Wikileaks Wises Up With New 'Pentagon Papers'

The little whistleblowing website that could stepped up its game this time before releasing what Wikileaks' founder calls the present day "Pentagon papers." Taking a page from a crack public relations operation, Wikileaks released some 92,000 secret military documents on the war in Afghanistan to the New York Times and two European publications, the Guardian and Der Spiegel, early enough for them to produce detailed stories on the information as Wikileaks posted the records. The coordinated action is proof of the nonprofit site's "growing strength and sophistication" since it was founded three years ago, notes the Washington Post.

The documents—one of the biggest leaks in military history—"provides a whole map, through time, of what has happened during this war," said founder Julian Assange, who has managed to stay just out of reach of American authorities since posting a leaked video of US troops firing on journalists in Iraq in 2007. He expects harsh criticism for the leaks, but insists none of the information exposes anyone to extra risk, and that release of some documents was delayed to protect people. "We believe the way to justice is transparency. The end goal is to expose injustices and try to rectify them," Assange said in a TV interview.
(More WikiLeaks stories.)