A blog of questions, theories, ideas, thoughts, conversation, and debate. A blog for expanding the possibilities of the Earth and a blog dedicated to open-mindedness.
I'm sure a lot of you have heard of wikileaks...and here is an interview I find important to watch and think about. This team of people have (possibly) broken into secret government files and military files and have released them to the public. This is something that I would defiantly follow because if these documents are real, then we would have an inside look at what is really going on. So, keep your eyes out!
Some people say that in some future releases there will be info on UFOs and ET visits. Now, I'm a true believer and I don't know about you...but I am super excited to see what they release. I know many of you will disagree with what I just said, but hey! You don't have to believe everything I do! Anyways, (as always) open your heart and keep you eyes sharp and critical...
Wiki Leaks is pretty much a terrorist organization. They steal US documents and then publish them, endangering the lives of US servicemen and servicewomen and harming the US's relations with foreign countries, this guy deserves to be brought back to the US and thrown into a cell.
Wikileaks is NOT a terrorist organization. There is not a single shred of evidence that Assange's goal is to harm US citizens, nor is there a single documented case of people being harmed by the information in the documents. Even the government has said this is true. I heard somebody say that we should not leave it up to politicians to decide which crimes the public should know about. With two wars (both illegal and I believe immoral) going on and an ever growing intelligence system, It is absolutely vital for the people to have a way to open up government and uncover abuses of power. Wikileaks provides an extremely important service to democracy and freedom of speech.
Abe: I completely agree with you. I think that we (as a people) have been lied to and kept from the truth. We do not make most of the decisions for our country, we only have the illusion that we do. We all have the right to know about what is happening in our country and it's relationships between other countries and nations.
Thank you for sharing a different prospective on my blog...that's it's purpose!
Just keep in mind. Things are not as they seem...and wikileaks is releasing documents that were covered up by the government. So if you read them, then you see that something is wrong in and of the fact that they ARE releasing secret documents. That fact right there says that something is wrong with the system.
Before you say that Wiki Leaks is so great think about what they are doing, they are stealing. They are stealing secret documents from the US that the US wishes to remain secret. That is stealing. Stealing is immoral not the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq.
Also Abe you said that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq where illegal. Well that is a false statement, both wars were conducted with the consent of the UN and with a group of nations participating in the liberation of those countries from the tyrants who were oppressing them.
But the government shouldn't have anything to hide. We have the right to know their business. They are not higher then us. Anyways, their interaction with other countries and the military effects us the most. We have a right to know. This is our world too.
I don't want this to turn into an argument. All opinions are welcome and I am happy that not everyone agrees with me. Lets discuss this in a calm manner.
Also...they do not steal. They get the information from whistle-blowers, and then publish. So it's said anyways. I suppose nothing can be for certain in all this...
All governments have secret information, that either will endanger its servicemen and women or harm relations with other countries. This is what all governments do, and these so called whistle-blowers are not authorized to share this information so technically that is stealing.
Some call it stealing, some call it uncovering truths that the people have a right to know, and some call it both. The main goal of Wikileaks is to provide a platform upon which so called whistle-blowers can securely and anonymously reveal the corruption and lies of their governments. In the case of many of the documents released by Wikileaks pertaining to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it was found that the civilian death toll claimed by the US government was in actuality much higher. It also revealed instances where proper military procedure was not followed when dealing with escalation of force situations involving Iraqi citizens. Wikileaks also released the infamous "Collateral Murder" video, which, taken from an Apache helicopter, shows the gunner shooting at and killing civilians and journalists, including two Reuters news staff. All that information, the false numbers of civilian casualties, improper procedure practices, and the video, is information that our government knew about. They didn't lose it, they didn't forget about it, they knew without a doubt it was there. Yet they keep it from the public in order to hide the realities of these wars from the public. Public opinion matters in this country, you could say it is what this country is based upon. If we are blind to such realities then there will be no end to these wars, and countless more of our service men and women will die in the line of duty. Also, before Wikileaks began releasing the war documents, they, and other media outlets such as the New York Times, put a huge amount of effort into censoring the names of individuals in the documents specifically to protect our service men and women. In fact, Wikileaks offered to work with the US government to censor any names that might place that individual in danger, the US government refused to cooperate. In short, Wikileaks has done everything in its power to maintain the safety of those mentioned in the documents while providing the public with a reality check that is long past due.
Anonymous, I appreciate your concern for our service men and women; I have family serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and like everyone, I want to see them come home safe. But the fact is the the documents released by Wikileaks have been edited to protect the people mentioned in them. The documents are also a year and a half old or more, so they aren't of any strategic value to enemy soldiers.
I called the wars illegal not because how they were started but how they are being carried out. The real losers in these wars are Iraqi and Afghan civilians, who have been blown to bits by both US and enemy forces. In one incident (out of many) dozens of afghan wedding goers were killed when a US fighter jet mistook them for Taliban soldiers.
Anonymous, my main point is, is that government should not have secret information in the first place...wikileaks has provided a wakeup call for us and I think we should wake up and take a look around us and question the system. Wikileaks has only proven once again, that something is terribly wrong in which the US works.
Thanks for your opinion. I somewhat agree with you though...about the service men and women. I hear you. It's so hard to know that people are dying and it's even worse to know that people are dying for causes unknown to us because of secret files and plans. It's hard for me to know that we all have been deceived and told that the war has not caused that many deaths. But it has, like what Abe said, the people from other nations are suffering and dying and they are not even soldiers! All I am trying to say is that if people are going to kill each other (I would much rather not!) then we might as well know the reason why.
Before any one of you uses the word "terrorist" or better yet "terrorism" again, you might want to define it. Then we'll see who the real terrorists are. (By the by, I'm not the same Anonymous.)
I'd say this is a fairly apt description from the Wikipedia page on Terrorism:
"Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion. No universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition of terrorism currently exists. Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal, deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians), and are committed by non-government agencies."
Now, everyone probably has their own little tweaks to make to this description, so here are mine. First off, I don't care for labeling people terrorists in the first place, as it does tend to be a conveniently vague term. What I mean by this is that it's easy to label someone a terrorist, but it tells you very little about the person in question. The Unabomber and an Islamic fundamentalist hell bent on killing Americans are two completely different things. Secondly, I think there are many instances in which government agencies, both in the US and abroad, have committed acts that could certainly qualify as acts of terrorism.
Adam I totally agree with you, people totally confuse the term "terrorist" I personally believe that many people labeled as "terrorists" do not deserve that label. While certain governments especially Israel and the United States deserve to be punished for their acts of terrorism. Many people in the western countries (or at least in the US where I live) use the term "terrorist" to describe all Muslims. I find that this is especially common with Republicans (not to go all political) and if you are Republican please do not be offended by this I'm not hating.
I think that it really doesn't matter which country the terrorist come from. Instead of pointing fingers and blaming whole countries we should focus on the group or collective that are committing the terrorism acts. We just get thicker into war if we point fingers at whole countries.
Wiki Leaks is pretty much a terrorist organization. They steal US documents and then publish them, endangering the lives of US servicemen and servicewomen and harming the US's relations with foreign countries, this guy deserves to be brought back to the US and thrown into a cell.
ReplyDeleteWikileaks is NOT a terrorist organization. There is not a single shred of evidence that Assange's goal is to harm US citizens, nor is there a single documented case of people being harmed by the information in the documents. Even the government has said this is true. I heard somebody say that we should not leave it up to politicians to decide which crimes the public should know about. With two wars (both illegal and I believe immoral) going on and an ever growing intelligence system, It is absolutely vital for the people to have a way to open up government and uncover abuses of power. Wikileaks provides an extremely important service to democracy and freedom of speech.
ReplyDeleteAbe: I completely agree with you. I think that we (as a people) have been lied to and kept from the truth. We do not make most of the decisions for our country, we only have the illusion that we do. We all have the right to know about what is happening in our country and it's relationships between other countries and nations.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting.
Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing a different prospective on my blog...that's it's purpose!
Just keep in mind. Things are not as they seem...and wikileaks is releasing documents that were covered up by the government. So if you read them, then you see that something is wrong in and of the fact that they ARE releasing secret documents. That fact right there says that something is wrong with the system.
Good discussion!
Before you say that Wiki Leaks is so great think about what they are doing, they are stealing. They are stealing secret documents from the US that the US wishes to remain secret. That is stealing. Stealing is immoral not the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq.
ReplyDeleteAlso Abe you said that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq where illegal. Well that is a false statement, both wars were conducted with the consent of the UN and with a group of nations participating in the liberation of those countries from the tyrants who were oppressing them.
ReplyDeleteBut the government shouldn't have anything to hide. We have the right to know their business. They are not higher then us. Anyways, their interaction with other countries and the military effects us the most. We have a right to know. This is our world too.
ReplyDeleteI don't want this to turn into an argument. All opinions are welcome and I am happy that not everyone agrees with me. Lets discuss this in a calm manner.
Also...they do not steal. They get the information from whistle-blowers, and then publish. So it's said anyways. I suppose nothing can be for certain in all this...
ReplyDeleteStay open. You never know these days.
All governments have secret information, that either will endanger its servicemen and women or harm relations with other countries. This is what all governments do, and these so called whistle-blowers are not authorized to share this information so technically that is stealing.
ReplyDeleteSome call it stealing, some call it uncovering truths that the people have a right to know, and some call it both. The main goal of Wikileaks is to provide a platform upon which so called whistle-blowers can securely and anonymously reveal the corruption and lies of their governments.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of many of the documents released by Wikileaks pertaining to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it was found that the civilian death toll claimed by the US government was in actuality much higher. It also revealed instances where proper military procedure was not followed when dealing with escalation of force situations involving Iraqi citizens. Wikileaks also released the infamous "Collateral Murder" video, which, taken from an Apache helicopter, shows the gunner shooting at and killing civilians and journalists, including two Reuters news staff.
All that information, the false numbers of civilian casualties, improper procedure practices, and the video, is information that our government knew about. They didn't lose it, they didn't forget about it, they knew without a doubt it was there. Yet they keep it from the public in order to hide the realities of these wars from the public. Public opinion matters in this country, you could say it is what this country is based upon. If we are blind to such realities then there will be no end to these wars, and countless more of our service men and women will die in the line of duty.
Also, before Wikileaks began releasing the war documents, they, and other media outlets such as the New York Times, put a huge amount of effort into censoring the names of individuals in the documents specifically to protect our service men and women. In fact, Wikileaks offered to work with the US government to censor any names that might place that individual in danger, the US government refused to cooperate.
In short, Wikileaks has done everything in its power to maintain the safety of those mentioned in the documents while providing the public with a reality check that is long past due.
Anonymous, I appreciate your concern for our service men and women; I have family serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and like everyone, I want to see them come home safe. But the fact is the the documents released by Wikileaks have been edited to protect the people mentioned in them. The documents are also a year and a half old or more, so they aren't of any strategic value to enemy soldiers.
ReplyDeleteI called the wars illegal not because how they were started but how they are being carried out. The real losers in these wars are Iraqi and Afghan civilians, who have been blown to bits by both US and enemy forces. In one incident (out of many) dozens of afghan wedding goers were killed when a US fighter jet mistook them for Taliban soldiers.
Wow. I'm so happy you guys have so much to say.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, my main point is, is that government should not have secret information in the first place...wikileaks has provided a wakeup call for us and I think we should wake up and take a look around us and question the system. Wikileaks has only proven once again, that something is terribly wrong in which the US works.
Thanks for your opinion. I somewhat agree with you though...about the service men and women. I hear you. It's so hard to know that people are dying and it's even worse to know that people are dying for causes unknown to us because of secret files and plans. It's hard for me to know that we all have been deceived and told that the war has not caused that many deaths. But it has, like what Abe said, the people from other nations are suffering and dying and they are not even soldiers! All I am trying to say is that if people are going to kill each other (I would much rather not!) then we might as well know the reason why.
Before any one of you uses the word "terrorist" or better yet "terrorism" again, you might want to define it. Then we'll see who the real terrorists are.
ReplyDelete(By the by, I'm not the same Anonymous.)
I'd say this is a fairly apt description from the Wikipedia page on Terrorism:
ReplyDelete"Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion. No universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition of terrorism currently exists. Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal, deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians), and are committed by non-government agencies."
Now, everyone probably has their own little tweaks to make to this description, so here are mine.
First off, I don't care for labeling people terrorists in the first place, as it does tend to be a conveniently vague term. What I mean by this is that it's easy to label someone a terrorist, but it tells you very little about the person in question. The Unabomber and an Islamic fundamentalist hell bent on killing Americans are two completely different things.
Secondly, I think there are many instances in which government agencies, both in the US and abroad, have committed acts that could certainly qualify as acts of terrorism.
Adam I totally agree with you, people totally confuse the term "terrorist" I personally believe that many people labeled as "terrorists" do not deserve that label. While certain governments especially Israel and the United States deserve to be punished for their acts of terrorism. Many people in the western countries (or at least in the US where I live) use the term "terrorist" to describe all Muslims. I find that this is especially common with Republicans (not to go all political) and if you are Republican please do not be offended by this I'm not hating.
ReplyDeleteI think that it really doesn't matter which country the terrorist come from. Instead of pointing fingers and blaming whole countries we should focus on the group or collective that are committing the terrorism acts. We just get thicker into war if we point fingers at whole countries.
ReplyDelete