— The releasing of 92,000 classified military documents Sunday by the website WikiLeaks has generated much debate about the Afghanistan war and the public’s right to know and the “new media.”

First, regarding the war, so far it seems little new has been revealed.  The documents portray the war in Afghanistan as not going well.  

The American public gets this.  Witness the low public support for the war.  Also, the recent sacking of General McChrystal, former head of the war’s operation, brought out this fact again to Americans.

Also, it is not surprising that Iran and Pakistan have been supporting the Taliban.  Iran has been distressed about the U.S. for years and is even more so now that America has such a huge presence in nearby Iraq.  Pakistan is “supposed” to be our ally. But, given the corruption of their government, support of the Taliban is not surprising.

And it is not new that drones have killed many civilians during the war.  The media has reported this right along with military confirmation.

What is more debatable about the release is the public’s right to know versus what needed confidentiality the military requires.  WikiLeaks maintains the public has the right to know what it released.

But a troubling part of the release is that it reveals Afghans who have been helping America fight the war there.  This places these people and possibly their family members in danger.  Does the American public have the right to know these people? The short answer is: No.  It appears to us WikiLeaks has little regard for the well being of these people, which is irresponsible.  Even at the small community level the media has an obligation of being careful NOT to report things that will put people in danger for little or no reason.  

For the military to operate efficiently, there must be a balance of what the public knows and what it doesn’t.  So we also understand, for example, the need to protect work on the latest secret weapon so we can stay ahead of our enemies.

We, as members of the media, usually will support the public’s right to know.

But, we would draw this line regarding the media covering the military: Hold back information that protects the lives of our allies and our troops.  On this mission, we believe WikiLeaks failed.

The latest on this story is that the CIA director said “we knew this was going to happen” referring to the leak.  Michael Hayden said this noting that since the September 11 attack the military has been sharing more information.  The intelligence failures that led to the September 11 attack were attributed to government agencies hoarding information.  

It is our hope the information sharing continues — after all, we have not had a major terrorist strike since, and many have been thwarted.  

Our suggestion for the government agencies involved is to develop better blocking devices to guard against web theft of vital information.