Why Now

The reaction to the latest batch of confidential documents that Wikileaks has released is a very interesting commentary on our public discourse. Many Democrats, columnists, and foreign governments are aghast that diplomatic correspondence has been made public.

To be sure, these leaks are embarrassing and potentially damaging, to the extent diplomats are less willing to share information for fear it may be leaked in the future.

Moreover, there are individuals named who they or their families may suffer retaliation for exposing their actions, so lives may be lost because of Julian Assange's war on America.

And we certainly have had confirmed or learned a number of interesting things, most notably that many Arab nations are more aggressively encouraging the United States to attack Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons than Israel has publicly done so.

But there were earlier Wikileaks of American military reports, which did not receive widespread condemnation for being made public - even though the exposure of individuals in Afghanistan and Iraq who have assisted the United States and thus whose lives were put at risk by Wikileaks.

The logical conclusion is that the leak of American military reports during the Bush administration was fine for many in this country and the world, but the leaking of State Department cables under both the Bush and Obama administration is unacceptable.

It is hard not to come to the conclusion that going after the "good" State Department, the Obama administration, and implicating foreign governments is what made these leaks a problem, while leaking information on the "bad" American military is OK for many.

And this is what is so upsetting about the world's reaction to the Wikileaks episodes.