Twenty-one-year-old Jack Texeira is in deep doo-doo for sharing with us innocents the truth. How could he? The man is despicable. He must have known that only America’s finest can handle the truth. Now, we are traumatized for life. Fie on you, Mr. Texeira!
Pardon my sarcasm, but… really? Recently, Pete Hegaeth, co-host of “Fox and Friends,” spoke in support of secretive government: “People are doing dark, dirty work on our behalf,” he said, “that we know nothing about, and do not want to know about.” And, we, the American people, are supposed to be comfortable with that - feel obliged toward people who do “dark and dirty” things… for our good? How about we say to them, “No, thanks.”
President George W. Bush led us into the Iraq War, for our own good, where over 4000 young Americans were killed, and many more were left without arms, legs, and recognizable faces; where a hundred thousand Iraqis were killed over weapons of mass destruction that never existed. People who leak truths might have exposed Bush Administration lies before so many people were slaughtered.
It is not just America. All nations – all government – it appears, lies unapologetically to their citizens. To further make themselves indispensable, they will create bogeymen for us to fear, tht they then must slay to keep us safe.
The leaker, Bradley Manning, among other truths, exposed the number of Iraqi civilians killed by American troops in Iraq, and revealed the extent of U.S. abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Edward Snowden revealed how many millions of Americans were being spied upon by the U.S. government. Jack Texeira has exposed truths the Biden Administration does not want us to know about the Ukraine War, which American taxpayers are upwards of $100 billion deep into subsidizing. And, don’t forget Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the “Pentagon Papers,” famously contradicting U.S. assertions that we were winning the Vietnam War, when we clearly were not. And, then there is Julian Assange, who exposed everybody; the Russians, the Saudis, the Germans, the Brits, etc., etc.; and yes, the Americans. He shined a great light so that all the world’s citizens could bemoan his very existence.
There is a heroic quality about these people who render these truths at such great risks. Might they be seen as latter-day knights – not perfectly chivalrous, (then neither were the knights of old), but willing to stand in the breach to advance a cause nobler than themselves?
The media speaks of these “leaks” as though they were some awful contagion. These leaks are unassailable droplets of truths we may not have known in our lifetimes, except for people who told us the truth now.
CNN’s Smerconish says, “This young man (Texeira) compromised national security. He needs to be punished harshly.” (George W. Bush “compromised national security” when he turned Iraq, a bulwark against America’s enemy, Iran, into an ally of that nation. No one is punishing him.)
Biden has pooh-poohed Texeira’s disclosure – said of his leaks: “Nothing contemporaneous here.” Biden’s critics pooh-pooh his pooh-poohing, calling him, “…either out of touch, or dishonest with the American people.” Of course, these leaks are contemporaneous. All exposed lies are contemporaneous because they reveal the truth nature of our present-day relationships.
The foundation of all good relationships is trust. Without trust, we manage shaky alliances, at best. More and more, that has become the plight of relationships between the world’s governments, and their people.
Sunlight is still a great disinfectant, and transparency democracies’ ideal. If that is not enough, the hear this: Nothing rattles relationships like lies, and nothing is so profound as the moment when truth displaces them.
