WikiLeaks: media insurgency

The “War Logs” exposed the previously unreported killings of hundreds of Afghan civilians and revealed the extent to which the Taliban’s strength has grown.

Wars are sold to the public with exaggeration and misrepresentation of facts.

One conscientious individual with important information can shake the world.

A social movement exposing secrets could “bring down many administrations that rely on concealing reality – including the US administration.”

How different American history could have been if an information-leaking mechanism like WikiLeaks had existed decades ago.

The most disastrous and devastating war in American history began with a bold-faced lie when the National Security Agency (NSA) fabricated intelligence describing an attack by North Vietnamese boats on a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. Midlevel NSA officials were responsible for the faulty intelligence, and a conscientious whistleblower within the agency could have prevented the widened war and the pain of untold millions of people in Southeast Asia and the United States.

The weeks before the invasion of Iraq were a crucial tipping point when millions of people marched in cities around the globe in some of the largest protests in history. There was a real, tangible feeling that our collective resistance could make a difference and stop a war that we knew was wrong. Yet without any evidence of the Bush administration’s lies we would all soon sit stunned, watching bombs rain down on Baghdad live on CNN.

By revealing the falsehoods and manipulations that often underlie the case for war, WikiLeaks can alter the course of wars and maybe even prevent them. The true nature of WikiLeaks’ capabilities will be seen in the lead-up to the next war launched on lies.