It’s not our fault for doing Guantanamo, it’s Wikileaks’ fault for telling you

One of the things I dislike most about governments is the way they twist reality to justify their own mistakes and/or actions (mistake = euphemism if you hadn’t noticed). The latest Wikileaks revelations are a perfect example. The BBC headlines the story as Wikileaks: Many at Guantanamo ‘not dangerous’; and that pretty well sums it up.

The Pentagon, however, responds with

“Both Administrations have made the protection of American citizens the top priority and we are concerned that the disclosure of these documents could be damaging to those efforts.”
Wikileaks: Many at Guantanamo ‘not dangerous’ 

Nothing like “We were wrong”; nothing like “We made a mistake”; nothing like “We’ll try to put it right and make sure it never happens again”. No, it’s not that government actions have radicalised an entire generation, increased the threat of terrorism, made US citizens (and by association UK and European citizens in general) more unsafe; but just that Wikileaks is making “the protection of American citizens” more difficult by telling the truth.

And what saddens me even more is that government obfuscation is accepted at face value by whole rafts of the electorate.