Why WikiLeaks Is Good for Democracy.

By Bill Quigley

t r u t h o u t--Wed. Dec. 1, 2010--Since 9/11, the US government, through Presidents Bush and Obama, has increasingly told the US public that "state secrets" will not be shared with citizens.

Just who/what comprises a "state secret"?

Candidate Obama pledged to reduce the use of state secrets, but President Obama continued the Bush tradition. The courts, Congress and international allies have gone meekly along with the escalating secrecy demands of the US Executive.

Oh, President Obama. Stop acting like such a dick. Remember learning about a democratic republic? I know you did. Isn't Constitutional Law your expertise?

How about practicing some of it?

By labeling tens of millions of documents “Secret” the US government has created a huge vacuum of information.

But information is the lifeblood of democracy. Information about government contributes to a healthy democracy. Transparency and accountability are essential elements of good government.

Information the lifeblood of democracy? We need a transfusion!

Likewise, "a lack of government transparency and accountability undermines democracy and gives rise to cynicism and mistrust," according to a 2008 Harris survey commissioned by the Association of Government Accountants.

Cynicism? Mistrust? Oh no! Where is Cheney...I know he's here somewhere. He should answer to his two middle names!

Into the secrecy vacuum stepped Private Bradley Manning, who, according to the Associated Press, was able to defeat "Pentagon security systems using little more than a Lady Gaga CD and a portable computer memory stick."

We really need to get rid of our mickey mouse security and invest in a sophisticated security system.


Y'know...something an amateur takes more than a second to break into.

Manning apparently sent the information to WikiLeaks, a nonprofit media organization that specializes in publishing leaked information. WikiLeaks in turn shared the documents with other media around the world, including The New York Times, and published much of the documents' contents on its website.

Kinda like airing all your dirty laundry. Now we know how Valerie Plame must have felt.

Despite criminal investigations by the U.S. and other governments, it is not clear that media organizations like WikiLeaks can be prosecuted in the U.S., in light of the First Amendment.

Isn't there something called "free press"? Oh I get it...that's one of them new-fangled thig-a-ma-jigs. We plum wore that one out, eh Elmer?

We don't need no stinking "freedom of the press!" Today it's Freedom of the Press until the authorities haul your ass off to jail!

Recall that the First Amendment says: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Boy, them founding fathers had some lofty ideas, didn't they?

Outraged politicians are claiming that the release of government information is the criminal equivalent of terrorism and puts innocent people's lives at risk.

Hey! Hold your water! You just made that up, didn't you? So, what lives are in danger? Hah! I knew you couldn't name a one!

Many of those same politicians authorized the modern equivalent of carpet bombing of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, the sacrifice of thousands of lives of soldiers and civilians and drone assaults on civilian areas in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.

They did? You mean our politicians aren't as pure as the driven snow?

Their anger at a document dump, no matter how extensive, is more than a little suspect.

You mean it's a conspiracy?? OMG!
Everyone, including WikiLeaks and the other media reporting on what the documents reveal, hope that no lives will be lost because of this flood of information.


No lives are in danger! Hey, you politicians: CHILL!

So far, it appears those hopes have been met: McClatchy Newspapers reported November 28, 2010, that "US officials conceded that they have no evidence to date that the prior release of documents led to anyone's death."

Amen!

The U.S. has been going in the wrong direction for years by classifying millions of documents as secrets.

Ya think?

Wikileaks and other media that report these so-called secrets will embarrass people, yes.

Wikileaks and other media will make leaders uncomfortable, yes. But embarrassment and discomfort are small prices to pay for a healthier democracy.

WikiLeaks has the potential to make transparency and accountability more robust in the U.S. That is good for democracy.