At 5pm EST Friday 22nd October 2010 WikiLeaks released the largest classified military leak in history. The 391,832 reports ('The Iraq War Logs'), document the war and occupation in Iraq, from 1st January 2004 to 31st December 2009 (except for the months of May 2004 and March 2009) as told by soldiers in the United States Army. Each is a 'SIGACT' or Significant Action in the war. They detail events as seen and heard by the US military troops on the ground in Iraq and are the first real glimpse into the secret history of the war that the United States government has been privy to throughout.
The reports detail 109,032 deaths in Iraq, comprised of 66,081 'civilians'; 23,984 'enemy' (those labeled as insurgents); 15,196 'host nation' (Iraqi government forces) and 3,771 'friendly' (coalition forces). The majority of the deaths (66,000, over 60%) of these are civilian deaths.That is 31 civilians dying every day during the six year period. For comparison, the 'Afghan War Diaries', previously released by WikiLeaks, covering the same period, detail the deaths of some 20,000 people. Iraq during the same period, was five times as lethal with equivalent population size.
For Detailed coverage visit the following links. They have much more detailed coverage than you will find in the Australian mainstream press:
Bureau of Investigative Journalism Iraq War Logs
Secret Iraqi Files: AlJazeerah
Lets not forget Private Bradley Manning - the U.S. soldier currently charged with releasing files to Wikileaks. Exposing War Crimes is Not a Crime!
Bradley Manning Support Network
Comments
Re: Wikileaks reveals more U.S. war crimes
Congratulations to Wikileaks crew/team, Julian Assange and Bradley Manning for once again exposing the truth - I applaud you all - thank you.
World Socialist Web Analysis
WikiLeaks releases documents exposing US war crimes in Iraq
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/wiki-o25.shtml
New York Times tries character assassination against WikiLeaks founder Assange
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/time-o25.shtml
More analysis
The WikiLeaks documents and the rape of Iraq
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/pers-o26.shtml
Re: Wikileaks reveals more U.S. war crimes
The times are interesting enough to line out a few thoughts how this development can be sustained and quickly result in complete abolition. In its spiritual and moral agony, the opponent is trying with all means to turn the lives of these who successfully oppose it into a prison, in this instance we already see attempts of humiliation (e.g. against caution about cellphones) the current Nobel Peace Price owner would probably reject if he could be asked, just like anyone with any experience of being targeted by secret police of any kind.
For the worldwide walkabout that its activists are undertaking to lead back to where it began with an improvement for all, it is essential for this project to develop out of its larvae stadium of a mirror of cybernetic capitalism into a part of a broad movement focussed on abolition. Politically, this place is at the crossroads of two domino theories - not only can the abolition of the surveillance regime in the West create the opportunity for the same in other parts of the world which depend on it, it also can be the first of many dependent abolitions on issues such as atomic energy and military disarmament, sacred plants prohibition and cargo cult capitalism.
If there is a lesson from the fallout of the cold war and its crass ideological battles, it certainly is that an underground capability to unwind entire secret police bureaucracies (as opposed to one for hostile takeover) requires to be based on an ideal of human dignity - Wikileaks can be crucial in making sure that while the abusers are getting exposed the abused are not being hurt again (as with the Abu Ghraib leak). Another one is to have waterproof transparency ethics readily available for the moment when the trickle turns into a tsunami of data. Rolling back the heads of the stupidity community into their shrinking circle of lunacy lantern may be the lengthy work of committed individuals, but taking care of the sheer amount of legacy data and ensuring that the perps cannot cover their tracks will certainly require principled non governmental organisations. Once they drop dead secret police hierarchies decease quickly, so an organised response to secure forensic evidence should be available just as they do.
And of course, congratulations for becoming Australia's individual most influential online activist!