27-07-2010, 12:48 PM
Whilst this thread title originally referred to what on the face of it appears to be a genuine leaked US Intelligence document, I'm beginning to think that a more apt title might now be something like "US Intell plans to co-opt WikiLeaks or - if it can't be co-opted - to use it".
I'm not a big fan of George Friedman of Stratfor. I cancelled the Stratfor RSS feed because his stuff was so transparent in its subtle promotion of official Western agendas. That said, this latest piece is worth perusing and reading between Friedman's lines. Broadly it argues that, apart from a few gory details, there's nothing there that we did not already know; that, absent catastrophic system security failings (not entirely out of the question I guess), the data could not have been collected from its diverse sources by a low-ranking individual - and/or at all without detection). It hints that a powerful internal agenda is served by the leaks. It concludes:
I'm not a big fan of George Friedman of Stratfor. I cancelled the Stratfor RSS feed because his stuff was so transparent in its subtle promotion of official Western agendas. That said, this latest piece is worth perusing and reading between Friedman's lines. Broadly it argues that, apart from a few gory details, there's nothing there that we did not already know; that, absent catastrophic system security failings (not entirely out of the question I guess), the data could not have been collected from its diverse sources by a low-ranking individual - and/or at all without detection). It hints that a powerful internal agenda is served by the leaks. It concludes:
Quote:The WikiLeaks, from what we have seen so far, detail power, interest and reality as we have known it. They do not reveal a new reality. Much will be made about the shocking truth that has been shown, which, as mentioned above, shocks only those who wish to be shocked. The Afghan war is about an insufficient American and allied force fighting a capable enemy on its home ground and a Pakistan positioning itself for the inevitable outcome. The WikiLeaks contain all the details.Full article here
We are left with the mystery of who compiled all of these documents and who had access to them with enough time and facilities to transmit them to the outside world in a blatant and sustained breach of protocol. The image we have is of an unidentified individual or small group working to get a “shocking truth” out to the public, only the truth is not shocking — it is what was known all along in excruciating detail. Who would want to detail a truth that is already known, with access to all this documentation and the ability to transmit it unimpeded? Whoever it proves to have been has just made the most powerful case yet for withdrawal from Afghanistan sooner rather than later.
Peter Presland
".....there is something far worse than Nazism, and that is the hubris of the Anglo-American fraternities, whose routine is to incite indigenous monsters to war, and steer the pandemonium to further their imperial aims"
Guido Preparata. Preface to 'Conjuring Hitler'[size=12][size=12]
"Never believe anything until it has been officially denied"
Claud Cockburn
[/SIZE][/SIZE]
".....there is something far worse than Nazism, and that is the hubris of the Anglo-American fraternities, whose routine is to incite indigenous monsters to war, and steer the pandemonium to further their imperial aims"
Guido Preparata. Preface to 'Conjuring Hitler'[size=12][size=12]
"Never believe anything until it has been officially denied"
Claud Cockburn
[/SIZE][/SIZE]