The US Civil Liberties Union is debating with the Department of State over the release of classified documents on the US war on terror. But as Alison Weir, president of the Council for the National Interest told, RT, it is absurd to keep them classified.
The diplomatic cables that were declassified in the US expose Washington's methods of abduction, interrogation and detention of suspected terrorists. The ACLU is demanding they are made public for an official investigation, despite the fact the documents have already been published by the online whistleblower Wikileaks.“The cables have now been published in the New York Times and many other newspapers across the US and the rest of the world. They should not have been classified in the first place – they have nothing to do with national security issues, they were just classified because they are violating US laws and because they would be very embarrassing to the US government,” stated Weir.Out of thousands of classified cables only 23 have been selected for this case. According to Weir a small number of cables that it would be reasonable to declassify quickly were chosen very carefully.“These cables are talking about the torture of people, about targeting for assassinations by people abroad, which is violating US laws. They are very specific cables that have come out publicly that should now be made public officially. The problem with keeping them officially classified is that it makes them unavailable for lawyers that are pursuing cases having to do with these particular incidents,” said Weir.It’s been three months since the request was submitted to the Department of State – and still there is no response. Americans were able to read the documents a year and a half ago “though attorneys working on these cases are prohibited by the government from reading them, which is absurd!” explained Weir.She doubts, however, if these revelations can influence America's methods of tackling terrorism.“The main reason it is so important for the cables to become officially public is because they reveal a certain Alice-in-Wonderland nature of the government, in which up is down and back is forward and black is white; the absurdity of what’s going on in Washington,” concluded Weir.