WikiLeaks [and the U.S. Midterm Elections]

The 400,000 documents recently released by WikiLeaks have stirred a great deal of interest. Various governments, groups and media outlets have been busy evaluating them based on their own points of view and trying to exploit them to their best advantage.

A few months ago, it didn’t even occur to the excited cheerleaders of the first round of released documents about American war efforts in Afghanistan that the second round of leaked documents would become rather annoying and inconvenient to them. At the time, someone from the U.S. Army was arrested and accused of leaking the documents. The newly released documents indicate that more people are involved in the leaks.

Naturally, before even studying the documents, one might question the timing of the release of these new documents, most of which are from the period when the Republicans were in power. The current government, meanwhile, has not denied the authenticity and credibility of these documents. Yet the midterm elections are ahead of us and the Democrats are not in good shape. The newly released documents convey a message to the American people that the Republicans made the United States a violator of human rights, and that if they succeeded in returning to power, the neoconservative ideology would once again prevail and grimmer days would await them.

All these documents are reports prepared by the U.S. Army about various incidents in Iraq. According to the American officials, these are raw and unanalyzed data that could not be verified for accuracy and truthfulness. This explanation did not satisfy everyone, to the extent that even the secretariat of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council — which was created by the U.S. about thirty years ago to neutralize Iran in the region — wants to hold the United States accountable for the human rights violations and war crimes in Iraq, while forgetting that human rights garner little to no respect or honor in its member countries.

More than 90 percent of these documents are U.S. Army field reports from Iraq. It is unlikely that anyone would ever be tried as a result of the publication of these documents. Tony Blair joined George Bush in attacking Iraq and slaughtering its people. Although an official investigative panel was formed in London to look into various justifications given for the British involvement in the Iraq war, Tony Blair was not found guilty of any wrongdoing and, interestingly enough, this warmongering figure has since become the official envoy of the Quartet, mediating the peace process in the Middle East. Likewise, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush and Condoleezza Rice have been spared any kind of trial.

The news outlets interpret these documents from their governments’ points of view. For instance, Al Arabiya [based in Dubai and partly owned by Saudis] interrupted its regular broadcast for more than three hours and pulled all the dirty tricks it could find to humiliate and discredit Nouri al-Maliki and his government, since the documents allegedly expose his direct involvement in various executions, without mentioning that the first prime minister of Iraq had collaborated with the U.S. military and been equally responsible for the turn of events in Iraq.

The Al Arabiya network, in reviewing these documents, has been interested primarily in pinpointing and condemning Iran for its involvement in the internal affairs of Iraq, while promoting Ayad Allawi as the next prime minister of Iraq. Saudi Arabia and other members of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council want Allawi as the next prime minister, especially after all the money and support they poured into his campaign. For Al Arabiya and similar media outlets, Iran is of greater concern than the United States.

Iran fought against Iraq for eight years with devastating and irreparable human and financial costs, following the aggression of Saddam’s regime. Naturally, Iran would seize any opportunity to prevent any development in Iraq that would threaten its national security and interests. Those governments which are trigger happy and unable to contain their glee over documents accusing Iran of sending explosives to Iraq, should be concerned that one day they may be exposed for their support of al-Qaida and the Baath regime in Iraq.

The leaking of these documents is not a simple incident. During the Bush era, the Pentagon became so powerful that it literally set U.S. foreign policy. Perhaps in the United States, they want the Pentagon to play this role once again. The settling of internal disputes in the United States has some consequences, but those who childishly celebrate [the leaks] should be wary of tomorrow.