I am of divided mind about WikiLeaks, the web-based whistleblower. WikiLeaks has released troves of documents on numerous subjects, but among the three highest profile (and US centric) are releases of documents related to the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and a trove of US diplomatic cables. I agree with the release of the first trove, and ambivalent about the second, and think releasing the third is not a good idea.
On the one hand, I think that the spirit of what WikiLeaks was trying to accomplish in regards to the US mission in Iraq is to shed light on an unjust situation. The decision to invade Iraq was a terrible one that was made on completely false pretenses, so I think that the leaking of classified field level reports in Iraq is akin to the leaking of the Pentagon Papers, which were an internal US document that traced the history of decision-making in Vietnam. Both of these situations, Iraq and Vietnam, are cases where the public was being told one thing (e.g., that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction) but the reality was something else entirely. WikiLeaks providing an unfiltered view of actions on the ground helps illuminate the true effects of US policy.
Afghanistan is a different story. There was widespread agreement that the decision to topple the Taliban was the right one, but the question now is how long we should (or can) stay. Extricating ourselves from Afghanistan is a tricky business, and it would appear the aim of WikiLeaks is to speed up that end point by showing how badly things are going of late. This is problematic for the US since we are forced to play a larger role as other countries, gracefully or no, bow out of the combined mission. The alternative to an endless occupation seems to be leaving the country in a precipitous fashion, thus turning the region into another failed state like Somalia. This is an equally unpalatable option.
Finally, there are the leaked US diplomatic cables. Frankly, I find myself agreeing with the view that leaking these documents (a) does damage to US foreign relations with numerous countries while (b) provides little to no concrete benefit in return. It is certainly interesting that various Arab countries are troubled by Iran's quest for the bomb as much as Western countries are, but I don't think having proof of what once was speculation on this opinion helps matters any. If anything, it seems like the release of these cables will make it harder to conduct diplomacy since foreign countries have to wonder if any candid remarks will eventually be broadcast to the whole world. I fail to see how any good will come of this particular release. Not that I am pro-government secrecy per se, but I am troubled that the apparent objective of the leakers appears to be to cause as much embarrassment to the US as possible.
