Wikileaks: The Implications for the Obama
Administration
By B Raman
The leakage of nearly 90,000 documents relating to the Afghan war for the period between January 2004 and December 2009 by Wikileaks, a US web
site which disseminates secret information of public interest received from whistleblowers after verifying the authenticity of the secret information, could
damage the chances of re-election of President Barack Obama in the presidential elections of 2012.The documents cover a period of six years— five
years of the presidency of Mr. George Bush and one year of Mr. Obama. The reaction of the officials of the Obama Administration to the leakage went
through three phases. In the first phase, they tried to prevent the secret documents from being brought into the public domain. In the second phase, they
grudgingly admitted the seriousness of the facts as disclosed in the leaked documents and sought to absolve the Obama Administration of
responsibility for the state of affairs in Afghanistan as revealed in these documents by highlighting the fact that most of these documents related to the
period when Mr. Bush was the President. Only now it has dawned upon them that about 20 per cent of the leaked documents relate to the period since
January 2009 when Mr. Obama took over as the President. Even if the vast majority of the documents cover five years of the presidency of Mr. Bush, there
will be a legitimate assumption under the law that officials of the Obama Administration—if not Mr. Obama himself— must have been aware of all this.
Yet, the Obama Administration did not take into account this disturbing state of affairs in Afghanistan while formulating its new Af-Pak strategy. This
strategy had two aspects. The first was a surge in US troops sent to Afghanistan in an attempt to weaken, if not defeat, the Taliban by the middle of 2011.
The second was to integrate Pakistan into this strategy in order to seek its co-operation in the military operations against the Taliban and in restoring
stability in Afghanistan.
As part of this attempt to integrate Pakistan into this strategy, military and economic assistance amounting to US $ 7.5 billion over a five-year period for
Pakistan was got approved by the Congress under the Kerry-Lugar Bill. As the Congress was discussing and approving the Bill, the officials of the
Obama Administration were aware of the continuing collusion of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) with the Taliban and the ISI’s attempts to de-
stabilise the Hamid Karzai Government. They were also aware of the role of the Taliban in the bomb explosion outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul on
July 7, 2008, in which 58 persons were killed.
Despite the availability in the records of the Administration of all this information regarding the deception played by Pakistan on the US, the officials of the
Administration persuaded the Congress to pass the Bill. From the comments made by Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, regarding the leaks it is apparent that he has been disturbed by the disclosures regarding Pakistan’s collusion with the Taliban made in the
leaked documents. The British Broadcasting Corporation has quoted him as saying: “However illegally these documents came to light, they raise
serious questions about the reality of America’s policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
Mr. Kerry and other members of the Congress who voted increased economic and military assistance for Pakistan might have been unaware of the full
details of what Kr. Kerry described as “the reality of America’s policy towards Pakistan and Afghanistan.” But Mr. Obama and his advisers in the White
House, the State Department and the Pentagon cannot claim that they too were unaware.
What role did the ISI’s collusion with the Taliban play in the increasing fatalities suffered by the US troops in Afghanistan? How could the Obama
Administration have decided to step up military and economic assistance to Pakistan despite being aware of the “reality” of the ISI’s role in helping the
Taliban in its operations against the US and NATO troops. Previously, it used to be believed that the ISI was using terrorist organisations only to kill
Indian nationals and target Indian interests. The leaked documents clearly indicate that the ISI had been knowingly helping the Taliban, another terrorist
organisation, against the troops of the US-led NATO forces and the Afghan Security Forces.
Even if the Obama Administration did not want to act against Pakistan for killing Indians, one would have expected it to act against Pakistan for
contributing to the deaths of US soldiers by assisting the Taliban. In spite of having and knowing all these details about the ISI-Taliban collusion, the
Obama Administration chose not to act. That is the shocking “reality of America’s policy towards Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
As these facts are widely discussed in the US, the credibility of Mr. Obama could be dented and his chances for re-election as the President damaged.
The second implication of the Wikileaks should be of concern to the intelligence and security agencies of all countries of the world, including India. That
is how did a junior US military analyst posted in Baghdad come to have access to two highly-classified data bases of the US—- one of the Pentagon
relating to military developments and the other probably of the US State Department relating to diplomatic developments. He seems to have transferred
to compact discs the contents of nearly 200,000 documents from these two data bases. Only 90,000 of these documents relating to military
developments in Afghanistan have been disseminated by Wikileaks so far. The contents of the remaining—many of which probably relate to diplomatic
developments—- have not been disseminated so far. One does not know why.
The action of the junior US analyst in managing to have access to these data-bases and transfering their contents to his CDs shows how insecure the
so-called secure data-bases are and how one could break into them. Instead of harassing and prosecuring the analyst, the US agencies should enter
into a plea bargain with him by promising no action if he told them how he did this so that the US security agencies could plug the loopholes in their
cyber security.
B Raman is presently Director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai & former Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat. He is also the author of “The
Kaoboys of R&AW, Mumbai 26/11, Terrorism: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, Intelligence: Past, Present & Future and A Terrorist State as a Frontline Ally.
http://www.indiandefencereview.com/2010/07/wikileaks-the-implications-for-the-obama-administration.html
Administration
By B Raman
The leakage of nearly 90,000 documents relating to the Afghan war for the period between January 2004 and December 2009 by Wikileaks, a US web
site which disseminates secret information of public interest received from whistleblowers after verifying the authenticity of the secret information, could
damage the chances of re-election of President Barack Obama in the presidential elections of 2012.The documents cover a period of six years— five
years of the presidency of Mr. George Bush and one year of Mr. Obama. The reaction of the officials of the Obama Administration to the leakage went
through three phases. In the first phase, they tried to prevent the secret documents from being brought into the public domain. In the second phase, they
grudgingly admitted the seriousness of the facts as disclosed in the leaked documents and sought to absolve the Obama Administration of
responsibility for the state of affairs in Afghanistan as revealed in these documents by highlighting the fact that most of these documents related to the
period when Mr. Bush was the President. Only now it has dawned upon them that about 20 per cent of the leaked documents relate to the period since
January 2009 when Mr. Obama took over as the President. Even if the vast majority of the documents cover five years of the presidency of Mr. Bush, there
will be a legitimate assumption under the law that officials of the Obama Administration—if not Mr. Obama himself— must have been aware of all this.
Yet, the Obama Administration did not take into account this disturbing state of affairs in Afghanistan while formulating its new Af-Pak strategy. This
strategy had two aspects. The first was a surge in US troops sent to Afghanistan in an attempt to weaken, if not defeat, the Taliban by the middle of 2011.
The second was to integrate Pakistan into this strategy in order to seek its co-operation in the military operations against the Taliban and in restoring
stability in Afghanistan.
As part of this attempt to integrate Pakistan into this strategy, military and economic assistance amounting to US $ 7.5 billion over a five-year period for
Pakistan was got approved by the Congress under the Kerry-Lugar Bill. As the Congress was discussing and approving the Bill, the officials of the
Obama Administration were aware of the continuing collusion of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) with the Taliban and the ISI’s attempts to de-
stabilise the Hamid Karzai Government. They were also aware of the role of the Taliban in the bomb explosion outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul on
July 7, 2008, in which 58 persons were killed.
Despite the availability in the records of the Administration of all this information regarding the deception played by Pakistan on the US, the officials of the
Administration persuaded the Congress to pass the Bill. From the comments made by Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, regarding the leaks it is apparent that he has been disturbed by the disclosures regarding Pakistan’s collusion with the Taliban made in the
leaked documents. The British Broadcasting Corporation has quoted him as saying: “However illegally these documents came to light, they raise
serious questions about the reality of America’s policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
Mr. Kerry and other members of the Congress who voted increased economic and military assistance for Pakistan might have been unaware of the full
details of what Kr. Kerry described as “the reality of America’s policy towards Pakistan and Afghanistan.” But Mr. Obama and his advisers in the White
House, the State Department and the Pentagon cannot claim that they too were unaware.
What role did the ISI’s collusion with the Taliban play in the increasing fatalities suffered by the US troops in Afghanistan? How could the Obama
Administration have decided to step up military and economic assistance to Pakistan despite being aware of the “reality” of the ISI’s role in helping the
Taliban in its operations against the US and NATO troops. Previously, it used to be believed that the ISI was using terrorist organisations only to kill
Indian nationals and target Indian interests. The leaked documents clearly indicate that the ISI had been knowingly helping the Taliban, another terrorist
organisation, against the troops of the US-led NATO forces and the Afghan Security Forces.
Even if the Obama Administration did not want to act against Pakistan for killing Indians, one would have expected it to act against Pakistan for
contributing to the deaths of US soldiers by assisting the Taliban. In spite of having and knowing all these details about the ISI-Taliban collusion, the
Obama Administration chose not to act. That is the shocking “reality of America’s policy towards Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
As these facts are widely discussed in the US, the credibility of Mr. Obama could be dented and his chances for re-election as the President damaged.
The second implication of the Wikileaks should be of concern to the intelligence and security agencies of all countries of the world, including India. That
is how did a junior US military analyst posted in Baghdad come to have access to two highly-classified data bases of the US—- one of the Pentagon
relating to military developments and the other probably of the US State Department relating to diplomatic developments. He seems to have transferred
to compact discs the contents of nearly 200,000 documents from these two data bases. Only 90,000 of these documents relating to military
developments in Afghanistan have been disseminated by Wikileaks so far. The contents of the remaining—many of which probably relate to diplomatic
developments—- have not been disseminated so far. One does not know why.
The action of the junior US analyst in managing to have access to these data-bases and transfering their contents to his CDs shows how insecure the
so-called secure data-bases are and how one could break into them. Instead of harassing and prosecuring the analyst, the US agencies should enter
into a plea bargain with him by promising no action if he told them how he did this so that the US security agencies could plug the loopholes in their
cyber security.
B Raman is presently Director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai & former Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat. He is also the author of “The
Kaoboys of R&AW, Mumbai 26/11, Terrorism: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, Intelligence: Past, Present & Future and A Terrorist State as a Frontline Ally.
http://www.indiandefencereview.com/2010/07/wikileaks-the-implications-for-the-obama-administration.html
