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.
"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."
"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 andBlow 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.
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 andBlow 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.
From Sydney Morning Herald
If we would have listened to Baer a long time ago. We would not be in the mess we are in now.
ReplyDeleteHe is still very well connected, and should be listened to.