From WikiLeaks to the Killing Fields

Innocent civilians become the tragic casualties of war. Insurgents plant thousands of IEDs. Special-ops teams hunt down insurgents. The Taliban may have a few Stinger missiles. Pakistan plays a double game with the Taliban. The U.S. government can’t keep its secrets. The New York Times has about as much regard for those secrets as a British tabloid has for a starlet’s privacy. The Obama administration blames everything on Bush.

Is any of this news? Not exactly.

Still, you’d be forgiven for thinking it is, given the Pentagon Papers-style treatment now being accorded to the WikiLeak of 92,000 classified documents on the Afghan War. John Kerry says the documents „raise serious questions about the reality of America’s policy toward Pakistan and Afghanistan.“ WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sees „evidence of war crimes.“ A Time magazine columnist, making explicit the comparison with the Vietnam War, offers that the leak underscores „how futile the situation in Afghanistan is.“

We’ll see about that.