Recently, a certain website posted more than ninety thousand classified documents and reports from the Afghan war effort.  (To paraphrase the great Paul Harvey: I am sure they would like me to link to their site)  The only thing comparable to this was the release of the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War. 

Personally, I am disappointed in the “lack of reaction” in the American Mass Media.  If it was not for the internet bloggers and foreign media, this story would wither and die.  The public is led to believe the troubles of Lindsey Lohan are more important than our soldiers in a foreign land.

There are a couple things that do trouble me about this that no one has mentioned.

First, the Pentagon announced it is undertaking a massive search for the Leaker.  This is very understandable.  It believes this release endaged the war effort.  However, when Valerie Plame was revealed to be a CIA agent in an act of political retribution, this resulted in real harm to our national security.  She was part of a network that investigated nuclear weapon proliferation.  Revealing her CIA connection destroyed this network and any good it could do.  We are more at risk because of this petty revenge. 

Richard Armitage admitted he was the ‘inadvertent leaker’ of this Top Secret information, but nothing was ever done to him.  “Scooter” Libby was convicted of trying to derail the pathetic investigation of the Plame Affair but Bush the Younger commuted his jail time. 

Let’s review: National Security deliberately damaged in a fit of political revenge and no one went to jail.

The other concern I have with this Afghan document release is the “Why” it happened.  It is easy to believe these were the result of someone’s conscience about the war effort.  We will never know until the person is revealed.   If so, this is a classic effect of 4th generational warfare impacting the stronger forces.  According to this theory, these incidents will only increase as the moral righteousness of the Cause continues to decay. 

Calls to “Support the Troops” will not help this slide.  They know the score.  Every redeployment reinforces the truth.  The corruption of our “allies” and the vast sums spent on dubious contracts will continue to make them question. 

What this means to us as a country is a bigger question.  I do not really know.  I guess the biggest thing is to pay attention and not get distracted by this week’s media circus.  Try to reduce your need of the larger economy and improve your own self-reliance.   When this Afghan adventure falls apart, our society will be racked by self-doubt and loss of self esteem.  Invading another little island like Granada will not solve this coming depression of our spirit.