December 2010 Archives

With Wikileaks Revelations, 

Peace Community Redoubles 

Demand for End to Wars and 

Voices Support for 

Whistleblowers 

December 08, 2010 

While only a tiny fraction of the U.S. diplomatic cables scheduled for publication 

by Wikileaks have thus far been made available, some conclusions can already 

be drawn. These cables and the Iraq and Afghan War Diaries provide an 

opportunity for Americans to see our government for what it is. 

Our government is seen here as controlling a global military and espionage 

empire that impacts every region of the globe and deceives its own population. 

Secrecy, spying, and hostility have infected our entire government, turning the 

diplomatic corps into an arm of the CIA and the military, just as the civilian 

efforts in Afghanistan are described by Richard Holbrooke, who heads them up, 

as "support for the military." Secret war planning, secret wars, and lies about 

wars have become routine. The United States is secretly and illegally engaged 

in a war in Yemen and has persuaded that nation's government to lie about it. 

The United States has supported a coup in Honduras and lied about it. 

We have long known that the war on terrorism was increasing, rather than 

diminishing, terrorism. These leaks show Saudi Arabia to be the greatest 

sponsor of terrorism, and show that nation's dictator, King Abdullah, to be very 

close to our own government in its treatment of prisoners. He has urged the 

United States to implant microchips in prisoners released from Guantanamo. 

And he has urged the United States to illegally and aggressively attack Iran. 

Congress should immediately block what would be the largest weapons sale in

Congress should immediately block what would be the largest weapons sale in 

U.S. history, selling this country $60 billion in weapons. And Congress should 

drop any idea of "updating" the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force to 

permit presidents to unconstitutionally launch more wars. We see what sort of 

wars our allies urge on our presidents. 

We learn that while dictators urge war, other branches of the same 

governments, the people, and the evidence weigh against it. We learn from a 

cable from last February that Russia has refuted U.S. claims that Iran has 

missiles that could target Europe. We learn from September 2009 that the 

United States and Britain planned to pressure Yukiya Amano, the then 

incoming head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to produce reports 

suggesting Iranian nuclear developments, whether or not merited by the facts, 

and that National Security Adviser Gen. Jim Jones proposed the propaganda 

strategy of baselessly tying Iran's nuclear program to North Korea's. 

Much of the pressure for war appears to come from within the United States, 

whose representatives treat the entire world as a hostile enemy to be spied on, 

lied to, and exploited. The secrecy that permits this behavior must be broken if 

the United States' approach to the world is to change. Those who have helped 

to fulfill President Obama's campaign promise of transparency must be 

protected from his vengeance, while those who have abused positions of 

diplomatic trust to advance agendas of espionage and war planning must be 

held accountable. 

While other countries may offer residency and protection to Wikileaks' Julian 

Assange, it is the United States that has most benefitted from his work. We 

encourage U.S. cities to offer him sanctuary. 

Our Department of Justice has granted immunity for aggressive war, 

kidnapping, torture, assassination, and warrantless spying, while pursuing the 

criminal prosecution of Bradley Manning for allegedly leaking materials to 

Wikileaks. Were our government to indict Assange or support the extradition or 

rendition of Assange from anywhere in the world to Sweden, while maintaining 

that his work and not the Pentagon's has endangered us, our nation's moral 

standing would reach a new low. 

Our government should cease any actions it is taking to prosecute Julian 

Assange for absurd criminal charges, to pressure Sweden to do so, or to 

sabotage Wikileaks' servers. Coverups of leaks have a history in Washington of 

backfiring in the form of larger leaks and scandals. Our State Department 

should focus on diplomacy and mutually beneficial partnerships with the world 

community. 

The undersigned express our gratitude to those doing the job a representative 

government and an independent media are each supposed to do. We demand 

an end to all overt and covert wars, a ban on the use of State Department 

employees and contractors in spying or warfare, and a full investigation of the

employees and contractors in spying or warfare, and a full investigation of the 

facts revealed in the Wikileaks cables. 

We support the protest of our current wars planned for December 16th, 10 

a.m., at the White House. 

Signed, 

Medea Benjamin 

Leslie Cagan 

Tim Carpenter 

Gael Murphy 

Cindy Sheehan 

David Swanson 

Debra Sweet 

Ann Wright 

Kevin Zeese 

http://www.zcommunications.org/with-wikileaks-revelations-peace-community-redoubles-demand-for-end-to-wars-and-voices-support-for-whistleblowers-by-many-authors