The value of WikiLeaks
Interesting item from today’s The Week magazine:
Deadly blast: Barrels of confiscated Iranian explosives caught fire and blew up at a Cypriot naval base this week, killing 2 people, including the head of the Cypriot navy, and destroying the island’s main power plant. The 98 barrels, seizd in 2009 from a ship that was smuggling them from Iran to Syria, had for more than two years been carelessly stored in the open, baking in the hot sun. Opposition lawmakers said the poor storage amounted to “criminal negligence.” The government initially claimed that it had asked the United Nations, in vain, to take the explosives off its hands, but cable revealed by WikiLeaks showed that Cyprus actually rejected offers for help in disposing of the weapons. The defense minister and head of teh national guard have already resigned.
So long as governments lie to the citizens for whom they work, we need things like WikiLeaks and strong enforcement of the Freedom of Information Act. Governments, of course (and I’m looking at Barack Obama and all within his adminstration) disagree and fight for secrecy viciously: they have much to lose if the truth becomes known.
