- The 2010 “Collateral Murder” video showed U.S. military personnel killing Iraqi civilians and journalists, sparking international outrage.
- The same year, Wikileaks published the Afghan War Diary and Iraq War Logs, revealing details about civilian casualties and unreported violence.
- The “Cablegate” leak exposed confidential U.S. diplomatic communications, causing global diplomatic crises.
- In 2016, Wikileaks released emails from the Democratic National Committee and John Podesta, impacting the U.S. presidential election by highlighting alleged misconduct within the Democratic Party.
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was liberated from a British jail where he was detained for five years. This is after Assange accepted a plea bargain with the U. S Justice Department wherein he pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit Computer Fraud and Abuse of a United States Government Computer when obtaining and publishing classified information. This will release Assange and also put an end to the long-standing legal warfare over the release of many classified documents. He is expected to appear in the District Court in the Northern Mariana Islands which is an affiliated yet separate territory of the United States located north of Guam to enter his guilty plea. After the hearings, Assange is expected to go back to his native country, Australia.
Julian Assange came to the limelight in 2010 when WikiLeaks released many leaks that included; the heroic raw concerning Baghdad’s aerial bombardment, the military documents of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars as well as US cables. For his contributions to publishing and journalism, Assange has won numerous awards. He was born on July 3, 1971, in Townsville, Queensland, Australia, and was growing up in some Australian towns until he moved to Melbourne in his middle teens. Later, Assange got engaged with the hacker group, and he was arrested and convicted for hacking in 1996. He managed WikiLeaks as an editor for some time and was involved in releasing important documents such as the Bank Julius Baer files, unedited footage of the 2008 Tibetan unrest, and a politically motivated killings report in Kenya. In August 2010, Swedish authorities issued a European arrest warrant for Assange for sexual assault. He fled from the Embassy of Ecuador in London in 2012 and was granted asylum because he feared that he would be extradited to the United States.
WikiLeaks is an association of people who are pioneers in the field of exposing corrupt practices all around the world. WikiLeaks was established in 2006 by Julian Assange, which is involved in collecting and releasing secret documents and datasets, contributed by unnamed sources and whistleblowers. WikiLeaks has been called by its founder as ‘scientific journalism’ that supplies raw, untampered documents with little or no analysis.
A few of the prominent exposes by Wikileaks that triggered global debate are below:
Collateral Murder: People watch as the US military conducts operations in Baghdad, Iraq (2010)
One of its earliest notable outputs was the “Collateral Murder” video in 2010 that depicts a 2007 US Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad that resulted in multiple casualties including two Reuters journalists. This footage placed the behaviour of US forces in Iraq under a microscope and focused on the people who were affected by the ensuing strife.
Afghan War Diaries: Exposure of Realities of Conflict (2010)
Another significant leak in 2010 was The Afghan War Diaries, which included over 75,000 Secret reports of events in the Afghanistan war, procured by WikiLeaks from the US military. These documents exposed acts of hurting civilians, instances of fellow soldiers firing on their counterparts and the intelligence of Pakistan supporting the Taliban, thus providing a bleak picture of the war that has lingered for several years.
Iraq War Logs: Costs of War (2010)
Another high-profile leak exposed by WikiLeaks was the Afghan war documents that included 400,000 classified US military documents on the Iraq War wherein numerous cases of torture, and deaths of civilians, and contractors were recorded. The logs also gave the public firsthand accounts of the realities of the war despite removing the veneer of civilization.
The Guantanamo Files (2011)
In April 2011, WikiLeaks released secret documents spanning thousands of pages to select US and European media outlets. These documents unearthed how the Geneva Conventions were being violated routinely in the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. The documents, dating from 2002 to 2008 showed the abuse of 800 prisoners, some of them as young as 14. At least 150 of these prisoners were found to be innocent Afghans or Pakistanis who were rounded up as part of frantic intelligence gathering and then imprisoned for years, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and the “war on terror”.
The Cablegate (2010)
One of the largest leaks of information recorded is the Cablegate leak where over 250000 US State Department diplomatic cables were leaked. These documents unveiled some sensitive and often, embarrassing diplomatic conversations between states and showed the behind-the-scenes realities of diplomacy between the US and others.
The Tibetan Tragedy (2008)
The leaks also gave glimpses of the oppression by the Chinese authorities on dissent, especially the Tibetian uprising of 2008. These reports pointed to extreme levels of human rights abuse, which ranged from arbitrary arrest to the torture of monks in Tibet, to the overall constant surveillance. The concerns of the International community can be seen from the cables as the plight of the Tibetan people continues.
Sony Email Leaks: Unveiling Hollywood’s Private Conversation (2015)
Another high-profile leak emerged in 2015 and refers to the Sony Hack emails, which affected millions of company’s emails, employment records, terminations, ratings, film scripts, and more. This leak not only brought a lot of embarrassment and loss of money to the Sony company but also raised issues concerning the security and privacy of individuals.
DNC Email Leak: Effect on US Presidential Election (2016)
In 2016, they exposed the leaked emails belonging to The Democratic National Committee where the internal communications and plans were disclosed. It influenced the 2016 US presidential election by leaking information related to Russia and its involvement in the manipulation of the voting system as well as influenced the perception of the electoral process by the general public.
CIA Vault 7: CIA’s Cyber Arms Exposed (2017)
The CIA Vault 7 leak pointed at how the CIA could compromise Smartphones, Computers and Smart TVs among others. This leak escalated and stirred public opinions on privacy as well as the active surveillance conducted by the government.
Wikileaks Exposes on India
The WikiLeaks organisation has also published various reports relating to India that reveal the political, military and economic strengths of the state.
The Cablegate (2010) – The Cablegate leak compiled a large number of cables that were connected with India and exposed information on US-India relations, internal political processes and India’s position in the region. Some of the charges discussed included issues such as India’s position on Iran, corruption, and how domestic politics influences international relations.
The Cablegate revealed how the Congress party played politics over the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. In the leaked memo U.S. ambassador to India, David Mulford is seen talking about the Congress party’s politics over the 26/11 Mumbai tragedy. He mentions that P. Chidambaram officially denied any Hindutva link to the terror attacks after the UPA Minority Affairs Minister made outrageous claims. Mulford also observed that the Congress party chose to engage in dangerous identity politics for electoral benefits. He wrote, “The party chose to pander to Muslims’ fears, providing the impetus for those in the Muslim community who will continue to play up the conspiracy theory. While cooler heads eventually prevailed within the Congress leadership, the idea that the party would entertain such outlandish claims proved once again that many party leaders are still wedded to the old identity politics. The seventy-nine-year-old Antulay was probably bewildered to find that his remarks, similar in vein to what he would have routinely made in the past to attack the BJP, created such a furore this time.”
The cable leaks also revealed that Rahul Gandhi warned US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer that “the growth of radicalised Hindu groups” may be a “bigger threat” to India than support to some Islamic terror groups from the Muslim community.
Radia Tapes: Power and Media (2010) – This exposed the convergence of powers and the culture of media when UPA was in power. While the Radia tapes themselves were not directly released by WikiLeaks, these were leaked telephonic conversations of tainted corporate lobbyist Nira Radia with politicians, businessmen and journalists. WikiLeaks gave a boost to such news which deals with the relations between politics, business and media in India.
Kashmir Conflict: The set of diplomatic means and actions related to human rights (2010) – Secret papers regarding the situation in the Kashmir region highlighted the optimism of diplomacy as it attempted to solve the conflict and the concerns and precautions associated with the common issue. These leaks also revealed the international focus and the highly complex power relations involved in this conflict.
Indian Defense Communications (2010) – Several documents discussed India’s military plans, methods of defence acquisition, and interactions with other countries, facts that could shed light on India’s defence policies. These leaks gave the public an idea of the complete planning aspects and the difficulties experienced by the Indian military.
If there is one thing that should be said about WikiLeaks and its activities, then it that is the organization has undoubtedly played a very important role in promoting transparency and accountability, despite the allegations and struggle faced by Julian Assange. The leaks that have occurred on the platform have in some ways affected public opinion, defined the political agenda, and put forward significant concerns addressing the secrecy of the government, its ethical responsibility, and the right to information. While there is still an ongoing argument regarding the influence and impact of Assange today, what is unarguable is the fact that the freedom of information released by WikiLeaks will always be significant in the journalistic and whistleblowing history of modern society.
(Views expressed are the author’s own)
Aayush Pal