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9 September 2007
From: Jay <jay[at]wikileaks.org> To: volunteers[at]lists.wikileaks.org Subject: [WL-Volunteers] Something strange happening over at the New York Sun Date: Sep 9, 2007 9:04 AM Something a little strange is happening over at the New York sun. Google has spotted the following: Whistleblower Site Releases Secret Report on Military Equipment ... The whistleblowing Web site Wikileaks.org has unveiled secret military ... In addition, Wikileaks wrote: "Half of all equipment purchases have been diverted ... www.nysun.com/article/62220 - 4 hours ago - Similar pages However it looks like the article has been pulled, hopefully because they realized that this breaks our embargo. _______________________________________________ Volunteers mailing list Volunteers[at]lists.wikileaks.org https://lists.wikileaks.org/mailman/listinfo/volunteers
http://www.nysun.com/article/62228
Whistleblower Site Releases Secret Report on Military Equipment
By CHANNING JOSEPH
Staff Reporter of the Sun
September 9, 2007 updated 12:25 pm EDT
The whistleblowing Web site Wikileaks.org has unveiled secret military documents detailing the complete equipment register for all units managed by the American Army in Afghanistan.
The records — which are believed to have been leaked by an unnamed government official — list most of the equipment held in that country as of last April by American and coalition forces, and possibly even the CIA. According to Wikileaks officials, the authenticity of the material has been confirmed by military sources.
"The leaked documents help us to understand how war money is being spent and the nature of operations in Afghanistan," the site's administrators wrote on a Wikileaks page devoted to commentary and analysis of the leaked documents. "They provide a completely objective window into the functioning of various U.S. units from psy-ops (psychological operations) to Kabul headquarters."
Wikileaks was founded to provide a way for ordinary citizens and government officials to shed light on corruption by anonymously leaking confidential materials to the public. Though the Internet site has not yet made its official debut, this is the second time in just a few days that the site has released a leaked document to the press. The first instance involved a report related to a $3 billion Kenyan government corruption case, which has been subsequently covered in international news outlets, including a front-page story in Britain's Guardian newspaper.
"Wikileaks has not yet publicly ‘launched,'" the site's staff wrote in a press release sent by e-mail. "However, we feel we would be remiss in our obligations to our source to sit on this material any longer."
The newly released Afghanistan documents indicate that the America is using two types of chemical weapons in that country, including 72 M7 grenade dischargers — gas grenade launchers — and eight FN303s, "which can fire pepper-spray impregnated projectiles," according to the unsigned Wikileaks article.
In addition, Wikileaks wrote: "Half of all equipment purchases have been diverted to dealing with homemade mobile phone and radio bombs. Not since the U.S. 1945–1951 nuclear buildup has there been such a decisive shift in military purchasing priorities."
The site administrators are encouraging visitors to examine the documents in even greater detail and to post their comments.
"There is much more to be found in this [equipment] list: huge numbers of vehicles, trucks, security equipment, radio equipment, detailed in some cases right down to the level of screws and washers," Wikileaks wrote. "This list, in fact, is a perfect example of the sort of leaked document that would benefit from a global analysis: Everyone can examine it, make comments, discuss what the various units, what their items are, and what they do, and come to conclusions about their strategic, political, and human rights significance."
The Wikileaks article on the leak is available here:
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/US_Military_Equipment_in_Afghanistan
| From: | Wikileaks spokesperson <wikileaks[at]wikileaks.org> |
| To: | news[at]lists.wikileaks.org |
| Subject: | [WL-Volunteers] Wikileaks embargoed media release ("Afghanistan"). Embargoed until Monday Sep 10 5am GMT 2007 |
| Date: | Sep 9, 2007 12:01 AM |
Wikileaks embargoed media release ("Afghanistan")
Embargoed until Monday Sep 10 5am GMT 2007
Contacts:
https://secure.wikileaks.org/wiki/Contact
(see the analysis for addition verification and comment contacts)
Link to Wikileaks:
http://wikileaks.org/
Link to Afghanistan leak & full analysis:
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/US_Military_Equipment_in_Afghanistan
NOTE: Wikileaks has not yet publicly "launched". We are open
to submissions from journalistic and dissident contacts only. However we
feel we would be remiss in our obligations to our source to sit on this material
any longer.
Dateline: Monday Sep 10 2007
Just over a week after breaking a $3 billion corruption
story which made the front page of the Guardian (
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/The_looting_of_Kenya
) today the internet whistleblowing site Wikileaks.org released the full
equipment register of every US Army managed in Afghanistan from psychological
operations ("PsyOps") and interrogation units to Kabul headquarters together
with a 300 page analysis.
The document reveals that half of all US army equipment purchases in Afghanistan
have been diverted to dealing with home made mobile phone and radio bombs
("IEDs"). Not since the US 1945-1951 nuclear build up has there been such
a decisive shift in military purchasing priorities.
Funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is currently a critical issue
in the US. A majority of Democratic party candidates was elected to both
houses of the US Congress in 2006 on an anti-war platform. Under the US
Constitution, Congress has the 'power of the purse' to cut off funding for
war, but Democrats have not yet sought to use this power. In late April,
Congress passed a bill, HR 1591, which did not cut off funding, but instead
authorized war funding through 2008 and into 2009. However, the bill was
vetoed by President Bush on 1 May because it contained a non-binding timetable
for withdrawal of US forces. With pressure building in Washington, further
cracks are appearing within the US government itself. Some within the government
appear to believe enough is enough. They have leaked several confidential
military documents to Wikileaks. Wikileaks staff have confirmed the veracity
of the document with military sources.
Estimates of expenditures by the US government on the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan are readily available. Numbers may vary, depending on what one
defines as war spending, but are measured in the hundreds of billions, or
trillions. A recent study by the Congressional Research Service estimated
that as of March 2007, the US government had spent $99 billion on the war
in Afghanistan, and $378 billion in Iraq.[1] The National Priorities project
calculates the cost of Iraq through to May 2007 to be over $400 billion.[2]
These numbers do not include eventual costs for health care of veterans,
disability payments, increased defense spending, or interest on debt. Joseph
Stiglitz, Nobel prize winner in economics, suggests that the total cost of
the war in Iraq alone will be $1 trillion in a conservative scenario (one
million million dollars) and $2 trillion in a moderate one.[3]
Although these aggregate military expenditures are available, the precise
breakdown of those expenditures is usually not. Black budgets have no strategic
significance, since they are impossible to hide from the analytic capabilities
of strategic opponents, but they have historically provided ready domestic
cover for agency budget inflation, corrupt defense contractor deals and pork
barrels. During April, apparently in response to the inability of Congress
to implement the will of its citizens, a source within the US government
decided to release detailed arms and equipment lists for Iraq and Afghanistan
to Wikileaks.
It also reveals that according the US Military's own classification system
(1040 - "Chemical Weapons and Equipment"), the US is using at least two types
of chemical weapons in Afghanistan. On the list are 72 M7 Grenade Dischargers
(NSN: 1040014541625) and 8 FN303's (NSN/MCN: 104001D170316). The former appears
to be a gas grenade launcher and the latter is the FN303, which can fire
pepper-spray impregnated projectiles.[18]
* leak:Afghanistan_OEF_Property_List/WND4RA.html -
Interrogation
* leak:Afghanistan_OEF_Property_List/WTLWY9.html - Psychological Operations * leak:Afghanistan_OEF_Property_List/W6HN06.html - Bio Metrics * leak:Afghanistan_OEF_Property_List/W6DX04.html - Joint Robotics Repair Facility * leak:Afghanistan_OEF_Property_List/W6HN91.html - Task Force "Paladin" (anti-Improvised Explosive Devices) * leak:Afghanistan_OEF_Property_List/WAT0GA.html - Army equipment assigned to "other government agency"
The leaked document lists Army equipment held by the US Army, Marines, Air
Force, coalition, and possibly CIA units in Afghanistan as of April 2007.
It only includes items registered with battle planning systems, but that
appears to cover most valuable equipment. [4]It does not include soldiers'
combat pay, transportation, R&D or at home costs, and not does not include
most supplies, ammunition or other disposables.
The document includes no prices but by writing a program to cross-reference
each item in the leaked document with NATO Stock Number records from public
US logistics equipment price catalogs, we have discovered that there is at
least $1,112,765,572 worth of US Army managed military equipment in Afghanistan
(the actual value is likely to be two or three times higher)[5]
Half of all equipment purchases have been diverted to dealing with home made
mobile phone and radio bombs. Not since the US 1945-1951 nuclear build up
has there been such a decisive shift in military purchasing priorities.
The 2007 May-July period, saw 203 US military deaths from Improvised Explosive
Devices (IEDs) in Iraq and Afghanistan, accounting for 66 percent of all
US combat fatalities.[11]
Those numbers have climbed steadily from the same three-month period in 2004,
when 54 Americans were killed by IEDs, 31 percent of total fatalities.
Since the first recorded IED death in July 2003, at least 1,509 Americans
have been killed in Iraq by makeshift roadside bombs, out of a total 3,707
fatalities.
The daily number of IED attacks has increased six-fold since 2003, according
to the Pentagon.
In response, vast expenditures are being made on advanced technology to prevent,
jam, detect, and destroy such devices.
The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, or JIEDDO was
predicted last year to have spent $13 billion, across all theaters, on detectors
and robots to defuse bombs, improvements to vehicle armor, training and other
means to counter homemade weapons.
That sum is comparable, in inflation-adjusted dollars, to what the US spent
building the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945, based on figures
compiled by Washington's Brookings Institution.[12]
The leaked document shows US forces in Afghanistan hold at least 2,769
“Warlock†radio frequency jammers ($415
million) [13], which prevent radio signals from triggering explosives. [14]
In addition, 1,734 “Acorn†improvised
explosive device jammers were supplied; 42 portable explosives detectors;
61 “PSS-14†mine detecting sets; and
86 other mine detecting sets. There are 6
“Boomerang†sniper detection sets, which
detect if a vehicle is being shot at. There are 42 portable explosives detectors.
There are 9 “Husky†mine detection vehicles,
5 “Meerkat†mine detection vehicles,
and several other mine detection and protection vehicles.
Dealing with IEDs is by far the largest US army equipment expense, accounting
for around half of the total equipment outlay. If we view IEDs as a rebel
investment, to which the US must pay dividends in defensive equipment costs,
then every insurgent dollar spent has a return on investment of somewhere
around thousand fold. Significant price gouging by counter-IED defense
contractors is evident. For comparison, each briefcase-sized "Warlock" IED
jammer, of which is there is on average more than one per vehicle, is worth
$150,000; however, as can be seen by this analysis, that is more costly than
nearly every vehicle it was designed to protect. The "Warlock" producer,
defense contractor EDO Corp, predicts financial year 2007 will see a 400%
total revenue increase over its 2003 levels.[15]
There is also a large number of robots, representing highly advanced technology:
28 Pacbot tactical robots, 55 MARCBOT IV "experimental" robots, 86 "explosive
ordinance disposal robots" and at least 7 drone aircraft. Cost details were
not available on the publicly searchable NSN database, but it is likely that
the costs of such asymmetric warfare are very high.
For more details, including a 300 page analysis, database and the original
leak see:
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