Morality of naming soldiers

[Auxin]

Lately even alleged pro-human rights groups have been condemning wikileaks for not removing names of soldiers, mercenaries, operatives, informants, double agents, and assorted war criminals from their published copies of classified US war papers. The argument being that publishing those names from reports on several months to several years old operations may put american allies at risk.

Sound logical, it might.

So people jump on the bandwagon and condemn the only journalistic source not subservient to the whitehouse/pentagon.

But lets look at this dispassionately.

Firstly lets gauge what the whitehouse would think if the roles were reversed. If wikileaks published classified taliban and al-quaida documents which named enemy military commanders guilty of the murder of civilians and double agents working within the US military funneling military strategy and supply route plans to the taliban, etc. would the US or these western 'human rights' groups condemn the exposing of those double agents? Would they call it a crime against humanity supplying evidence, say, of bin laden being involved in a past assault on american troops? Thats pretty hard to imagine.

So the hypocrisy is clear in this accusation against wikileaks when viewed from the other side.

What of the morality from a neutral perspective?

I side neither with the american military establishment nor with any of their numerous alleged enemies.

Its already common custom to show pictures of soldiers and name soldiers by name on international news media, their uniforms even show their names, so their identities are obviously not highly guarded by the code of military conduct nor by western custom. Military recruitment is even done openly and with no apparent shame or fear in my country. So if there is any hazard in naming regular soldiers its not something they are not already doing to themselves and their peers.

The bit I'm more unsure of is the naming of double agents and paid informants which may still be living in the land of those whom theyve betrayed. Doing so may well put their lives at risk. But did they not go into the situation knowing the risk and accepting that risk in the hopes that their money or victory would come through before they got in trouble?

If it were only about the names of the informants I'd personally not cite their names, its not my place to get involved.

But if, as with wikileaks, the intent is to expose a ongoing campaign of war crimes and brutality (legal or not) that constitutes the wests actions in afghanistan- that makes it another matter.

Crimes against peace and crimes against humanity should be exposed in order to make future incidences less likely to occur and to get some measure of justice for those crimes which have occurred.

So if the leaking of the documents is justified by the principal of countering war crimes just how do you decide what names to black out? Black out them all and who would be brought to justice? who would be discouraged from committing horrific crimes? Blank none out and you would name traitors and informants who could be targeted. Black out any name not directly associated with war crimes in those documents and what happens when other documents are exposed which change how the first can be interpreted if the names had been known?

I, myself, am really uncertain at exactly where I'd draw the line.

All I do know is war brings pain and killing and I'd avoid it at all costs except under the most extreme of circumstances, my country rarely fights a war of defense and even then it tends to take the killing to horrific excess (hiroshima, nagasaki, dresden, etc.)

Discuss

Edited August 15, 2010 by Auxin

[No_One]

War is shit but even chimps have wars, wars are messy and sometimes things can;t be sorted out over a cup of coffee, the dude that operates wikileaks became a dude able to operate wikileaks on the back of liberties afforded to people due to war efforts; I'm thinking the inventors, authors, the giants whose shoulders he's standing on, etc. - the dudes that had oppurtunity to thrive/enough time not under constant threat to produce the sources of intelligence this dude what have absorbed or the technology he uses to carry out his affairs i.e. planes, computers and what not.

Why would you fuck with any war effort if war efforts have made you who you are and have allowed you to live the life you lead?

Standing in the bleachers throwing shit on the field isn't real admirable, if you've never been on the frontline who are you to comment about war or fuck with those that know more about it than you do? - if this dude thinks he could do it better why doesn't he?

If the leaders are shit in his eyes why doesn't he lead his people/army and do a better job?

There's always more than meets the eye.

My 2c.

Peace.

[The Dude]

Why would you fuck with any war effort if war efforts have made you who you are and have allowed you to live the life you lead?

 

I wouldn't say they've allowed for much of a life... what with their primary focus being death and oppression. Sure we have very fancy military technology that we've now got everyday home uses for. Yet somehow I imagine that if the motives weren't to conquer and control the masses, we'd have a somewhat better quality of life. just my 2c.. but I don't know anything of the honorable or admirable or moral and righteous actions of murderous thugs. Sorry for using loaded language, I'm just trying to keep things in perspective. There is Nothing morally righteous about playing into the hands of manipulating forces that exploit you.

Standing in the bleachers throwing shit on the field isn't real admirable, if you've never been on the frontline who are you to comment about war or fuck with those that know more about it than you do? - if this dude thinks he could do it better why doesn't he?

If the leaders are shit in his eyes why doesn't he lead his people/army and do a better job?

 

He's keeping to real journalist ethics of revealing the truth wherever it may be hidden. I'm not sure what sort of leading his people/army ideas you're on about, but this is about education, not falling for another messiah/leader/obama figure. This is about everyone being aware of the actions of a rotten to the core corrupt system, so that we can make informed choices and work together as a real democracy, instead of having any leader.

but hey if you suggest we must fight [to keep the peace?], we may as well become dumb to preserve knowledge, fuck for virginity and pay taxes for economic freedom. Double speak always has more than meets the ear.

...I understand the peons may be in danger due to this information, yet i think the greater moral responsibility is in exposing the fraudulent reasons for these wars, as well as the general horror of war (an eye opener) so that we don't allow wars to go on and there wouldn't be these peons in danger in the first place.

I'm sorry I just don't really feel the need to be politically correct in addressing sell outs who are prepared to kill for a living.

[dworx]

Any leader that leads his peoples youth to war - to die, is no leader. Who wants to lose their child because some weak cowardly asshole says hey we are gonna send you off to die for your country when we know the reality is so someone can profit. Meanwhile same said leader is hiding out in the "bleachers" so they don't get hit by the same shit they are slinging. Fuck them, what people need are leaders capable of reolving the issues that affect there country and the common sense to stay the fuck out of other countries issues

[Max Cady]

War is shit but even chimps have wars, wars are messy and sometimes things can;t be sorted out over a cup of coffee, the dude that operates wikileaks became a dude able to operate wikileaks on the back of liberties afforded to people due to war efforts; I'm thinking the inventors, authors, the giants whose shoulders he's standing on, etc. - the dudes that had oppurtunity to thrive/enough time not under constant threat to produce the sources of intelligence this dude what have absorbed or the technology he uses to carry out his affairs i.e. planes, computers and what not.

Why would you fuck with any war effort if war efforts have made you who you are and have allowed you to live the life you lead?

Standing in the bleachers throwing shit on the field isn't real admirable, if you've never been on the frontline who are you to comment about war or fuck with those that know more about it than you do? - if this dude thinks he could do it better why doesn't he?

If the leaders are shit in his eyes why doesn't he lead his people/army and do a better job?

There's always more than meets the eye.

My 2c.

Peace.

 

so how's life in the IDF potty mouth?

[No_One]

There's atleast six generations of voters alive at any one time, if the bringer of change is going to change anything he/she has to please all oppinions in this demographic - the game is the way it is and old ways don't die over night.

Standing round and giving it a name or pointing the finger doesn't change much, what good is awareness/knowledge if it isn't follwed by action. The sad fact is that the actions that could fix what a lot of people perceive as a problem is it has to be done in a certain way i.e. democratically/politically/through strenght of numbers and this or arranging this sort of thing takes time and effort which the "opponent" has the jump on you with.

I've been through the fight the system trip and found the fort to be heavily fortified and you can never be sure that the "enemy" are actually as they appear or whether things actually are as they are. Whether you like it or not your outgunned by a more organised "opponent" if you wish to see them that way.

Everyone thinks their way is the way the world should be run, maybe the world is the way it is cause thats the only way that "works" or it is simply how consequence balances out when all work ethics/skills/abilities/volition/oppurtunity/genetics dovetail(s).

I would love to see the people rally together or legitimate/radical politicians but I can't see it happening - there's too much of a demographic/too many opinions to please.

Dude, perception is relaity - change the way you look at it - the mind can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven and all that - be your own leader - find a flock and tend to them - be thy brothers keeper - etc. etc.

Live life from a place they can't touch.