe vulnerability in our security control.

[guartz]

While it certainly won't come off that way (and granted probably won't even be the intention of the government), the bigger concern here shouldn't be what got out, but why shit like this (smells like Secret/Top Secret level to me) is able to get out.

Because not everyone wearing a uniform is made of stone.

And it's pretty sad that people have to go under shadows to make shit like this known to the public.

[*Shinzon*]

Let me get this straight.


You're happy face about the info being leaked but you're sad face about the fact info like this was leaked?

He's kind of going in the direction I was just about to post until it got eaten. It's one thing to leak information that holds people accountable for their actions, which is undeniably needed. It's another thing to share sensitive materials that don't simply hold people accountable but rather actually undermine the structure and discipline of the military structure, especially the need to carry out orders as they are given to you, even more so when you don't have a grasp of the entire military operation. This kind of thing inherently breeds distrust, and again to a point that's needed. I just think the journalists who disclose this information need to be more aware of those differences.

If This kind of information comes from those who are responsible for investigating the claims of civilian causalities for example and that's fine especially if their investigations are handcuffed by the military brass. However if it comes from people who are actively circumventing the way intelligence and the way information flows through the military to not so much hold people accountable to their actions but rather to attack those who oversee these investigations or issue these orders, then there is a real dangerous threat. Especially when these people are responsible for some of the countries most intimate secrets. I don't mind accountability, but vulnerability I do mind.

[Kuya]

As i understand it, one of the main methods Wikileaks uses to obtain information is through whistleblowers. Now if you're saying that one whistleblower might go to someone with actual national security worthy information, someone other than Wikileaks, and reveal this info, but that hasn't happened yet. To discuss this, we'd have to explore the psyche of whistleblowers and what is that drives them. Do they just want to get paid for the info, or are they people who feel that unjustifies are being committed in secret?

[Zoolander]

I'm not gonna go into detail since I'm pretty legally I can't, but anything with Secret clearance and up has very tight security control. Stuff like this getting out means someone is seriously dropping the ball.

eh, I hear the same shit from every single guy I know in the military, they are always adamant they "know stuff civilians just dont know" and that things are done right. Hell just look at the discrepancies of what the military even reported to its own people and what the reality was. Shit is a joke.

Gimme a break, military generally attracts second rate people for the important jobs and anyone with a fair amount of intelligence and ideology that conflicts with this stuff (which is much more likely a trait to have for someone who is well educated outside of the military) are going to find ways to get things out. Internet makes it so much easier to do.

Really glad this came out, it needs to be done. Will only add to the anti-war sentiment we are already feeling, and paints a better picture of what is going on.

[Rhinox]

I'm neutral to this specific information getting out, I'm not gonna really delve into either way.

What bothers me is that if this much information can get out and be thrown around to the media, what's to stop things that are legitimate security concerns (again, not going into detail) from getting out? This is showing a severe vulnerability in our security control.

Because it was done by a whistle blower that had no premediated motives aside from exposing the shit our government does? as opposed to a infiltrator that got in with the sole purpose of stealing 'secrets'.


Fact is I don't think the government should have 'secrets' like this under any circumstances. the fact that they do shows that we aren't as free as we're lead to believe.


Don't get me wrong. Nuclear codes and shit like that can be superduper top secret but the fact that our government is filtering the news we consume is terrifying.