WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange believes the publication of the Iraq war logs gave victims of the fighting a "sense of justice".We've learnt nothing, nothing from the hecatombs of last century - good intentions, muddle, uncertainty, mass murder - and are now being uniquely enlightened?
The whistleblower said disclosing 400,000 classified United States documents created a better understanding of how war can go wrong.
Speaking in an interview to be broadcast on Monday, Assange said he hoped the controversial move would dissuade people from engaging in "immoral conduct".
He said: "I hope it creates disincentives for engaging in immoral conduct in war. Disincentives for engaging in war crimes, in Iraq, in other places. It gives the victims of war in Iraq a sense of justice. A better understanding of how war goes and how war goes wrong."
I can't help thinking that if we haven't got the message from the slaughter of 1914-18, 1939-45, the Armenian genocide, the activity of Pol Pot & Co, manmade famine in China, recurrent nastiness in Africa [etc] a few cables aren't going to have much long-term impact. So much for the Pentagon Papers. So much for Muehlon and for the Bolshevik publication of diplomatic documents. Mere release isn't the same as understanding.
