Because Julian Assange is an attention-whoring douchebag.

Manning got a raw deal, though.

Assange refuses to play the game where News Corps destroy the message by digging dirt on the messenger’s personal life.

Why so many people care about Assange’s personal life and character? You only like your news from saints? Also even if he were a narcissistic douchebag, he has done something for the world. What have you done lately?

But the death markers on Google Maps could have been useful for Iraqis, if that was available in real-time and broadcast regularly on local media channels.

I’m all in favor of ruthless deployment of power against my rivals and in favor of my side. Sorry of that offends you. A happy day will be when Assange is brought to justice.

Take all the vowels out of my comment if you like, because it is what I expect anyway.

Is anyone paying you to drop by here and post anonymous smears? Or are you a volunteer troll?

Do any of these claims invalidate the evidence that the Iraq war was as egregious a mess as its opponents claimed?

“the most benevolent, peace making nation in history”
Wow, you really have drank the American Exceptionalism Kool-Aid, haven’t you?

Because he does his stuff publicly? I think you’ll find secret whistleblowing is almost exactly like keeping secrets and not much like blowing a whistle at all.

As for the ‘douchebag’ part, we’ll let that go since that word seems to mean, ‘I’m not sure I agree with you 100% and have several frustrations I’ll get to when the internet ends.’

All Assange did was crow about it and drive off the other members of his team with abrasive paranoia.

*puts on tinfoil hat* So this entire thing was orchestrated from the beginning to appear scandalous for the US military but actually “leak” information about Iran that might garner public support for action?

No one ever asked me as an American if I was in the mood to murder 100,000 civilians, and I’d sure like someone to be held accountable.

How anyone could say that our occupation of Iraq wasn’t a complete and utter failure after seeing information like this is well beyond me. We just rolled up into Iraq and 9/11′d them about 25 times over.

He was accused of rape and appearently the case is probably that he mistook attention for interest and didn’t take no for an answer. So he may be a douchebag (I dont know this is to my mind the most probable) but wikileaks is a good thing.

If the US army didn’t like having civilian deaths reported on, don’t kill civilians. If they did it, its to them moraly defendable (which it MUST be if your going to war, if you canät even defend your own actions then why go to war and against whom?) and they should be open about it.

I heard some politicos here talking about giving Manning asylum – but then again I doubt someone will spring the poor guy from jail.

that’s one opinion, & since there’s no verified fact statement, its only an opinion. i dont like when people try to put an opinion as fact because its what they believe to be true & dont seem to be open to other possibilities. this style of reasoning has gotten us in trouble many times in history.

so the fact is, US profits may or may not have been a consideration in this war, but Hussein committed acts against his very own people that many people across the world find atrocious, and he violated UN agreements, and Bush had the unpopular position of having to try to figure out whats right for an entire nation of people & more. there is no way to make everyone happy or have everyone understand you if they dont agree w/you.

now, another fact, is that we’ve seen some changes in Iraq culture since Hussein has been removed [whether or not we like them] & as a woman, i find it particularly compelling that women in that nation were allowed to vote in the very first election they had, especially in a country where women arent typically thought of as having much rights outside of their fathers or husbands. as a voter, i find it pretty compelling that people were standing around waiting to vote in the first election despite death threats, attacks, etc. in america, alot of people dont even find it worth it to vote, so thats a lesson to americans.

i dont like war, but i am in support of the things that are good that have come out of it. there’s no use in focusing on our opinions of why it happened, or hating bush. better to use your time in looking at positive change & how we can do something toward it. i likely wont be back here to look at any of these comments. i’m off to research whether or not these leaks are true or accurate so i can make up my own mind. [& somehow i doubt there is an accurate civilian body count, but i could be wrong] so attack me or support me if you please, i really dont care. i just wanted to point out a fallacy & something positive

You’re in favor of ruthless deployment of power against innocent civilians?

Because he was a child at the time? It’s interesting to note you are bad at this. (As for the ‘intel sting’, are you a child?)

There are no civilised wars, no good wars or benevolent wars. There are no soldiers who aren’t also either murderers, witnesses or murdered. I’m not meaning this in a sort of good/evil scale, people are people armed or not. Its just the way wars are, allot of people, armed or not, in uniform or without, young and old – getting killed because someone who rules one side, didn’t like the boss on the other side.

War is just genocide with a better PR-department.

All the comments threads, all of them discussing this, thats every fourth or fifth post, and everyone starts talking about that instead, if only to counter it. Its a straw man, people! Just ignore those that bring it up, and get back to the real point.

Though, honestly, nothing I’ve heard about these documents has surprised me in the least so far. The civilian death toll is actually a bit LESS than I was expecting (I thought it would be around 80,000).

Now I just wish I knew what I could do about it that would make a difference.

The US is no better than anyone else at fighting a clean war, weapons technicians will tell you that our smart weapons are deeply imperfect and that misplaced faith in them raises civilian casualties, and for more than half a century the CIA and military have willfully and knowingly engaged in activities they know will cause hundreds of thousands, sometimes even tens of millions, of people to suffer for an indefinite number of decades, under US-created and -backed regimes which torture, rape, murder, and imprison political enemies.

US foreign policy is uncaring and imperialist, and this is the bottom line. That your military and elected representatives have public relations that have convinced you otherwise is completely irrelevant, except perhaps as an indictment of the willful deception involved.