So this is what had the Wikileaks founder so jumpy. No wonder the government wanted to keep this under wraps:

A huge cache of secret US military files today provides a devastating portrait of the failing war in Afghanistan, revealing how coalition forces have killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents, Taliban attacks have soared and Nato commanders fear neighbouring Pakistan and Iran are fuelling the insurgency.

The disclosures come from more than 90,000 records of incidents and intelligence reports about the conflict obtained by the whistleblowers' website Wikileaks in one of the biggest leaks in US military history. The files, which were made available to the Guardian, the New York Timesand the German weekly Der Spiegel, give a blow-by-blow account of the fighting over the last six years, which has so far cost the lives of more than 320 British and over 1,000 US troops.

Their publication comes amid mounting concern that Barack Obama's "surge" strategy is failing and as coalition troops hunt for two US navy sailors captured by the Taliban south of Kabul on Friday.

From Steve Hynd over at Newshoggers:

The newspapers admit they kept some secrets too sensitive for publication buried and the details in the document dump seem to be of the kind well known already to wonks who have followed Afghanistan reporting over the years, but the manner and volume of the War Log's release will doubtless crystallize the opinions of many who were only casual readers of news from the West's occupation there. With public opinion against that occupation running at some 60% in the U.S. and over 70% in the UK and Germany, these leaks will put further pressure on Western governments to find an exit sooner rather than later.

Among the stories on which new light has been shed:

-- Pakistan and to a far lesser extent Iran have been offering funding and other direct aid to Taliban groups for years. Pakistan's ISI is reported to have been behind many Taliban targeting decisions, including on U.S. and coalition troops, despite it being an ostensible ally.

-- The U.S. has been using an undisclosed "black" unit of special forces, Task Force 373, to hunt down targets for death or detention without trial. This team has been responsible for the deaths of Afghan policemen and civilians, including children but authorities seem to have been more concerned with keeping its operations secret than curtailing its zeal.

-- There have been over 50 incidents of "Green on Green" fire - where Afghan police or soldiers opened fire on their fellow uniformed countrymen, many begun by drug use, corruption or indiscipline.

-- There are reports of hundreds of border clashes between Pakistani troops and their Afghan or American opposite numbers - far more than previously reported.

-- The 140 reports of incidents involving the shooting and blowing up of civilians by Coalition troops reveal a casual disregard for human life, including "nearly 100 occasions by jumpy troops at checkpoints, near bases or on convoys...'warning shots' often seem to cause death or injury, generally ascribed to ricochets."

The reason why governments don't want us to see war too closely is that they see how little point there is to the whole bloody mess. Why are we still there? Why are we destroying all these lives?

So an SEC whistleblower contacts the agency, and is assured by the enforcement attorney working on JP Morgan that it's a "confidential" investigation. The attorney then turns around and dimes the guy out to his employers.

Where do the Republicans find these candidates? Do they vet them carefully for moral and ethical problems, and then recruit the ones who don't pass?

More importantly: Why didn't the SEC stand up for whistleblowers by throwing the book at this sleazebag? Maybe the answer lies in the description of Demos as a "politically wired" Republican attorney:

George Demos is a Republican Congressional candidate from Eastern Long Island whose Web site bears the slogan "Fighting for Freedom," and touts his service as an enforcement lawyer in the New York office of the Securities and Exchange Commission. A bio says that he "handled some of the SEC's most significant investigations," including that of Ponzi scheme artist Bernard Madoff, and "worked tirelessly on the cases that never made the headlines."

But one case that never made headlines was his own: Demos' campaign Web site and public statements omit any reference to a report last March of the SEC's Inspector General (IG), which found he had improperly disclosed protected, nonpublic information about a whistleblower to the counsel for that whistleblower's employer, a major Wall Street bank, JPMorgan Chase. The IG's charges of misconduct grew out of an SEC probe that began in 2003 of JPMorgan and other big financial institutions suspected of illegal market practices.

Demos has denied he did anything improper, and his campaign declined to comment on the matter. But documents obtained by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) -- a non-partisan non-profit based in Washington -- confirm that Demos was the staff attorney who was cited in the IG report for violating SEC rules. The IG referred the case to the agency's management for possible disciplinary action, but the SEC took no action. Soon after that, Demos quietly resigned from his job and launched his bid for a seat in the House of Representatives.

But the confidential information that Demos disclosed was used by a JPMorgan lawyer against one of the bank's own employees, a whistleblower who had alerted the SEC to possible wrongdoing by his employer, according to the report and other documents, some released under the Freedom of Information Act.

I would have loved a much broader scope that would have been applied to the Durham Probe on CIA interrogations, as many have already stated, but you know I see a sliver of hope buried in it. Jane Mayer said as much on Olbermann yesterday and I perked up a little when I heard her say it because I was thinking the same thing.

MAYER: Well, my guess is that if they actually open some kind of serious investigation, and Durham is said to be a very serious prosecutor, that even if they start at the very bottom, it's going to keep leading up and up through the chain of command. Because, if nothing else, if they actually bring charges against anybody at the CIA who was at the bottom of the food chain, the first thing that person's going to do is say "I was authorized, let me tell you what my orders were." So they've begun a process that could lead to the top.

Please hear me all Ye Whistleblowers. Cometh to DC and lay forth the truth unto thee! Speak thy words to Durham's ear and whisper the truth of unspeakable horrors. So dark and so horrible that thee will tremble from thy shame and call upon those who defiled us so.

If something breaks out during Durham's tepid investigation, who knows what it shall bring.

And read Dahlia Lithwick's excellent piece on this whole sordid affair.

Halfway There. Is half a torture investigation better than none at all?

Halliburton and Blackwater, apparently, were just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to American corporate corruption overseas -- the kind aided and abetted by the U.S. government.

Now there's this case involving DynCorp, as reported by CorpWatch:

Middle-aged men having sex with 12- to 15-year-olds was too much for Ben Johnston, a hulking 6-foot-5-inch Texan, and more than a year ago he blew the whistle on his employer, DynCorp, a U.S. contracting company doing business in Bosnia.

According to the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) lawsuit filed in Texas on behalf of the former DynCorp aircraft mechanic, "in the latter part of 1999 Johnston learned that employees and supervisors from DynCorp were engaging in perverse, illegal and inhumane behavior [and] were purchasing illegal weapons, women, forged passports and [participating in other immoral acts. Johnston witnessed coworkers and supervisors literally buying and selling women for their own personal enjoyment, and employees would brag about the various ages and talents of the individual slaves they had purchased."

Rather than acknowledge and reward Johnston's effort to get this behavior stopped, DynCorp fired him, forcing him into protective custody by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) until the investigators could get him safely out of Kosovo and returned to the United States.

And the case's outcome?

Incredibly, the CID case was closed in June 2000 and turned over to the Bosnian authorities. DynCorp says it conducted its own investigation, and Hirtz and Werner were fired by DynCorp and returned to the United States but were not prosecuted. Experts in slave trafficking aren't buying the CID's interpretation of the law.

Hey, I'm sure they had America's best interests at heart, and therefore we should just forgive them.

The Belgravia Dispatch: The neocon's gross amateurism, resulting in this, this, this, and this. Yet they celebrate the calamity with crude agitprop while their zombie-like supporters excoriate those who maintain young men and women would rather not fight wars. Meanwhile, Jim Henley concludes that the lraq Study Group's report will prove to be an eight-month circle jerk.

The Debate Link: Whistleblowers often face harassment at best and career destruction at worst, and the law seems unable to help them.

Political Animal: An examination of John McCain's actual views on the issues reveals a man who has seemingly learned nothing from the Iraq debacle and who is decidedly out of step with the views of at least two-thirds of the country.

BAGnewsNotes: Take a look at how the NYT chose to write up this tale of Saddam’s Weapons of Minimal Destruction

Morning Martini: Report from the front line in the War on Retail

HOLY CRAP: Jeff Sharlet on how fundamentalists are "reimagining" American history...Madonna on the Cross, Again...Claremont Institute tussles over ID...Mitt's magical underwear

NY Daily News: (h/t Josh Marshall)

The government of George Bush, which will leak the name of a CIA operative named Valerie Plame when it suits its purposes, now wants Fainaru-Wada and Williams in jail because they won't reveal the names of the person or persons the government says leaked them grand jury testimony. It is always worth pointing out that if you ran the country the way Bush and his people do, you wouldn't want to encourage whistleblowers, either.. Once George Bush told baseball to get rid of steroids in a State of the Union address. Fainaru-Wada and Williams, through their reporting and later their book "Game of Shadows," did their part. They took the President at his word, obviously unaware that this President will say anything in a State of the Union, about weapons of mass destruction or anything else

So now the reporters are the bad guys, not the ballplayers who used drugs and then, most likely, lied about that in front of the grand jury. Get the reporters, not them. It's a variation of starting a war against somebody who didn't blow up two of your buildings and kill 3000 of your people.

As Josh notes: It takes a sports writer to speak the truth.

Pensito Review: Is Bush worship a cult? According to the International Cultic Studies Association definition, it is.

Crooked Timber: Terrorism and Cancer

The Rude Pundit: End of the Year Haikus, Part l and Part ll

James Wolcott: The Pericles of Petticoat Junction

The Brad Blog: Sibel Edwards calls for NSA officials to step up as whistleblowers

Bring It On: Mark Fiore's "Twelve Days of Whoopsmas"

The Brad Blog: Sibel Edmonds calls for NSA officials to step up as whistleblowers

Bring It On: Mark Fiore's "Twelve Days of Whoopsmas

I know you'll find this hard to believe, but there's
another scandal brewing that involves both George and Jeb Bush in Florida. It's a whistleblower case about a prescription drug management company that has friends in high place, and you should read the whole thing:

Two former Caremark pharmacists have announced plans to subpoena Jeb Bush as part of their whistleblower lawsuit against the company. Michael and Peppi Fowler have accused Caremark of defrauding -- and even endangering -- Florida customers by failing to properly fill their prescriptions. They have also suggested that the state has protected Caremark at the public's expense.

In a rare twist, the Fowlers recently blocked the state from intervening in their case after raising concerns about potential conflicts. Most whistleblowers welcome government assistance, but the Fowlers worried that state officials might be influenced by their ties to the company. Based on the latest court filing, the whistleblowers now question whether Caremark received favorable treatment from the highest political office in Florida.

Specifically, the Fowlers are seeking to discover whether Bush corresponded with Caremark CEO Mac Crawford about the company's performance -- and about an alleged "tainted drugs issue" in particular. They also want any communications between the two parties involving a powerful lobbying firm, employed by Caremark, that enjoys a warm relationship with the governor.

Lots more.

There needs to be a loud public outcry about this soon. This is a much bigger deal than that Sinclair stuff :

It is shocking: The Bush administration is suppressing a CIA report on 9/11 until after the election, and this one names names. Although the report by the inspector general's office of the CIA was completed in June, it has not been made available to the congressional intelligence committees that mandated the study almost two years ago.

"It is infuriating that a report which shows that high-level people were not doing their jobs in a satisfactory manner before 9/11 is being suppressed," an intelligence official who has read the report told me, adding that "the report is potentially very embarrassing for the administration, because it makes it look like they weren't interested in terrorism before 9/11, or in holding people in the government responsible afterward."
. . .
The official stressed that the report was more blunt and more specific than the earlier bipartisan reports produced by the Bush-appointed Sept. 11 commission and Congress.

"What all the other reports on 9/11 did not do is point the finger at individuals, and give the how and what of their responsibility. This report does that," said the intelligence official. "The report found very senior-level officials responsible."

If ever there was information that the American people deserved to see before voting, this is it. As the Bush Administration has demonstrated in the past, the only way we'll ever get them to do the right thing here is to publicly shame them into it. You know what to do. Sounds like it's time for a leak....