Sydney Morning Herald
08/31/2010
By Natalie O'Brien
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THE Australian government should use the intelligence exposed on the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks to confront the US over its war plans in Afghanistan, before even more Australians soldiers are killed, a visiting former CIA officer has warned.

Robert Baer, a former CIA field officer in the Middle East turned author and intelligence commentator, said Australia needs to question the US about the poor intelligence it appears to be relying on to run its military campaign in Afghanistan.

"The Australians should take the WikiLeaks information to the US [administration] and say: please tell us you have better information than this," Mr Baer said.

Speaking in Sydney yesterday, he said WikiLeaks was playing a crucial role in the world because it was laying out for everyone to see "the pretensions and the lies" that are being told about the war in Afghanistan.

"There is nothing like seeing the documents to see how much trouble we are in in Afghanistan," he said.

"And there are going to be a lot more dead Australians the longer we stay in Afghanistan."

The body of the 21st Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan since 2001 was flown home to Australia yesterday. Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney was the 10th Australian soldier to die this year.

Mr Baer is in Sydney to address an Australian Security Industry Association conference which opens tomorrow.

The former CIA officer , who is also the author of books such as See No Evil, The Devil We Know and Blow The House Down, has said the release of the secret reports has uncovered major flaws in the US military campaign, including that the information being used to justify deadly raids is fragmented, and largely coming from secondary sources. He has said much of the information appears to be from intelligence peddlers who are looking for a reward for passing on gossip.

"You cannot conduct special operations like that. You can't win a war that way,'' he said.

He believes the US and its allies should pull out of Afghanistan as fast as possible.

Driven Away by a War, Now Stalked by Winter’s Cold The New York Times (02/04/2012)

Civilians among 49 killed in Helmand Pajhwok (02/03/2012)

U.S.-Held Taliban as Bargaining Chips Draw Republican Criticism Bloomberg (02/03/2012)

Adios Afghanistan Fox News (02/03/2012)

Snowfall, rains to end drought, hope growers Pajhwok (02/03/2012)

No winners in Afghanistan’s war The Financial Times (02/03/2012)

Plan for early end to US combat role catches Afghan officials by surprise The Christian Science Monitor (02/03/2012)

Premature Evacuation? Foreign Policy (02/03/2012)

Panetta comment prompts questions, concerns in Afghanistan The Washington Post, Editorial (02/03/2012)

The administration’s muddled message on Afghanistan The Washington Post, Editorial (02/03/2012)

Panetta Draws Fire Over Afghan Shift The Wall Street Journal (02/03/2012)

NATO members rattled by U.S. combat plan on Afghanistan The Los Angeles Times (02/03/2012)

The Taliban who may leave Gitmo CNN (02/03/2012)

Afghanistan fears early US pull-out The Financial Times (02/03/2012)

'This terrible war could have ended in a month’ Telegraph (02/03/2012)

U.S. tries to ease confusion over Afghan plans Reuters (02/03/2012)

'Substantial’ British troop pull-out from Afghanistan planned for early 2013 Telegraph (02/03/2012)

In winding down war, a fundamentally different challenge in Afghanistan than in Iraq The Washington Post (02/03/2012)

To the Afghan Exits The Wall Street Journal (02/03/2012)

Romney Criticizes Afghan Pullout Plan, but Obama Is Eager for the Debate The New York Times (02/03/2012)

50pc of US aid to be used in 2 years: Zakhilwal Pajhwok (02/03/2012)

Is Israel preparing to attack Iran? Reuters (02/02/2012)

Plan to scale back U.S. Afghan role worries, surprises Reuters (02/02/2012)

U.S., NATO seek to clarify Panetta comments on ending Afghan mission The Washington Post (02/02/2012)

Courting Disaster In Afghanistan The Weekly Standard (02/02/2012)

The Hard Way Out of Afghanistan The New York Times (02/02/2012)

"Peace with Honour" is Another Way of Saying Defeat The Huffington Post (02/02/2012)

The Empire’s graveyard Khaleej Times (02/02/2012)

Sacrifices in vain on the Afghanistan war path ABC (02/02/2012)

Reading the Taliban The Economist (02/02/2012)