People who recklessly fire on civilians are murderers and should be tried as such. Commanders who issue orders that make ignore forseeable events like that should be held criminally responsible.
Corruption should be eliminated.
Corrupt local replacements for the Taliban should be thwarted.
Incompetancy is bad and should be rectified.
Now, all those things being true, help me understand how it can be OK to arm the Taliban with lists of probable informants?
And, BTW, do you have any hope recklessness, corruption and incompetency would be eliminated without being first exposed for what they are?
There is need for secrecy in war. But when this secrecy becomes a shield to protect those who should not be fighting (or commanding) it, for they are reckless, corrupt and incompetent, it's time to end it.
I am not for the indiscriminate release of information, but there has to be a middle-ground and organizations like Wikileaks provide it.
When you know the identity of your informants was compromised, you should remove them from the field immediately. If you don't, it's at least 50% your fault when they get killed.
Keep in mind the US government knew what documents would be leaked before the Taleban could get access to them.
OK. It's 50% the US's fault if people get killed. What's your point? Note well: people are likely to be killed who aren't actually informants. Death squads don't do due process.
His point is that perhaps the anger should be directed not towards the messenger, but towards the one who has the power, that is the government, for not taking up on their offer.
I guess we could just conduct WWII style carpet bombings against civilian population centers instead. Or do you not understand the purpose of using informants?
I do. I also know that a handler has responsibilities towards them.
And that's why the handler should never disclose personal data on the informant. If you can't trust the analysts down your chain, you can't protect your sources and, ultimately, yourself.
Corruption should be eliminated.
Corrupt local replacements for the Taliban should be thwarted.
Incompetancy is bad and should be rectified.
Now, all those things being true, help me understand how it can be OK to arm the Taliban with lists of probable informants?