WikiStink: The holes in this narrative are becoming obvious (Susan Abulhawa)

Dec. 1, 2010 (Palestine Chronicle) -- More than a quarter of a million diplomatic cables, marked "secret," "confidential," or "unclassified" -- to and from the U.S. State Department -- have been "leaked" to the public, presumably by a whistleblower. On the surface, it seems like the sort of thing that restores power to the people. It arms us all with knowledge and reminds those in power that they must answer to the public.

Then you pause to think. And that’s when the holes in this narrative become obvious.

Although WikiLeaks claims to provide a counter balance to the decades of disinformation served up in heaps by the “old media,” it chose to allow the vetting of these documents by these same outlets. Other highly respected media outlets, like al Jazeera and various independent media, were excluded. I find that odd, for starters.

If we take a look at the content of the cables themselves, the most remarkable thing to come out of these secret and confidential memos is what they do not contain. Granted, only 290 have actually been released so far. But it seems far from a coincidence that nearly every cable to and from Arab states released thus far has to do with villainizing Iran and mum’s the word on most major diplomatic hooplas of the past few years.

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