Diplomatic Immunity

So, as you may already know, a site called Wikileaks has been leaking (if it wasn't obvious) secret documents to the world at large. Now I, personally, have been on the fence about this. On the one hand, I think that most governments are not as upfront with their citizens as they should be. Under the table deals, espionage, and cover-ups run rampent in those higher offices (as Wikileaks has proven) However, some of the information that has been kept secret can be very damaging if it got out (like the fact Pakistan said we could bomb terrorist training camps in their country and they'll claim the bombs belong to them)

To say this is a black and white issue is to not even remotely explore it. Should Wikileaks be held responsible? I don't know. At that point you are just killing the messenger as opposed to trying to enact any real change. I mean, that's the equivalent to a child doing something bad, another child finding out and telling everybody, and then no one disciplines the child who did the wrong thing, instead going after the tattletale. I've heard senators going on record saying that the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, should be labeled an enemy combatant. Yet, these same senators said nothing about charging Condoleezza Rice or Hillary Clinton with conspiracy to commet espionage when they asked US diplomats to spy on foreign diplomats, getting their finger prints, credit card numbers, and DNA. I'm not naive, I know that sometimes in politics you need to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but why would you need their DNA? Do you need to make sure they aren't some kind of Albino Space Lizard here to enslave mankind? Even some past diplomates have denounced their actions. I'm still having trouble grasping this. Why blame a website for airing out your dirty laundry when you're the one who crapped on the bedsheets?

Of course, there is the more sensitive material that probably shouldn't have gotten out. Like how a lot of Iran's neighbors want the US to do something about the unstable country, but they don't want to show public support in fear of a backlash. While I do think that transparency is something that we need from our governments, this was perhaps something best left alone. Not just this, but anything that was a candid remark about other individuals. That information really served no other purpose other than to piss someone off. Plus, it shows the level of maturity government workers and servants have by posting their middle school insults at foreign dignitaries. Of course, they could have done the nice thing and apologize for what they said, but, as of this writing, I have heard of no such thing happening.

So what has this taught me? What profound insight have I gained from this tail? People are children. They prefer to blame others rather than take responsibility for their actions. They'll call people names behind their backs, spy on them, and make suspect dealings that no one will be the wiser to. Their only regret isn't that they did these shady things, but that they were caught.