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Wikileaks dumps 400,000 more files

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Re: Wikileaks dumps 400,000 more files

#21
post #12
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and that includes disclosing names of civilians who are helping US Forces?

Name a civilian whose name was disclosed by Wikileaks who has since been killed by enemy combatants. Surely to god some journalist somewhere has looked this information up and written an article about it.

Wouldn't that be ironic if it takes a wikileaks release to find out if there were casualties caused by earlier wikileaks releases.

Re: Wikileaks dumps 400,000 more files

#22
post #10
post #2

I understand combing through this material and releasing information about illegal or highly suspect activities. But a carte blanche release of all this classified material is going to get even more innocent people killed.

This is the same sort of reasoning used by those who claim that America is responsible for September 11, 2001 because they spent the last 60 years dicking around in the Middle East. The second claim is true, and America bears responsibility for said dicking around. The first part is not - the blame falls on those who hijacked the planes and crashed them into things. People are not dying because Wikileaks releases stu…

Not really.

To take politics out of the equation, suppose this was a leak of all the documents from the Witness Protection Program. Now all the information about everyone who has ever informed on anyone within the US criminal underworld is out in the open. If they get shot then yes, the moral responsibility for that shooting lies with the guy with the gun, but that doesn't absolve the person who released the information from any moral liability.

Re: Wikileaks dumps 400,000 more files

#23
post #9

After reading some of the Guardian articles on this, and not wanting to continue reading through the grotesque catalogue of abuses, I can only conclude that the Iraq war was an illegal, immoral and (for Geneva conventions signatories) criminal enterprise.

No politics, please.

Re: Wikileaks dumps 400,000 more files

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that people's lives will be in danger after releasing the information is even more reason to not engage in that behavior in the first place WTF is wrong with you? Would you feel differently if YOUR name was on the list?

"WTF is wrong with you?" Try refraining from personal attacks on HN. And to respond to your statement, you seem to be missing the bigger picture: How many soldiers have been put in harms way and died BECAUSE the truth was hidden from the public? How many more soldiers will die because of that? There is absolutely no justification for the armed forces to engage in unethical behavior.

"And to respond to your statement, you seem to be missing the bigger picture: How many soldiers have been put in harms way and died BECAUSE the truth was hidden from the public? How many more soldiers will die because of that?

There is absolutely no justification for the armed forces to engage in unethical behavior."

If the guys from wikileaks actually cared about human life, they would go through all of the data and change the names (no matter how difficult or long a process).

Since they aren't, I just feel that they are using this as political ammo against the US military.

People here seem to get all pissed off when you point this out, but it's the truth. People may die as a result of this info and the guys from wikileaks don't care.

I am all for being more transparent, but not at the expense of anyone's life.

Re: Wikileaks dumps 400,000 more files

#25
post #19
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's okay. As we've seen with earlier releases, it's better for a few innocent people to die than keep some of this information secret. "Some of them probably even deserve it"

I don't know why you are silencing me. I am telling the truth. The guys from wikileaks have freely admitted that they don't care about the innocent lives that may or may not be lost from this information (and even further through their actions). If you look at the past HN articles about this, many of the supporting comments were along the same lines.

Again,

If you are down voting me, at least give me a reason. I feel like the supports of this just want to brush the truth under the metaphorical carpet.

Re: Wikileaks dumps 400,000 more files

#26
post #22
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the same sort of reasoning used by those who claim that America is responsible for September 11, 2001 because they spent the last 60 years dicking around in the Middle East. The second claim is true, and America bears responsibility for said dicking around. The first part is not - the blame falls on those who hijacked the planes and crashed them into things. People are not dying because Wikileaks releases stu…

Not really. To take politics out of the equation, suppose this was a leak of all the documents from the Witness Protection Program. Now all the information about everyone who has ever informed on anyone within the US criminal underworld is out in the open. If they get shot then yes , the moral responsibility for that shooting lies with the guy with the gun, but that doesn't absolve the person who released the informa…

Politics is the whole purpose of the leak. To take it out of the equation is to remove the point of argument.

Re: Wikileaks dumps 400,000 more files

#27
post #19
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's okay. As we've seen with earlier releases, it's better for a few innocent people to die than keep some of this information secret. "Some of them probably even deserve it"

I don't know why you are silencing me. I am telling the truth. The guys from wikileaks have freely admitted that they don't care about the innocent lives that may or may not be lost from this information (and even further through their actions). If you look at the past HN articles about this, many of the supporting comments were along the same lines.

I did not downvote you, but since you are still asking, I found your original post very confusing, and it added nothing to the conversation.

> As we've seen with earlier releases, it's better for a few innocent people to die than keep some of this information secret.

Why/how is it better?

"Some of them probably even deserve it"

It's an inflammatory statement, I'm not even sure what you are trying to say.

Re: Wikileaks dumps 400,000 more files

#28
post #19
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's okay. As we've seen with earlier releases, it's better for a few innocent people to die than keep some of this information secret. "Some of them probably even deserve it"

I don't know why you are silencing me. I am telling the truth. The guys from wikileaks have freely admitted that they don't care about the innocent lives that may or may not be lost from this information (and even further through their actions). If you look at the past HN articles about this, many of the supporting comments were along the same lines.

Without more context, I find your statement that "Some of them probably even deserve it" offensive. If I had enough karma I would down vote you for that. Which human beings are you saying deserve to die? What facts and which code of ethics did you use to conclude that some people that you've never met deserve to die? If I am misinterpreting your statement, please correct me.

Re: Wikileaks dumps 400,000 more files

#29

Some answers here are striking coming from users of a site called "Hacker News". "We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the crim…

"We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals."

I've heard this manifesto used many times to defend behavior that is just as wrong.

Re: Wikileaks dumps 400,000 more files

#30
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that people's lives will be in danger after releasing the information is even more reason to not engage in that behavior in the first place WTF is wrong with you? Would you feel differently if YOUR name was on the list?

I don't want to speak for GP, but if their thinking is anything like mine, it would be: My name isn't and never would be on that list.

Are you sure? In a war, disinformation is common. And mistakes are made. And names aren't unique. Even a noncombatant thousands of miles away, with no allegiances to either side, could get confused with a conflict principal.

Of course, this tangential risk doesn't suggest all info should remain confidential, any more than the existence of some crimes means all operational info from a war zone must be totally public.

It just means tread carefully if revealing info that's prone to misinterpretation, or info that might be used by combatants to direct indiscriminate retaliatory violence.

If Wikileaks came across a list of confidential informants in domestic murder cases under investigation, would it be a good idea to publish that list?

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