Matthew Weaver at the
Guardian:
December 2, 2010
8:16 am
Here's an interesting antidote to all those American calls to treat WikiLeaks as a terrorist organisation. Writing in the LA Times two frustrated US federal investigators write that
if WikiLeaks had been around in 2001 it could have helped prevent 9/11. They argue that information their superiors wanted bottled up could have been leaked to the site alerting the world to the possibility of a terrorist attack. (Hat tip to my colleague live blogging colleague Richard Adams).
The 9/11 Commission ultimately concluded that (would-be terrorist Zacarias) Moussaoui was most likely being primed as a September 11 replacement pilot and that the hijackers probably would have postponed their strike if information about his arrest had been announced.
WikiLeaks might have provided a pressure valve for those agents who were terribly worried about what might happen and frustrated by their superiors' seeming indifference. They were indeed stuck in a perplexing, no-win ethical dilemma as time ticked away. Their bosses issued continual warnings against "talking to the media" and frowned on whistle-blowing, yet the agents felt a strong need to protect the public.
Interesting that the two investigators who wrote the
LAT piece are Coleen Rowley and Bogdan Dzakovic, and they penned it on October 15, 2010.
In view of what is happening now, there is no wonder why the US Government so despises whistle-blowers of any type, because they tear apart the weapon of secrecy used relentlessly by those in power.
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