"What has Wikileaks ever taught us?" ... Read on ...
How often have we been told in world-weary tones that Wikileaks has revealed nothing new - especially by those who want to appear to be in the know? Here is an aide-mémoire of a few of the highest profile revelations.
by Ryan Gallagher
17 February 2011
OpenDemocracy.net
Since 2006, whistleblower website WikiLeaks ? has published a mass of information we would otherwise not have known. The leaks have exposed dubious procedures at Guantanamo Bay ? and detailed meticulously the Iraq War's unprecedented civilian death-toll ? . They have highlighted the dumping of toxic waste in Africa ? as well as revealed America's clandestine military actions in Yemen and Pakistan ? .
The sheer scope and significance of the revelations is shocking. Among them are great abuses of power, corruption, lies and war crimes. Yet there are still some who insist WikiLeaks has "told us nothing new". This collection, sourced from a range of publications across the web, illustrates nothing could be further from the truth. Here, if there is still a grain of doubt in your mind, is just some of what WikiLeaks has told us:
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• The Obama administration worked with Republicans to protect Bush administration officials facing a criminal investigation into torture (see Mother Jones ? )
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• More than 66,000 civilians suffered “violent deaths” in Iraq between 2004 and the end of 2009 (see the Telegraph ? )
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• The British government promised to protect America's interests during the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war (see the Guardian)
• The US government was acting on behalf of GM crop firm Monsanto in 2008, when the US embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any European Union country which opposed genetically modified (GM) crops (see the Guardian)
• Pfizer tested anti-biotics on Nigerian children, contravening national and international standards on medical ethics (see Medical News Today)
CONTINUED with LINKS...
http://www.opendemocracy.net/ryan-gallagher/what-has-wikileaks-ever-taught-us-read-on
Gee. No wonder they want to shut up Assange and the Internet he rode in on.
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