A Preliminary Survey of the WikiLeaks Tsunami

The revelations of WikiLeaks are being given all kinds of dramatic names in various parts of the world. Some call them an extremely dangerous diplomatic bomb explosion. Some analysts declare these revelations to be a devastating earthquake, whereas some countries are calling them a tsunami. A few of these revelations and accusations are of a very serious nature. The names of uncounted trustworthy and powerful global personalities have been exposed en masse. Because of these revelations, it is not just a few countries and their leaders, but the entire world that has reeled and is searching for equilibrium.

At the time of this writing, the United States of America, a superpower skilled in science and technology, is in a state of perplexity, unable or unwilling to verify or refute these revelations. The WikiLeaks group which made the revelations is comprised of only a few people, but they have managed to obtain reports and statements secured with top secret codes from America’s most sensitive institutions, the Pentagon and the State Department. When sensitive reports obtained from the world’s embassies, other institutions, unknown names, and from people — apparently innocent and unconnected to spying — appointed to local posts in various countries, are collected in a master computer, breaking their codes and stealing them is not an easy job. But the skill with which WikiLeak’s experts broke into computers and collected 200,000 to 250,000 files of information in the form of various dispatches on sensitive topics is such a revolutionary feat in the world of computer crime that not even the most sensitive record can remain safe in the world’s capitals. This is why the most senior officials of the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon are trying to find excuses to hide their mental worries — indeed to hide their state of confusion, some examples of which are displayed in the statements of Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter.

Under such uncertain and incomplete conditions, it is premature to conduct a detailed review of the effects of the WikiLeaks revelations on the relations between countries at the international level. The situation will become clearer as time passes. Since the revealed statements and reports are based simply on information of various types, they cannot at all be considered to be part of a government’s official policy or foreign policy towards another country or person. However, to completely reject WikiLeaks and throw it into the wastebasket is also equivalent to turning one’s eyes away from reality. So when it is revealed that on any occasion there was discussion at any level about a plan for taking control of Pakistani enriched uranium, even though it did not succeed, such thinking certainly constitutes a worrisome situation for Pakistan’s national solidarity. In the same manner, if at any level someone expressed suspicion or fears about the completion of the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project, then Islamabad and Tehran cannot ignore such such concerns. Similarly. opinions expressed about the characters of certain Pakistani political leaders can have a strong effect on their credibility in the future, even if such impressions are presented in some arbitrary context, perhaps expressed as a non-serious opinion by some foreign personality in a private gathering.

Has this exposure been carried out as a lark? Is the timing of these WikiLeaks revelations merely happenstance? Or is there an intention behind it — to damage the unity of the Islamic world by talking about Pakistan’s leaders and current conditions, and by publicizing disagreements between Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and others? It may be premature to decide upon a final opinion on this matter, but the sensational revelations by WikiLeaks, even if they are draft reports based on weak and unsubstantiated information, cannot be ruled out as a crude and contemptible tactic used as a form of psychological warfare. However, even a casual survey of the global press makes clear that the world’s major powers are moving swiftly to exercise all possible chances for damage control, thanks to the fallout from WikiLeaks revelations. Everyone is denouncing these revelations and demanding legal action by declaring them to be un-Islamic, illegal, and arrest-worthy.

On the other side, the head of WikiLeak’s small team or organization, 39-year-old computer science expert Julian Assange, says that by lifting the curtain from various dark aspects of America’s current diplomatic history, he has attempted to acquaint the world community with a glimpse of America’s diplomacy and the strategic objectives behind it. Therefore, in obtaining the documents by any means possible and presenting them before the world, he has not committed any moral or legal or constitutional crime; rather, he has attempted to publicize the basic human right of a 21st-century person: to search for the truth. Only time will tell what the fallout from WikiLeaks at the global level will be.