As you are aware the WikiLeaks obtained just under 92,000 secret US military documents on the Afghanistan war. These documents detailed the true nature of the imperialist occupation of the Middle Eastern nation. Also contained in them was proof the US military was deliberately massacring and suppressing the civilian population when they protested the occupation.

On Thursday, Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, held a press conference attacking WikiLeaks and its editor, Julian Assange. The statements made from the Pentagon threatened retaliation against those who exposed the criminal nature of the Afghan war.

Gates and Mullen made the phoney claim that WikiLeaks and Assange have placed the lives of US soldiers and Afghans at risk. Gates said that the “battlefield consequences” of the leak are “potentially severe and dangerous for our troops.” In reality the US military and the US government have been exposed for what the occupation is really about, suppression and control.

The hypocrisy Gates and Mullen is astounding. These two men who have overseen the colonial war against the Afghan people are claiming someone else blood on their hands because they exposed the true nature of the war?

The investigation into the leaking of information has focused on Private First Class Bradley Manning. The 22-year-old was an intelligence specialist who first gave up information to WikiLeaks about the crimes being committed. He was first identified when he told an online “friend” he was the one who released the video of a July 2007 massacre of over a dozen civilians in Baghdad, including two Reuters journalists and wounding two young children.

The capitalist owned media and the Republican and Democrat parties have already called for the severe punishment of this hero. Senator John McCain of Arizona, meanwhile, called for life imprisonment for whoever was responsible for the leak. Democratic congresswoman, Jane Harman, accused WikiLeaks of helping the Taliban.

You can be sure the Obama administration will see to it that those who expose their war crimes are punished for daring to stand up to those who kill in the name of profit.