[HPLovecraft]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

After reviewing through the first leaks, which I never did complete there were some things that were basically the equivalent to toilet paper orders. There were some that I think were scumbag releases that gave either enough information, or direct names of confidential informants that still lived in the areas that put them into danger, and there were some that I thought gave away too much information on the capabilities and strenghts of allies in country and I thought that was dangerous.

In terms of this one, this is just Aussage or whatever his name is taking a free shot.

There is a reason why diplomatic cables are classified.

Its equivalant in business to releasing internal information on board room meetings during negotiations being released to the public by a disgruntled secretary. We all know that during these negotiations some unpleasant things are said about the other side and releasing that information has the capability to destroy that deal or that working relationship.

If that happened the disgruntled secretary would be fired and probably prosecuted and sued for releasing confidential corporate information.

People need to understand that diplomats are part diplomat and part intelligence gathering arm of the state department, and because of that we're seeing their opinions on the people that we're dealing with. I'm sure that the diplomatic back and forth with the state department was really interesting in the days when Mao was running china considering the guy was a pedophile and if that had been released to the public we would have pushed off reproachment with China by decades.

The Wikileaks has a real possibility of destabilizing governments in the middle east because of their duel stances on Iran, and in Yemon when they publically stated that bombs dropped on terrorists were their own and not American's even though that was true.

They could also damage a already shakey relationship with Pakistan.

On the other hand, average Joe dirt is reading these like its a tom clancy novel and has no idea how to put them into perspective, and that these cables where nastiness about foreign governments is discussed is common practice to give the U.S. government perspective on who they're dealing with.

But I go back that the soldier that leaked these documents is a traitor and needs to be treated like a traitor.

When I got my security clearances which were fairly high, I basically signed documents informating me of what would happen if I disclosed those documents or briefings that went past me. These stuff right now thats extremely out of date that I won't talk about because its nobody's damn business outside of the loop of need to know.

This coming from the guy that believes WikiLeaks mentioning Russia or China would mean them hunting them down and "dealing with them directly."