Tuesday, November 30, 2010

WikiLeaks: Good or Bad?

The big buzz in news has been all about WikiLeaks and the documents it recently leaked to the public.  On November 22, 2010, WikiLeaks declared that the next release would be "7x the size of the Iraq War Logs."  True to their word, 250,000 State Department documents are available for viewing around the world.  Hillary Clinton said, "This disclosure is not just an attack on America's foreign policy interests, it is an attack on the international community- the alliances and partnerships, the conversations and negotiations, that safeguard global security and advance economic prosperity."  Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called them "the Sept. 11 of world diplomacy."

The documents show:

  • U.S. diplomats were instructed to collect personal data on other United Nations officials
  • The U.S. bartered with other countries to try to convince them to take terrorism suspects in Guantanamo Bay prison and rehabilitate them.
  • Many countries are concerned about Iran's nuclear program.


So the question is... did these leaks serve the public?  Or just endanger diplomats and jeopardize international relations?  In some cases in history (i.e. the Pentagon Papers), leaks of government documents are good for the public by revealing government misconduct.  However, in this situation, the leaks just harm our national image.  As Aaron David Miller said, "They make us look weak.  [They] reveal problems without solutions."  This leak is not an act to serve the public good.  This could be very damaging to our foreign relations and our war on terror.