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Originally Posted by peter12
My point was and still is that in order to answer these questions you do not need to examine 91,000 leaked government documents. Who could ever cipher all of that information and come out with a reasonable and balanced view on the war? No one is going to do that. ...
We can make decisions on foreign policy based upon what we already know about war and conflict in general. Are Canada's interests being met in Afghanistan? But more so, what are those interests? What do we, as a constitutional monarchy (or a country who espouses some form of classical republicanism) have to lose or gain by engaging in a foreign expedition in a country whose inhabitants probably don't like or understand us or our motives?
These are all important questions and the release of these documents does nothing to answer them from either a philosophical or practical perspective.
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I'd have to disagree somewhat. These documents provide the citizens relevant information to determine if the intentions of their nation, as they understand it, are being effectively channeled and executed.
For example, you may have believed that the motive for Canadian troops to be present in Afghanistan was to show the locals that our country can be a force for good in helping them defeat the Taliban. These documents provide those concerned with a point in time to affirm or reject their stance.
That the majority of citizens will read none of these documents is not a valid position to argue against their release*.
* If I remember correctly you're doing graduate studies. Like me, you're inevitably caught up in dozens or even hundreds of books and journal articles that the vast majority of people will never even read in order to form an opinion. But that doesn't invalidate their utility.