Taliban Says It Will Target Names Exposed by WikiLeaks

[nmbluesky]

The U.S. military has already accused WikiLeaks of having "the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family" on its hands after leaking 92,000 classified documents. The Taliban has now confirmed it is poring through the documents, and intends to hunt down and punish any suspected spies named.
Britain's Channel 4 News interviewed a Taliban spokesperson named Zabihullah Mujahid by telephone. "We are studying the report," he said, referring to the documents, available online, some containing the names, tribes, and family information of Afghan informants.
Related: Hacker on Why He Turned in Alleged Wikileaks Source »
"We knew about the spies and people who collaborate with U.S. forces," he continued. "We will investigate through our own secret service whether the people mentioned are really spies working for the U.S. If they are U.S. spies, then we know how to punish them."

The Taliban has recently pursued a policy of intimidating those who cooperate with the NATO forces in an attempt to undermine efforts at governance. Many local officials have been killed, and most have been threatened. The militant group is known to execute informants, reports Channel 4, by hanging, beheading, and shooting. It has even, on one recent occasion, strapped "two alleged traitors to explosives before detonating them in public."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen condemned WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange yesterday. "Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing," Mullen said, according to Reuters. "But the truth is they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family."
Gates told reporters that trust between the Afghan people and the U.S. military had been breached. "I spent most of my life in the intelligence business, where the sacrosanct principle is protecting your sources," he said. "It seems to me that, as a result of this massive breach of security, we have considerable repair work to do in terms of reassuring people and rebuilding trust, because they clearly—people are going to feel at risk."

Many media organizations have avoided linking to the WikiLeaks site and have redacted information in their reports. But Mujahid told Channel 4 that the Taliban had begun investigating the leaked information after being alerted by news stories.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/30/taliban-says-it-will-target-names-exposed-by-wikileaks.html

[geek tragedy]

1. Uh oh, the Assange Fan Club will be here to tell you

that you're a Dick Cheney clone.

[Exilednight]

2. What a farce. None of those names are real. The CIA gives fake names .............

to informants to help protect their identity just in case something like this happens (names leaked).

They'll be chasing names that don't exist.

This is just the Pentagon's and administration's way of getting public favor on their side and a chance to look tough.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

16. Just to be clear...

You believe that the Taliban is putting out bogus information in an effort to make Obama look good and prolong the war in Afghanistan?

That the Taliban and the Obama Administration are cooperating on this issue?

[Exilednight]

17. I suggested no such thing about the Taliban. I said that they would .............

be chasing ghosts.

On the other hand, the Obama administration is using this to put on a tough face and make it look to the Grumpy Old People that he is taking a tough stand and protecting our military.

It's a total joke to thinking people that this "document dump" will have any real impact on the "war on terror".

[Oregone]

3. But half of them are probably Taliban using the troops to knock off warlords

Its a chaotic insurgency. Thats how this shit goes down--in a war, or even on the street.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

4. Got it, no worries about the other half who are helping us getting whacked.

[Oregone]

5. Those might just be shopkeepers knocking off the asshole up the street

I mean, we have have no proof these people were real, their names are real, or the information they provided was even meant to help anyone but themselves.

The only thing we know, is that by being there, we created the situation directly that is leading to these names being published, and potentially putting people in danger.

[Exilednight]

6. Shhhhh, you're using logic and critical thought to arrive at an

educated and well thought-out conclusion.

The rah-rah squad doesn't want to hear it.

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. What a load of hooey!

The fact is that the best way to keep American soldiers from being killed in Afghanistan is to bring them home and prevent them from being placed in wars with no practical or security purpose in the future. In regard to Afghan families that might be targeted, one wonders whether the Taliban has racked up as many civilian kills as the NATO forces have with their drone missiles and air strikes on wedding parties etc.

Even after 8 years of fighting in Afghanistan there is still no coherent explanation as to why we are continuing to fight and die chasing AFGHANIS around THEIR country.

[msongs]

8. taliban says....it will target names not exposed by wikileaks nt

[golfguru]

9. Afghanistan is another Viet-Nam except lasting longer n/t

[Sheepshank]

10. shaking my head at all those posts on other threads

yammering about how nothing has happened yet therefore releasing names and other identifying info is no big deal.

[TheKentuckian]

18. I know I didn't say anything wouldn't happen. I expect some of these folks will die horribly

some of which this will have no bearing on whatsoever and they were going to get it for stuff we aren't a part of others because the word got out from other sources, and some from this source.

I call it collateral damage.

[Arkana]

11. The Taliban's largely blowing smoke--they do that.

[Jennicut]

14. Yup. I thought these names were protected and are fake to begin with.

Good luck finding out the real names.

[zulchzulu]

12. The Taliban change tribal alliances after every other falafel ingested

Besides, 90% of the Taliban can't even fucking read! And they're jacked up on ganja and opium...

What a bunch of shit.

[Recursion]

20. Dude, do you know what "Taliban" means?

Just curious.

[Warren Stupidity]

13. Taliban agrees to use pentagon disinformation to scare shitless

anyone who is currently providing information to our military.

Why wouldn't they go along with this? What a freaking gold mine the pentagon handed them.

[SunsetDreams]

15. I don't doubt that at all.

[whoknu]

19. Or maybe it's the Pentagon pretending that the Taliban said that

Psy-ops, as part of an anti-Assange campaign.

[Recursion]

21. They parachuted a fluent pashto speaker in ahead of a BBC reporter?

And insinuated him into the area enough to fool the reporter?

If they could do that kind of stuff we would have caught Bin Ladin already.