Julian Assange told The Guardian (in a video that appears on the source's website), "The significance of this material is both the overarching context--that is it covers the entire war since 2004--and the individual events" detailed like the incidents with Task Force 373 and the information in the logs concerning the way "the political class interfaces with US military and intelligence."
In the video, Assange notes the release is analogous to the Pentagon Papers, in some respects, and notes how this leak is much different.
"The situation is different in that its not just more material and been pushed to a bigger audience and much sooner--like everyone has the book, the whole log at once--but rather that [the situation is different because] because people can give back. So, people who are around the world who are reading this are able to comment on it and put it in context and understand the full situation. That is something that has not previously occurred and can only be brought about as a result of the Internet."
Indeed, throughout today, the rest of the week, and onward, any person can look over these files by downloading them off of Wikileaks or by accessing parts of the documents on the media sources who have done their journalistic duty by reporting on the documents. And, all the people of the world can respond and give back to the people who are bearing the brunt of this war and its abuses by engaging in a conversation about the leaked materials--first by sharing what is detailed in the contents and then by commenting on what the content's details mean and what the proper response to those details should be.
The White House already is actively working to smear the leak and downplay the publication of the documents and the incidents that can be found in the leaked documents. An official statement released reads:
"We strongly condemn the disclosure of classified information by individuals and organizations, which puts the lives of the US and partner service members at risk and threatens our national security. Wikileaks made no effort to contact the US government about these documents, which may contain information that endanger the lives of Americans, our partners, and local populations who co-operate with us."
The White House misunderstands or, in effort to protect US interests, makes a seriously flawed argument. As Assange says in the video mentioned above, "militaries keep information secret to prosecute their side of a war but also to hide abuse." There is a military argument for keeping secret information on "where troops are about to deploy" from. But, since the information is all from 2004-2010, none of the information is particularly sensitive.
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