WikiLeaks sparks fresh war debate

A wave of debate continued yesterday after the whistleblower website WikiLeaks released nearly 400,000 classified US documents about the Iraq War.

This new release mainly contains accusations of US authorities failing to investigate hundreds of prisoner-abuse cases, more than 15,000 unre-leased civilian casualties and Iranian influence in the war.

In one log, it is reported that an Iraqi man was arrested by police and shot in the leg by an officer.

"This detainee suffered abuse that amounted to cracked ribs, multiple lacerations and welts and bruises from being whipped with a large rod and hose across his back," the report continues, adding that these acts amount to "reasonable suspicion of abuse."

Iraqi officials, including Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani, said they would investigate claims in the WikiLeaks files that Iraqi police and military forces were responsible for cases of prisoner abuse between 2004 and 2009.

Washington and London have many times warned that releasing the documents could endanger the lives of coalition troops and Iraqi civilians.

A Pentagon spokesman said the documents were "essentially snapshots of events, both tragic and mundane, and do not tell the whole story."

The British Ministry of Defence also condemned the unauthorized release, saying it made the job of British and allied troops "more difficult and more dangerous."

However, Julian Assange, founder of the website, defended the release and said it is "about the truth."

Mistakes will be made in war, said London-based The Daily Telegraph, adding that they are part of the fabric of conflict, but they must be investigated, not ignored for the sake of political expediency.

The paper said WikiLeaks is a wake-up call for all politicians and "they need to be accountable for all the things they do."

The UN's chief investigator, Manfred Nowad, also told the BBC on Saturday that, under the conventions on human rights, there is an obligation for states to criminalize every form of torture.

Tang Lan, deputy director of the Institute of Information and Social Development Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times that the rapid development of information technology is going beyond state control.

"This raises a big challenge to all governments," she said.

Agencies - Global Times