Why WikiLeaks Is Good for Democracy

by: Bill Quigley

t r u t h o u t - Op-ed
(also submitted to Portside by the author)

December 1, 2010

http://www.truth-out.org/why-wikileaks-good-democracy65549

	Information is the currency of democracy.  
	-Thomas Jefferson

Since 9/11, the US government, through Presidents Bush and
Obama, has increasingly told the US public that "state
secrets" will not be shared with citizens. Candidate Obama
pledged to reduce the use of state secrets, but President
Obama continued the Bush tradition. The courts, Congress and
international allies have gone meekly along with the
escalating secrecy demands of the US Executive.

By labeling tens of millions of documents secret, the US
government has created a huge vacuum of information.

But information is the lifeblood of democracy. Information
about government contributes to a healthy democracy.
Transparency and accountability are essential elements of
good government. Likewise, "a lack of government
transparency and accountability undermines democracy and
gives rise to cynicism and mistrust," according to a 2008
Harris survey commissioned by the Association of Government
Accountants.

Into the secrecy vacuum stepped Private Bradley Manning,
who, according to the Associated Press, was able to defeat
"Pentagon security systems using little more than a Lady
Gaga CD and a portable computer memory stick."

Manning apparently sent the information to Wikileaks - a
nonprofit media organization that specializes in publishing
leaked information. Wikileaks in turn shared the documents
to other media around the world, including The New York
Times, and published much of the documents' contents on its
website.

Despite criminal investigations by the U.S. and other
governments, it is not clear that media organizations like
Wikileaks can be prosecuted in the U.S., in light of the
First Amendment. Recall that the First Amendment says:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the government for a redress of grievances."

Outraged politicians are claiming that the release of
government information is the criminal equivalent of
terrorism and puts innocent people's lives at risk. Many of
those same politicians authorized the modern equivalent of
carpet bombing of Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, the
sacrifice of thousands of lives of soldiers and civilians
and drone assaults on civilian areas in Afghanistan,
Pakistan and Yemen. Their anger at a document dump, no
matter how extensive, is more than a little suspect.

Everyone, including Wikileaks and the other media reporting
on what the documents reveal, hopes that no lives will be
lost because of this flood of information. So far, it
appears those hopes have been met: McClatchy Newspapers
reported November 28, 2010, that "US officials conceded that
they have no evidence to date that the [prior] release of
documents led to anyone's death."

The U.S. has been going in the wrong direction for years by
classifying millions of documents as secrets. Wikileaks and
other media that report these so-called secrets will
embarrass people, yes. Wikileaks and other media will make
leaders uncomfortable, yes. But embarrassment and discomfort
are small prices to pay for a healthier democracy.

Wikileaks has the potential to make transparency and
accountability more robust in the U.S. That is good for
democracy.

[Bill Quigley  is legal director at the Center for
Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola
University New Orleans. He is a Katrina survivor and has
been active in human rights in Haiti for years with the
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. He can be
reached at [log in to unmask] .]

___________________________________________

Portside aims to provide material of interest to people
on the left that will help them to interpret the world
and to change it.

Submit via email: [log in to unmask]

Submit via the Web: http://portside.org/submittous3

Frequently asked questions: http://portside.org/faq

Sub/Unsub: http://portside.org/subscribe-and-unsubscribe

Search Portside archives: http://portside.org/archive

Contribute to Portside: https://portside.org/donate