NORMAN — An Internet leak of 90,000 secret military documents related to the war in Afghanistan will have an uncertain impact. The Obama administration complains that leaks will endanger U.S. forces in the region. Perhaps, but considering the documents are all at least seven months old, they may have a minimal relationship to current military operations.
Of more significance may be the loss of intelligence, especially in Pakistan. The documents describe how some members of the Pakistani government aided the Taliban in its conflict with the U.S. and its NATO allies. ... Details in the leaked materials appear to be quite specific and could expose and endanger America’s intelligence sources in Pakistan. If so, the revelations may produce a devastating impact on America’s struggle against terrorism in the region.
Meanwhile, the founder of the website that released the documents, Julian Assange, is alleging some of the material exposes “thousands” of war crimes perpetrated in Afghanistan, presumably by the U.S. and its allies. The documents ... provide details about civilian deaths at the hands of the military. But that alone is not enough to prove that crimes were committed. ...
Accidents, carelessness, mistaken intelligence or simple bad luck all can come into play. Declaring these deaths to be crimes requires evidence of malicious or deliberately reckless conduct ... Whether this leak has an impact on that debate is just as unclear as its other consequences. Support for military operations in Afghanistan ... already has faded significantly.
— New Castle News, New Castle, Pa.
