I'm of two minds about this whole mess.

On the one hand, tearing away the veils of secrecy which have protected the politicians, high-ranking military and businessmen from having to account for their stupidity, greed and outright lies, can't be anything but a good thing in the long run. Far too many things are declared Top Secret not to protect sources or pending actions but to cover up the mistakes and bad choices made by our leaders.

On the other hand, such a massive leak is bound to cause serious problems for the soldiers on the ground trying to stay alive while fighting this stupid war. Sometimes, revealing information can point directly at how and when that information was obtained, which can point to agents in place, risking their lives and any future information they might gain.

Balancing these two points is tricky, but wholesale leaks are bound to cause far more damage to the soldiers than to their leaders. As for the deaths of innocent civilians and children, it's a sad fact of war that such deaths are going to happen. When the civilians are aiding our enemies they become valid targets. But even if they are not, it's impossible to fight a war without some mistakes being made.

The type of war being fought here, as in Viet Nam, is primarily a guerrilla war, where the enemy strikes and fades back into the civilian population. Like a surgeon facing a gangrenous wound, it's sometimes necessary to lop off a leg in order to save the body. It's brutal, it's unfair, but it's necessary. One of the horrors of war.