Reaction to Disclosure of Military Documents on Afghan War

[BootinUp]

Lots of opinions here: http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/the-war-logs/?hp

James Morin, a former captain in the United States Army who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, questions whether the leak will have a chilling affect on candor among U.S. troops in a post on Room for Debate.

Leaks like those at the heart of the Pentagon Papers, play a role in a democracy when national civilian and military leaders mislead the country deliberately about the challenges faced. What we see in these documents, however, largely demonstrates the absence of such a need. Instead, we are left with the harmful aspects of classified leaks – a chilling lack of confidence and internal candor.


Andrew Sullivan asks the question that many At War readers have asked since the War Logs report was published.

What do we really learn from the Wikileaks monster-doc-dump? I think the actual answer is: not much that we didn’t already know. But it’s extremely depressing – and rivetingly explicit – confirmation of what anyone with eyes and ears could have told you for years. We already know the following: