Public Should Be Privy to All Cables
Beres' recent commentary on Wikileaks betrays an uninformed view of the Wikileaks cables and a contemptuous attitude towards media consumers.
Take Iran: Beres is quick to claim that most nations are "well aware" that Iran more resembles a "little Satan" than Israel. In fact, only 10% of individuals polled in Arab states believe that Iran is a threat at all - 88% believe Israel is a threat, followed by the US at 77%. There is overwhelming support for Iran's right to its nuclear program. The leaks reveal a democratic deficit in regimes whose governments support US involvement in the region. (Examiner)
Beres goes on to call those responsible for the leaks "vindictive little people," the act, "despicable" despite her admission that "it appears that nothing destructive or capable of causing grave damage to U.S. interests has been released." One might do well to consider the actual value of information released, in particular to inform our democratic system. Not Beres, who sums up important revelations about everything from backdoor dealings with corrupt regimes to the Federal Reserve's bailout of Swiss bank UBS as akin to "personal communiqués" (personal to the point that their authors published them to be viewed by hundreds of thousands in the intelligence community!). The same UBS was embroiled in a tax-evasion lawsuit brought on by a whistleblower at the bank who was the sole UBS employee sent to prison for the fraud. UBS was the 12th biggest contributor to Obama’s 2008 campaign.
The government should feel safe in knowing that its lies and misrepresentations to the US public will be defended by the "free press." How comforting to hear a columnist claim - with absolutely no sense of irony - that I shouldn't be privy to knowledge which she does not even believe is a threat.
Dean Sayers.
Midlothian.
Link: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/letters-to-the-editor/2010/dec/13/tdopin01-letters-to-the-times-dispatch-ar-711160/
Was a response to: www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/dec/05/ed-beres05-ar-693875/
Take Iran: Beres is quick to claim that most nations are "well aware" that Iran more resembles a "little Satan" than Israel. In fact, only 10% of individuals polled in Arab states believe that Iran is a threat at all - 88% believe Israel is a threat, followed by the US at 77%. There is overwhelming support for Iran's right to its nuclear program. The leaks reveal a democratic deficit in regimes whose governments support US involvement in the region. (Examiner)
Beres goes on to call those responsible for the leaks "vindictive little people," the act, "despicable" despite her admission that "it appears that nothing destructive or capable of causing grave damage to U.S. interests has been released." One might do well to consider the actual value of information released, in particular to inform our democratic system. Not Beres, who sums up important revelations about everything from backdoor dealings with corrupt regimes to the Federal Reserve's bailout of Swiss bank UBS as akin to "personal communiqués" (personal to the point that their authors published them to be viewed by hundreds of thousands in the intelligence community!). The same UBS was embroiled in a tax-evasion lawsuit brought on by a whistleblower at the bank who was the sole UBS employee sent to prison for the fraud. UBS was the 12th biggest contributor to Obama’s 2008 campaign.
The government should feel safe in knowing that its lies and misrepresentations to the US public will be defended by the "free press." How comforting to hear a columnist claim - with absolutely no sense of irony - that I shouldn't be privy to knowledge which she does not even believe is a threat.
Dean Sayers.
Midlothian.
Link: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/letters-to-the-editor/2010/dec/13/tdopin01-letters-to-the-times-dispatch-ar-711160/
Was a response to: www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/dec/05/ed-beres05-ar-693875/