Wikileaks Reviewed

Gentle reader, 

Do you find this blog an odd medium for a book review?   Me too, but I really felt like I should share a bit about Wikileaks – Inside Julian Assange’s War on Secrecy.  The book was written and assembled by David Leigh and Luke Harding.  Both gentlemen  are journalists in the employee of the Guardian.  The book was published by guardianbooks.  Perhaps the title could have been Wikileaks according to the Guardian?  I felt like the book did a good job of telling both sides of the story.  The leakers vs the (secret) keepers.  They certainly did an excellent job of showing the Guardian in the best possible light.  Who can blame them?

There are perhaps six critical parts to this story:

1.       
    1.   The information about  Bradley Manning who actually passed the information to Wikileaks.  I am still confused as to why he had access to such a massive amount of information.  When I was in the military access was based on appropriate clearance and a need to know.  He is a very interesting case.  I will leave the judgments about Manning to those who feel qualified to judge. 

2.     Julian Assange is revealed as a fascinating character sometimes in a good light, sometimes not. 

3.      The efforts to balance the need to inform the public with the need to protect sources and not actually endanger the people involved is well documented.  Both sides of the argument are presented.   This could well be used in journalism courses of the future.

4.      The Afghanistan war logs, including the infamous video of the Apache Video which was recently on u-tube.   This information is disturbing.   Perhaps it’s better if you read before you judge.

5.      The Iraq war logs are also very disturbing.  Again I’d suggest reading before judgement.

6.      The diplomatic cables.  As an American some of them are a bit embarrassing, most are revealing and a few of them are down right hilarious.  One thing is for sure. There are some very brilliant, extremely articulate people working for the State Department.

The book is a good read and if you are want a peek inside what might have really been going on, this is the book for you.  It’s the most current book I’ve ever read.  The information that was leaked was current through mid 2008 when Manning passed the information to Assange.  The last group of information, the diplomatic cables, was finally released on 28 November 2010, a full day ahead of the planned coordinated release.  The introduction in the book is dated February 1, 2011.  I bought it in Thailand in early March.  This is pretty darn close to current!!.  For those who may be interested the ISBN is 978-0-85-265239-8