Wikileaks as Judge, Jury & Executioner?

With the new deluge of information released recently by Wikileaks, there has been great debate over how much is too much information. A friend of mine actually took issue with the fact that there were reporters who were criticizing the release of information.

Wikileaks appears to have focused more and more on the United States as time has gone on. And while they claim to have received a great deal of information, they themselves have indicated that they have only released portions at a time.

Which begs the question, why? If Wikileaks is so focused on releasing hidden information, then why do they hold back?

The one thing that seems to be lost on many people is the fact that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has an agenda. Wikileaks is like any other group that paints itself as selfless entirely non-self-serving; certainly the mission statement of Wikileaks may indicate one thing but the founders and operatives have their own opinions that they no doubt use Wikileaks to espouse.

One need only look at the released attack video and how it was edited. As has been shown, even the "full" version of the video that Wikileaks released had half an hour of footage edited out, footage that painted the troops in an entirely different light to the story Wikileaks wanted to paint. Clearly Wikileaks is trying to mold the story rather than just release information.

This basically makes Wikileaks the judge, jury and executioner in a trial by wire: showing the public only what it wants to reveal in order for the public to lean towards their own political standing. They claim to value free information but ensure that they only release the information they want while editing out any information that doesn't fit the narrative they want to establish. As such, Wikileaks is deserving of the criticism it has received.

Any organization that reveals information that puts people's lives in danger and sets international diplomacy back by decades but makes sure to edit that information that doesn't further their political goals? Their hardly angels.