WASHINGTON — A cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the past three years, provides an unprecedented look at back-room bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders and frank assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats.
Some of the cables, made available to The New York Times and several other news organizations, were written as recently as late February, revealing the Obama administration’s exchanges over crises and conflicts. The material was originally obtained by WikiLeaks, an organization devoted to revealing secret documents.
WikiLeaks posted 220 cables, some redacted to protect diplomatic sources, in the first installment of the archive on its Web site on Sunday.
The disclosure of the cables is sending shudders through the diplomatic establishment, and could strain relations with some countries, influencing international affairs in ways that are impossible to predict.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and American ambassadors around the world have been contacting foreign officials in recent days to alert them to the expected disclosures. A statement from the White House on Sunday said: “We condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information.”
Review at least one of the Wikileaks stories and respond below. Do you think it is irresponsible to leak this information, or do people have a right to know? Should the head of Wikileaks be punished?
I believe people do have a right to post these documents because the people need to hear what there goverment is up to. I understand that this may cause some problems with other countries, but its essential for the people to know whats going on since this country is "in the people".
ReplyDeleteIt Is Human nature to be curious but that doesn't give them the right to know. "Ignorance is bliss" the less we know the better, this is true in some cases. We, as Americans, need to trust our government. The government officials WE elected and "wikileaks" in my opinion should not be punished but restricted from leaking more government documents out.
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with cap8u about the less we know the better and "Ignorance is bliss". We the people should know what this goverment is up to and everything else that has to do with us. This is not a communist country in which most people do not know things about their country. the more we know the better.
ReplyDeleteI believe that knowing what goes on in the world should be spread into the world because the government hides a lot of things from the public view and its not fair that they should hide it from public view but at the same time i also believe that they hide things from us so we dont get worried and cause conflicts between the public.
ReplyDeleteI think that even though people have the right to publish the documents that they see fit, The security of our country might be jeopardized and that these information that are leeked out to the world are sensitive to the US, Any evil person can get their hands on the information and use it for evil purposes.
ReplyDeletei beleave that the people have the right to know whats going on in the country because the government says something and its not true i agree with all these secret documents from the people we dont know if the government is telling the truth or not so its the peoples right to know whats going on
ReplyDeleteI Agree with what cap8u said. The Americans are very curious ,but in some cases the less we know the better, then again, We want to know what kind of desicions that our government is making.But that still doesnt make it ok to leak the secret documents out.
ReplyDeleteitotaly disagree with ruchamah its the peoples right to publish what ever they want and now its the time to let the world know what the U.S realy is a broke country and also the government should stop telling the truth that the economy is not getting better in fact is getting worst the U.S doesnt whant the world to know that they are in economy crisis so is in the peoples hads to publishit even canada has a vetter economy then we do and another thing were not the richest country in the world were the worst
ReplyDeleteI believe there is completely nothing wrong with people posting up these kind of documents. I mean it DOES concern us so we should have the right to see this information.
ReplyDeletei think that if the white house stated that its wrong to disclosure classified information than its wrong but in a way peole should know whats going on with the obama administration because its going to affect us the citizens. also if theres something going on that we might think that isnt right we can know in advance about it.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that the people have the right to know what is going on in their country but not if the safety of our country and poeple are put at risk. When the documents are but on wikileaks it is easy for everyone to get their hands on them and use them for other purposeses that can harm the people in this country so in my opinion it is not a good idea to publish documents like these that can affect the people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ruchamah in some cases people are curious and they have the right to know anout the government byt that still doesnt make it right to "leak the secret documents out."
ReplyDeleteWhile i do beleive that as US citizens, we have the right to know the actions of our government, i personally disagree with the actions of WikiLeaks. They are spreading confidetional information about our relations with other countries that could create enemies of the US which in turn could use this information against us. These documanets and cables were labeled confidentional for a reason, and even though many people feel we have the right to know these things, what we must understand is that now, thanks to WikiLeaks, we aren't the only ones with access to these documents. The release of these cables could lead to a rapid increase of disliking towards the US on a global scale.
ReplyDeleteThats assuming that these documents contain evidence capable of being used against the US. Even if these contents don't exist, the fact of the matter is that these cables are confidential, so somewhere along the publication of them, at least one illegal action was made. Whether someone hacked their way intop finding this information, or it was spread by some with access to it (whom i assume was aware that the information was intended to be kept secret).
So even though I agree that we hve a right to have access to this information, I don't agree with the WikiLeaks website in publisizing this it.
It outrages me see that damned phrase on this page. It is the ignorant that are propagated to, and enlisted into the most cynical policies of the United States. Since this nation has been created, some of the greatest atrocities have all been enacted in the name of patriotism and democracy. When has this government ever given enough measure to gain the people's trust. It has actively lied to the people so that it may keep it's clean self image. The documents are of no real threat to foreign affairs. The government is not afraid of that. It's afraid that officials are voluntarily soliciting information that tears open the veil between the governments dehumanized image and the American public. Or maybe the American public will actually see the government for it's cynical and cold blooded handling of policies.
ReplyDeleteI went to Wikileak's website and i looked at some of the Iraq War Logs that were "leaked" and I found it immensely interesting. How ever after reading more of them I realized that the information that is released won't reveal much to a civilian. Since the information released originally belonged to confidential governmental sources it is written in a specific format that isn't the easiest to understand. However i still do think the people have the right to this sort of information, specially if it involves the security of the people. (such as is the case with the "frank assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats")
ReplyDeleteI don't think Wikileaks should be punished however i do they think should be careful not to release any information that might endanger our government's international policies.
Our international relations also could not be damaged, seeing as there is virtual animosity from all nations due to America's persistent hegemonic tendencies. Even many of its people are begrudging of the government. These are not documents that are of immediate threat to national security. They merely disclose information that gives insight onto how our government works and handles the situations that are shown in those leaks.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Eddie(: about "However i still do think the people have the right to this sort of information, specially if it involves the security of the people."
ReplyDeleteWell i think the ones from wikileaks should be punished because they are giving info that some people want to know but people shouldn't have to know because the ones dealing with the problem are the secretary of state and other people.
ReplyDeletewikileaks is not doing anything wrong they are just informing the people of what the goverment has been hiding from them for years. people have the right to know what has been happening in their country and desirve to klnow any deals or alliances being done with other countries that could affect them.The people have the right to know.
ReplyDeletei think that is right for them to post this type of information because every person has the right to know what is going on also becasue if people dont know whats is going on then how will they be inform. so Wikileaks shouldnt be punished for something that they posted that could be important for people to know.
ReplyDeletein response to christellecrazed
ReplyDeleteI think people shouldn't know because their not the ones dealing with the problem.
wikileakes is doing bad but also doing good like for example it is doping bad for giving out leakes about confidential thngs of the governments but a good thing abou this is that it is informing the people about what is happening in the world..
ReplyDeleteI think that it's a good thing for the people because they know what is happening around them. What the governmetn is doing right or wrong, keeps you inform. But at the same time it's a bad thing for the government beacuse there business is out. And also people can use this documents against the US.
ReplyDeleteI agree that everyone is equal and they should be able to say and in this case post documents if they want to but freedom of speech is just going too far now. The revealing of these documents is putting many people's life at "steak". The government should put a stop to this website and forget about freedom of speech just for this time.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Joe:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, it's good and bad at the same time.
i think people sould have freedom to post what they think but not to this extent that can give important information of one country and can put them at "steak" of dying from terrotist atacks that gain information and weakneses.
ReplyDeletein response to valeria i agree with u because in away people could use this document against the US.
ReplyDeletei agree with sam that this is going to far to were it can be a danger.
ReplyDeletei disagree with jhossept becuase i dont think they are doing bad by letting out information the goverment is hiding because it is good for people to be informed on what is happening in were they live.
ReplyDeleteWell I don't think it's bad for the people to know what's going on. I mean, we should know what's happening so we can have an idea what's going on. However, at the same time maybe we shouldn't read those because they might just worry us. But still, it wont hurt to know. So if they don't want us to read those confidential papers, they should really be careful.
ReplyDeletewell i dont really care about it as much. but i dont really dont know wwhat to say about it. help me ask me some questions so that i can respond to everyone. thank you for your caloboration.
ReplyDeleteI agree with CHAVEZ but would like to add an extra thing to it well yeah people should have a right to know what is happening. Also you think the govt should let people know more about what they do?
ReplyDeletei think that every person that live in the U.S has the right to know what our country has been doing and what they have been hiding from us. they don't want us to know things so we wont protest and to protect the personal views of the president. this isn't a communist country and we should all know about the decisions of our country. i understand that there are some confidential info that should'nt be published in order to protect our country and us. Wikileaks shouldn't be punished they should just watch out with what they post.
ReplyDeleteIn responce to Chavez, yeah I agree with you that people should have a right to know because it could affect us.
ReplyDeletei think that they have the right to publish these documents because we have to know what is happening to this country and other places. However they should be careful what they are publishing because some of this information can be harmful to us.
ReplyDeletewell i think that what wikileaks is doing is good and bad at the same time. Its good because the people of the USA should be allowed to know about whats happening in the country and also the publisher of Wikileaks has the rights to publis what that person whats. At the same time i think its bad because that information is classified and it should be like that. I feel neutral.
ReplyDelete@ barcelona campeon
ReplyDeleteeven if we are not the ones dealing with the problem we stil have the right to know what our country's decisions have been .r u saying u dont care what they do?
i agree with marcerlino.
ReplyDeletehow do u feel about the topic?
i agree with aaron because many people's life will be at "steak" just like now if the website is not closed or stopped.
ReplyDeletei too agree with marcelino at this
ReplyDeletein reply to aaron i dont feel anything because nothing has happened just yet.
ReplyDeletei agree with u marcelino, thank you for you colaboration
ReplyDeletei believe its okay and a great idea to put things onf the UN for people could see what goin on and whats happening in the world...but i believe its also wrong because there may be really badly things happening that maybe the UN dont want the citizens TO KNOW
ReplyDeletei think it is unfair and fair in some ways.
ReplyDeletei agree with chavez....
ReplyDeletei believe that if the government is hidden things people should know
I must agree that people have evry single right to post these "leaks", but is it a right thing? I mean think about many civilians may read these documents and hold upon being biased. People that are strongly agaisnt the government may use the downfailure judgments that the government may pose in one of their douments and use it as a reason to plot some type of rebellion or faital attack. Therefore i believe that if these files are meant to keep a secrete then they shold be held as a secrete.
ReplyDeletewell why do you all agree with me tell me a reason.
ReplyDeleteIn Reponse to Sam
ReplyDeleteThe government cannot jeoperdize the law it is unfair to the people of America and the people around the world that look up to America s a strong lawful nation. Therefore they cannot shut down the site do to freedom of speech but yet again it is revealing classified information so it is up to the press to decide
I think that everyone in this world is curious up until a certain point. Now some say if everyone knows whats going on then the world would be a safer more updated global community but theres a reason these documents are held secret. You see, there are hundreds upon thousands of people who run around these streets amoungst us, you know the ones that say muhahahahaha and believe in world domination. these people would probably love to attempt to mess up any government plans that wikileaks unraveled and exposed. The point is that the world is too dangerous for government officials to let everyone know whats going on. Theres reason these documents are confidential.
ReplyDeleteDocuments are confidential and even though WikiLeads is doing a great job in informing the Americans about the occurences that are happening in the United States, its still the responsibility for them to ask for authorization on whether the government will be opposed to them. Sometimes its important to know things and they are contributing to that certain factor. Futhermore, the government will never tell us the truth when something wrong is happening, hiding the truth from their citizens who they call "equal" but we're humans so it should be essential to to know. Of course, its classified information and it could be used against us and my head just ached from all this writing. Anywho, everyone has the right to do what they want as long as they don't overexcess it.
ReplyDelete