Wiki leak

[MMI]

OK, we have to do very bad things too. I can live with that. Sometimes innocent lives have to be sacrificed "for the greater good" - an awful judgement I am not prepared to make, but the necessity of which I do accept.

Sometimes civilian deaths are not the result of some cold-blooded calculation - acceptable "collateral damage" - but are the result of accident or negligence. There is a difference between accidental civilian deaths and not caring whether they are killed. Deaths caused through recklessness or indifference are culpable criminal acts and must be treated as such.

And there is a world of difference between accident or negligence compared with deliberate killings of civilians as acts of vengeance or simple blood-lust. Those are war crimes of the worst kind, and it is those we fear have happened when we hear of the Wikileaks report.

We would not approve of leaks that simply "show up" our forces' incompetence or bad behaviour, because that would simply be propaganda put out by the enemy or the "peace brigade", neither of whom need be considered underdogs; while whistle-blowing is simply the reporting unlawful acts (as opposed to promoting an opposing agenda). To my mind, leaks of information that are not true whistle-blowing disclosures are utterly reprehensible and should be suppressed and/or appropriately penalised where possible, but leaks about deliberate criminal activities or the wanton flouting of the rules of war must be acted upon.

On another matter, does anyone, like me, fear that the soldiers embroiled in this war could face the same kind of rejection and repudiation that the vets of the Viet Nam War encountered, if the war is not brought to an end soon?