When the Pakistani military's indiscriminately violent assault against civilians is revealed publicly, the US is forced to turn on them and criticize them -- lest the home front US public think their leaders had anything to do with the atrocities in the assault they pressured the Pakistanis to undertake.
The fact is, as writer William Polk emphasizes in his brilliant counter-insurgency primer, Violent Politics, all counter-insurgency campaigns necessarily devolve into indiscriminate killing. The United States tries mightily to turn Polk's truism on its head with humanitarian programs and public relations -" but the fact is, to be effective, indiscriminate killing is necessary, something the Pakistanis instinctually know.
Who's really to blame?
It should be clear to Americans interested in positive, progressive change that, despite the gray areas and any conceivable collateral damage, the WikiLeaks revelations are helpful and positive because they help us better understand what's being done by the "specialized class" making decisions in our names with our tax resources.
Hysterical charges by the Palins and the Huckabees about WikiLeaks endangering our troops are deceptive and dishonest. It needs to be said over and over that those leaders who committed our soldiers to the two wars we're so deeply entrenched in and those who keep them there are the ones endangering their lives.
Sure it's complicated, but blaming the messenger just doesn't cut it.
One of the best and most clear examples of the attitude of Lippman's Specialized Class has been voiced by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. It was in response to questions about the 2000 Bush v. Gore ruling that closed down the Florida recount that would, research suggests, have given the 2000 Presidential election to Al Gore.
Scalia's response to questions, according to Jeffrey Toobin in The New Yorker, is, "Get over it!"
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