Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
No, there are a lot of different people like FDW that have different opinions on the war in Afghanistan who aren't dirtbags.
But someone who intentionally releases classified military information that will put lives at risk is a scumbag...
|
Or, he truly believes that by releasing that stuff he's trying/helping to turn the popular opinion against the war, thus shortening it and saving many lives (and a lot of everybodys money) as a result. Possibly he is aware that the decision is not without problems, but he thinks they are worth it. Or he feels he's simply seen and heard too much BS which isn't talked about and as a result more people are killed than should be.
I don't know any more than you do, but it's pretty easy to figure out that there are valid standpoints from which the persons responsible could feel morally obligated to do this.
I really feel that there's a double standard here. If Afghan civilians get killed due to a questionable decision made by politicians who (I think most will agree with this) thought about their personal political future in the process, that's just s*** happening, unavoidable collateral damage.
But if soldiers and their informants get killed due to a questionable decision by individuals who actually might have to face up to some personal backlash and actually have very little to gain, that's scumbaggery.
From a moral standpoint, I don't think that logic holds water.
I'm not really saying this was such a great idea, but I'd be very surprised if they didn't truly try to do what they thought was right. I think it's easy to call them deluded fools (luckily I don't feel the need to have any kind of an opinion about them), but calling them scumbags IMO shows you're getting too emotional to think straight.
In any case, people are certainly once again talking about Afghanistan. For the rest, it's really hard to say. There's just lots and lots of stuff there, and it's too early to know what turns up when people really start digging through it, comparing what they find with other info available, making stats and figures and generally factchecking and turning data into information.