LETTER: Info best left un-leaked

To the editor:

    I would like to comment on Justin Hinh’s opinion of the WikiLeaks fiasco.  Mr. Hinh seems to think that the information WikiLeaks published is simply the gossip of State Department officials that should be available to everyone in the world. 

    Here is the reality:  People can die because of these leaked classified documents.  According to the New York Times, many of the documents sent by WikiLeaks to newspapers like Britain’s The Guardian included the names of informants in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.  What does that mean? 

    Those informants have a very real chance of being killed for giving information they believed would improve conditions for people in their country.  Not only that, but the documents are further hampering relations with countries like Russia and North Korea (as reported in the Times.)  That is exactly what rational people want – countries with nuclear weapons becoming even less likely to negotiate and behave as good global citizens.

    So tell me, who benefits from WikiLeaks? Is it al-Qaeda, who now knows more about how the U.S. conducts intelligence and security operations?  Or is it North Korea, who now knows how to better avoid sanctions over its nuclear program?  I suppose Mr. Hinh is happy, though.  He now knows how his tax dollars are spent.

Eddie Summit