On Wikileaks (VII): Take Up the Wikileaks Challenge with Pride and Honor

On Wikileaks (VII): Take Up the Wikileaks Challenge with Pride and Honor

By Arthur Silber

Three False Criticisms of Wikileaks, and the Rush to Irrelevance and Error

Three interconnected criticisms of Wikileaks, and of the recently released Afghanistan material, merit consideration. These particular criticisms can be summarized as follows:

"These materials don't tell us anything new, or anything we didn't already know."

"While the materials may contain points of interest, they certainly aren't the Pentagon Papers!" (The exclamation point is always implied at a minimum.)

"Perhaps Wikileaks is to be commended in certain respects. Sad to say, though, this won't stop the war."

All three points were announced within a day of the latest Wikileaks story breaking in the news; sometimes, they were put forth within hours. This was true of both mainstream media and of the overwhelming majority of blog posts.

Not one of the criticisms is valid. They are all either woefully inaccurate or largely beside the point. Taken together -- and the first two are almost always offered in combination, with the third frequently added as a further reason to set this story aside as another non-event -- the arguments render each other incoherent. If one appreciates the issues involved and knows the actual history that is referenced, the arguments explode one another.

Continued. . .