Do the people have a right to know what is in the Wikileak documents?

[kentuck]

Do the people havea right to know what their government is doing in their name?

Even when it might cause harm to those still in the war zone?

How long should the people be kept in the dark?

Why should parents send their sons and daughters to die for things they do not know about and might vehemently disagree with?

Doesn't the military and the governmenthave the right to keep secrets from the people?

Should the person that leaked these documents be given the death penalty... or a medal??

[flyarm]

1. absofuckinglutely! It is and has been paid for with my Money! And in MY NAME!

we the people are the government..the people who work in the government work for ME!

[stray cat]

2. Was Dick Cheney right to let the public know about Valerie Plaine or terrorism investigations

Even when it screwed up the investigation. Is Cheney a hero or a an irresponsible political animal?

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dionysus]

8. so obama has committed treason?

[jaxx]

10. And people wonder why this place is so divided.

[frylock]

16. the problem with the big tent philosophy is that some vermin will get through the flaps

[kentuck]

17. Amen to that!

Douchebags everywhere.

[jaxx]

20. .....

[frylock]

15. i think i'll go with ellsberg's opinion rather than some anonymous neo lib douchebag on the web

[donco6]

29. +1 n/t

[Exilednight]

18. Apples and oranges .............

Cheney outed Valerie because they were upset that she discovered that a major part of their evidence for invading Iraq (yellow cake uranium) was nothing but a lie. Cheney did it out of spite and as a way to protect his lie.

Wikileaks is putting out documents that tell the true story of the war, warts and all. Wikileaks is not protecting lie, their exposing them.

[donco6]

30. Plame. Just fyi. n/t

[baldguy]

3. Killing innocent civilians does more harm to our troops than anything Wikileaks could do.

You see, the Iraqis already knew all about this and the American officers & soldiers in Iraq already knew all about this and officials in the govt already knew all about this.

The only people who didn't know were the general public.

[awoke_in_2003]

14. yep, they know....

see the kid in the green shirt? You know he isn't dreaming about growing up and becoming the next Mickey Mantle.

[geckosfeet]

4. my taxes - my information - if I support these efforts with tax $$$'s I want to know about them

[denimgirly]

6. If we are kept in the Dark then the Government will continue to think it is above the Law

It's only when things like what Leaks is doing that will force the government to think twice about what they are doing...no more cloak and dagger

[stevedeshazer]

7. To your first question, yes.

To your penultimate question, only in the most dire circumstances.

To your final question, neither death nor lionization, but respect and a place in the history books.

[givemebackmycountry]

9. You Bet. Two Words...

"Pentagon Papers"

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. I think the question is, has this government abused its power in keeping too many secrets,

protecting too many guilty leaders who wouldn't have made the choices they made if they knew that the facts would be known in their lifetime.

[JVS]

27. The answer to your question is yes.

[sabrina 1]

12. Absolutely. All this was paid for BY the people and in a democracy

the people have a right to know what is being done with their money. How many, eg, realize that when they hear 'Money For the Troops' from Congress, most of it doesn't go to the troops, it goes to brutal, murdering mercenaries and war contractors? They have a right to know this.

The person who released the truth should get a medal. I am sick to death of these wars and the lies we are told on a daily basis to try to justify them. Time to put an end to this war economy, and to the massive crimes committed.

When you commit murder, you should have no expectation of keeping it secret. The whole Iraq enterprise was one big murder scene. We entered their country like a rabid gang breaking into a home, and slaughtered, tortured and mained their citizens, then we stole their resources. Should this be covered up? Hell NO!! The leaders should be at the Hague and every sordid detail of what they falsely tried to present as a 'glorious mission', exposed.

End the glorification of murder! Some people still think it's heroic to drop bombs from miles and miles away on innocent men, women and children. There is no glory or bravery involved in that. Disgusting, despicable, criminal, outrageous and shameful. There aren't enough words to describe all of it. There never were.

[awoke_in_2003]

13. "still in the war zone?"

I agree. Bring them home and let's start facing the sins of this nation.

[moondust]

19. There are well-established declassification schedules.

And lots of information is obtained through FOIA requests.

I don't know the details of either but a Google search would probably be helpful.

Of course some things might not be declassified for 20 years, well after politicians are long gone from office, and some things possibly never. But it's not like the public is forever kept in the dark about everything the government does.

Would it have been okay with everybody to release into the wild loads of classified information about the readiness, manpower, firepower, effectiveness, successes, and failures of Allied forces during WWII in, say, 1942 or 1943?

[Exilednight]

21. Again, yours is an apples and oranges comparison .............

1942, FDR, WWII vs 2001-2010, Bush, Iraq-Afghanistan.


Neither leader is anything like the other. Neither war (WWII, war on terror) is anything like the other.

[bemildred]

22. We have a right to know everything. nt

[BlueIris]

23. Yep. Suck it, lying, backstabbing spooks.

You know who you are. And your days are numbered.

[butterfly77]

24. Yes..

because what they do in our names can affect us too..

[AtomicKitten]

25. Hell yes we do. nt

[JVS]

26. Unfortunately the government has so thoroughly abused the classification system...

that we really can't trust them to make the decision about what the public should have access to.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

28. of course we do and the guy desreves a medal