There’s been a lot of talk about the WikiLeaks controversy over the past few months. While some people have championed founder Julian Assange as being a man who is in support and pursuit of the truth, others feel he is a clear and present danger to not only the security of the U.S., but to the world as well. Some have even gone so far as to say that he should simply be killed. In what could have been a discarded subplot from “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” WikiLeaks has proved to be an invaluable source to fight government corruption.
The fact of the matter is that regardless of what country he’s from or which country the cables he’s releasing are targeting, WikiLeaks is important in blurring the line between the people and the people who run the country. If a country is doing something that it doesn’t want others to know about, what it’s doing is probably wrong.
While some will claim that the release of these cables will negatively impact the national security of all countries involved, it also brings to light the integrity of each nation and how it goes about fighting its battles. In April of 2010, a video from 2007 was released that showed the murder of Iraqi civilians, as well as journalists. Is this the kind of thing you want your military to be doing? Without knowledge of what is going on, there’s no way to prevent this kind of stuff from happening. As Ron Paul said in his address to the House, “which has resulted in the greatest number of deaths: lying us into war or WikiLeaks revelations or the release of the Pentagon Papers?” It’s quite obvious what the answer to Paul’s question is.
With the threat of another leak involving Swiss bank accounts, WikiLeaks will not be stopping anytime soon. In fact, WikiLeaks even has an ace in the hole with information that has been likened to a thermonuclear device by Assange’s lawyer, Mark Stephens, and will be released should anything ever happen to Assange. While the last thing I want to see is a conflict, or even war, break out because of this information, the government of any country should keep its people in the know, and if that means it has to get its information from a third-party source, then so be it.
As journalists, it’s our job to report the truth. For some people, the truth is something that should be feared out of possible repercussions. It’s that kind of mentality that inhibits social change, something that WikiLeaks has the potential to do. We can either look the other way and pretend that corruption and wrongdoing is not happening over the world, or we can stare it straight in the face and try to combat it. If the governments of the world want to hide something from its people, it’s up to the people themselves to make sure that their government knows the will of the people is a dangerous thing to mess with.
Alwyn • Jan 23, 2011 at 12:10 pm
It is general knowledge that Africa is the most corrupt place on our planet and living here makes one very sad to see all the energy spent trying to destroy Wikileaks. The suffering here due to corruption is seen daily by the rest of the world and the wholesale devastation by natural disasters is as a result of corruption that does not leave anything for rescue or humanitarian efforts. (Robert Mugabe is in Malaysia where his family spend “their Christmas holidays every year.” was reported earlier this week by the Zanu-PF party.)
Ron Willison • Jan 21, 2011 at 4:13 am
anotheranother. or maybe you might want to check how the HOLY SEE / VATICAN / POPE is just hunky dory with GMO’S. One could wonder just how many shares of Monsanto the Pope has.
Oh sorry “Genetically Modified Organism’s” So I would disagree wikileaks is having an effect. All one need do is Look at Hillary Clintons face.
Ron Willison • Jan 21, 2011 at 4:06 am
anotheranother. Tell you what you do. Go to wikileaks and read the doc about our sec. of state sticking her nose into a civil matter between Spain and an American Salvage co. That cost the US the tax revenues that would have been derived from over 500 million dollars worth of Gold coins. For what you ask? Trying to recover a 2 million dollar painting supposedly belonging to an elderly Jewish couple here in the states. Can you spell “campaign contributions”?
Ron Willison • Jan 21, 2011 at 3:54 am
JRA Hate to bust your bubble. But the fact is. Our Govt. Officials work for us. “We the people” What they do in our behalf we do have a right to know. Within reason of course. Ongoing military operations excepted. Should you disagree. I would suggest you tell you boss, “None of your business” the next time he or she asks you what you are doing while on his or her clock.
Anibal Jaramillo • Jan 20, 2011 at 4:23 pm
Segun la Doctrina de los catolicos el unico sitio donde no habia corrupcion,era el Paraiso Terrenal donde ADAN y EVA vivieron;pero hasta alli llegó la corrupcion en forma de serpiente y sedujo a Adan a romper las reglas de esa sociedad de 2 habitantes.Hoy despues de miles de años, y con un planeta de mas de 6.500 millones de habitantes; la corrupcion,el crimen y todos los males de la sociedad son el pan de cada dia por todos los continentes y paises y solo unos pocos se atreven a sacarlo a la luz puiblica.Nuestro deber como buenos ciudadanos es a POYAR A ESOS POCOS Y ALENTARLOS A QUE SIGAN CONM SUS DENUCIAS.Que viva WIKI LEaks y todos los que pensamos como ellos.
JL • Jan 20, 2011 at 4:17 pm
James Anderson.
You have fascist thinking which is becoming too common. Individual have a right to privacy, government do not. The bank records will be a test on whether he crosses the line but “in the public interest” is not someone’s health record. We pay for government information so are the true owners, they do not pay us for ours so have no right to access it.
Juan Maldonado • Jan 20, 2011 at 3:25 pm
To individuals, law is restrictive: that is, we can do as we please as long as it isn’t forbidden. To the government, law is compelling: that is, they should only do what the law especifically tells them to do.
This makes a difference in a government’s right to privacy from that of an individual. We should only be forced to transparency when our actions conflict with the law. A government should be forced to transparnecy always BY law.
But elitists group protect themselves and thus secrecy is protected for power groups. Though I could disagree with the way Wikileaks exposed the information they gathered, sadly I can’t think of a better way to do it. I just wish more people volunteered to expose information all around the world.
Argentina, Mexico and Brazil are among the tomost corrupt countries in America. Transparency will never be achieved by government means; only these outlets could expose the shady deals of corrupt officers and organized crime in Mexico, for example, since the media are scared by both druglords and the local government,
May this ball roll far.
Marcus • Jan 20, 2011 at 3:13 pm
A single organisation only provides information about integrity of leaders.
The fact that some embarrrassing information is made public has not caused any change for more integrity, no, even worse, all actions against Wikileaks how that that the leaders have less integrity.
Only the people can struggle for more integrity. Fight for it! Go to the streets!
And keep supporting wikileaks and filmmakers like Michael Moore!
Fredric L. Rice • Jan 20, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Indeed, Democracy *requires* transparency which is why Wikileaks is a heroic volunteer organization. 95%+ of the world’s populace who have the ability to state an opinion agree that Wikileaks volunteers and Mr. Assange are heros, doing the job that journalism is supposed to do.
The other 5%? War criminals, international terrorists, simpathizers, and the right wing media lapdogs of the corporate terrorists and traitors who are being exposed by the volunteer organization.
peggie • Jan 20, 2011 at 2:25 pm
Its so scary that those contries we used to vouched for as corrupt free and freedom advocates now are ending up to be worse than those we labelled as corrupt countries. I love the devoped world where things work but what about all these revelations and we are told there are more revelationbs yet to come. I don’t think I’m interested in hearing any more. whatever will be will be.
Ron Willson • Jan 20, 2011 at 1:10 pm
This American citizen says. The time for the mindset created by the cold war is over. To those in Wash. D.C. I say clean up you act. The internet is the bridge that can unite all peoples. Show some backbone. Show the world the truth.
These are the real problems. Our fiat based money system rely’s on consumerism, that rely’s on exponential population growth, that rely’s on a planet that’s been raped. You do the math. If wikileaks is the only way to clean up this mess then so be it.
JRA • Jan 20, 2011 at 11:43 am
So, Wikileaks should be praised for integrity and providing accountability.
Let me offer a bounty right now, for the grades and transcripts of all Northwind staff. Let’s see if the NMU “thought-leaders” and news hounds have the academic chops to live up to that standard. Let’s see if someone will violate your privacy, and then I will help them publish that information. Maybe someone on staff has had a healthcare incident in their past, that they think is and should be private. I’ll put a bounty on that… and publish all the findings.
Not really of course, but put privacy and security in context with your own life. If you don’t want your privacy violated… our government for any number of reasons has a reason to keep secrets.
James Anderson
`93 and `06
Accessfuture • Jan 20, 2011 at 11:05 am
It’s too bad we don’t have any American journalists willing to do the same as Assange and Wikileaks. There are more “whistleblowers” out there wanting to get wrongdoers stopped but with nobody to talk too its an impossible task. Right now America needs some integrity!
AnotherAnother • Jan 20, 2011 at 10:45 am
History has proven over and over again that government corruption exists, and some honestly believes that a organization that is given government documents is going to change that. This isn’t to say that Wikileaks has revealed government corruption, but people seem to want to give Wikileaks credit it doesn’t deserve.
Wikileaks exist to convince whistle blowers that it is a safe site (place) to allow the anonymous leaking of supposed corruption or other things of public interest.
Many times broad claims have been made about Wikileaks, but no examples have been presented to support those claims.
Art Brennan • Jan 20, 2011 at 10:15 am
I agree with your opinion. I am a retired judge and served as director of the Office of 7and Transparency at the US Embassy in Baghdad during the summer of 2007. I have testified to the House and the Senate about the State Department’s negligence and duplicity there. In my opinion, Bradley Manning and Wikileaks are both life saving breaths of fresh air and we should be thankful for their work and their courage.
ConservativeCaffeine • Jan 20, 2011 at 8:46 am
Thank you for this uplifting article! Julian Assange is a hero, and WikiLeaks is exactly what the governments of our world need right now… not just the US government, but governments everywhere. People are going back on the Enlightenment values of a government deriving its legitimacy from the consent of the governed, and WikiLeaks is one of the few jounalistic entities that is doing anything about it.