The release by WikiLeaks of over 76,000 once-classified U.S. military reports, with the obvious intent of putting an end to the Afghanistan war, may have actually broadened its scope. Because, according to James Kirchik of the New York Daily News, the Wikileaks documents prove, beyond question, that Iran has been waging a proxy war against the U.S. in Afghanistan for five or more years.
Kirchik argues that WikiLeaks has strengthened America’s casus belli for going to war with Iran, and instead of eradicating it the online whistleblowing site has begot more war.
Kirchik also appears to think it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, meaning the smug founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange - who to Kirchik is an extremist anti-American liberal whose gambit to foil U.S. war plans has just backfired. Kirchik doesn’t hold back as he describes his feelings for Mr. Assange:
Assange condemns Western governments for manipulating information, but he is far from a disinterested purveyor of facts. In April, I saw him deliver a speech in Oslo in which he explicitly compared the Guantanamo Bay prison camp to Auschwitz. His interest is not in making the world more transparent, but in humiliating the United States. He is a hard-core leftist and a paranoid.
Kirchik does have verifiable recounts of incidents that elucidate Iran’s complicity in the war and its support for Afghan militants and Al Qaeda elements, thanks to the emerging transparency of the internet, specifically, the WikiLeaks files:
- In 2005 Afghan militant leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar resided in Iran for six years where he and Osama bin Laden’s financial advisor schemed to obtain rockets to shoot down coalition planes.
- That same year, Iran offered the Taliban thousands of dollars to murder Afghan officials.
- In 2006 Al Qaeda planned to construct car bombs using vehicles and armaments from Iran.
- In 2007 Iran helped Al Qaeda procure and hide 70 missiles.
- As late as 2009, Taliban fighters were using RPG launchers with the phrase "Made in Iran" embossed in Persian (Now there’s some proof - seems Iran got a bit sloppy in trying to hide its involvement)
Kirchik is most adamant about how this reveals that Muslims will overcome ideological differences to fight a common enemy, referring to the Shiite Iranians and the Shia Taliban, two Islamic sects who typically despise one another, coming together against the U.S.-led coalition. In the end, Mr. Kirchik is actually grateful to Mr. Assange:
That is, we've been at war with Iran for years. It is a war declared by Iran, which has been killing our soldiers and allies in various theaters. But it is a war a reluctant America has refused to recognize it is fighting. Perhaps the WikiLeaks deluge will change that complacency.
So here's to Julian Assange for illuminating the age-old observation that the enemy of one's enemy - no matter how ideologically antagonistic - can indeed be one's friend.
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