Today in Labor History July 25, 2010: WikiLeaks published classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history. The leak included 91,000 Afghan War documents, covering the period from January 2004 to December 2009. Prior to the release, WikiLeaks made the logs available to “The Guardian,” “The New York Times” and “Der Spiegel.” The Times said the leak "offers an unvarnished and grim picture of the Afghan war." The Guardian called it "one of the biggest leaks in U.S. military history ... a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and NATO commanders fear neighboring Pakistan and Iran are fueling the insurgency." The documents also revealed that U.S. military contractors had hired local male child prostitutes.
As a result of the leaks, the U.S. government launched a criminal investigation into Wikileaks, and its founder, Julian Assange, who spent years under British custody. And the U.S. fought aggressively to get him extradited to the U.S., where he would have faced multiple life sentences for espionage.
Watch the original leaked footage here:
https://youtu.be/5rXPrfnU3G0?t=2
#workingclass #LaborHistory #wikileaks #julianassange #imperialism #freespeech #censorship #prison #politicalrisoners #espionage #nato #warcrimes #humanrights
