Take WikiLeaks Global

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Actually the first two parts of the Wikileaks dump of communications stolen by PFC Bradley Manning did indeed include top secret documents, including intelligence documents from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Jon Fordham of NY 12:12PM December 01, 2010

There seems to be widespread misunderstanding of what WikiLeaks is. Simply stated, it is an electronic drop box to which anyone in the world, assuming the site isn't blocked in their country, can submit documents. It can be used to expose malfeasance, stupidity, lies, or incompetence on the part of governments, businesses, powerful individuals, NGOs, etc. WikiLeaks relies on individual whistleblowers to provide the information; they merely provide an avenue for distribution and release. They also have a record of allowing subjects of exposure to review the data and to request deletion or correction if, for example, release might endanger lives. WikiLeaks itself does not attempt to verify the data. It is global, to the extent global whistleblowers choose to use it.
The real issues surrounding WikiLeaks from a US perspective are two-fold: 1) What moron designed and/or approved a system in which a lowly Army PFC, it's alleged, could do a data dump of 250,000 documents dating from the '60s to the present day? 2) Why do we have a system in which 3 million people have access to all the documents without regard to subject matter or need to know? The problem isn't so much WikiLeaks as it is our incredibly porous document storage system.
Lastly, neither WikiLeaks nor Julian Assange is guilty of treason. Treason is by definition betrayal of one's own country. Assange is Australian and the servers on which WikiLeaks reside are not in the US. But thanks for your ignorant and ill-considered suggestion, Ms Palin.

Jim of VA 11:36AM December 01, 2010

But Wikileaks ISN'T Global, just anti-American.
Actually what Farrell DOESN'T say about the illegal dump is interesting--how the Arabs don't fear Israel but Iran. For decades now we have read in the left wing press about how the Arabs fear "Israeli occupation and expansion." Actually what the Arabs really feat is Shi'a imperialism.
Some Jewish history is actually relevant here. The Emirates of Bokhara and Tashkent are Persian speaking as is Iran, but the Jewish communities there, who spoke the same language as the Iranian Jews, had little to do with them because the rulers of Iran were Shi'a Moslems and the rulers of the northern Emirates were Sunni and constantly at loggerheads with their fellow Persians.
For decades now the few pro-Israel members of the media, mostly conservatives, have been saying this but nobody listens. Now with Arab rulers actually voicing these fear effectively publicly, perhaps somebody with power will listen.
CUT OFF THE HEAD OF THE SNAKE!

David S. Levine of FL 9:36AM December 01, 2010

Playboy now wants an interview
With old Muammar Qadhafi.
What "nursing" skills does his "nurse" do
To comfort him in desert dry?
Of all the WikiLeaks that leaked,
His voluptuous blond blue eyed
Most likely got him the most peaked.
The object of envy worldwide.
Oher dictators - they just got
The ordinary leaks of stuff
That were luke warm, and not so hot
As Muammar's leak - sure enough.
Tattletelling on the old gent -
What Qadhafi has in his tent!

Ima Ryma of IL 4:50AM December 01, 2010