As reported by the Kansas City Channel, a revolutionary concept is taking place in the United States' release of documents obtained during the invasion of Iraq on a government website.
The federal government is making public a huge trove of documents seized during the invasion of Iraq, posting them on the Internet in a step that is at once a nod to the Web's power and an admission that U.S. intelligence resources are overloaded.Republican leaders in Congress pushed for the release, which was first proposed by conservative commentators and bloggers hoping to find evidence about the fate of Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, or possible links to terror groups.
The web surfers have begun posting translations and comments, digging through the documents with gusto. The idea of the government turning over a massive database to volunteers is revolutionary — and not only to them.
"Let's unleash the power of the Internet on these documents," said House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich. "I don't know if there's a smoking gun on WMD or not. But it will give us a better understanding of what was going on in Iraq before the war."
One such web surfer referenced above is Joseph Shahda, who has already translated ten of these documents as of this writing and vows to continue on until the deed is done.
Shahda is originally from Lebanon, having come to the United States in 1994 during his early twenties. He has lived in the United States for the last twelve years. Shahda is a Christian and speaks Arabic and English fluently.
A denizen of the conservative web site Free Republic, Shahda's profile lists the documents that he has already translated, fully ten of them.
In Shahda's own words:
I feel a great sense of duty to do the translation of some these documents because that is the least I can do in time of war to serve the United States of America to whom I am in eternal debt and gratitude, and what I am doing is a small payback toward this debt that I can never fully repay no matter what I do. My efforts to do the translation pale in comparison to the great efforts and sacrifice that our brave troops are doing on a daily basis.
I asked Shahda during a phone interview with him on March 29, 2006, why he thought the government didn’t translate the documents.
Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
Amazing stuff, Pat. Thanks for posting the links. I hope you'll keep us updated. Wish I could comment on Free Republic, but I've been permanently banned for being too liberal.
Of the documents translated thus far, many are just confirmation of things we already knew, but #3 and #4 of your links above are very significant because of their late dates, especially #4 which seems to refer to the mobile WMD labs which everyone has been denying the existence of.
Dave
2 - Pat Fish
Go on, Dave. YOU were too liberal for FreeRepublic? Wow.
And you got "zotted"?
Heh.
3 - Dave Nalle
Perhaps it was that I was too Libertarian. They tend to be pretty hard line religious right types.
I find their way of banning people particularly annoying. They ban your IP in such a way that you can't even respond to the message they send you telling you that you've been banned or use the email link on the site. And then they don't respond to emails sent by any other means, not even to tell you WHY you got banned.
Dave
4 - sujatha
Pat, this is "history-making" all right. An eye-opener this one. Thanks.
5 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Pat, I haven't read the links yet, but given all the arguments over Iraq, I hope people take the trouble to go to this article to get to the links and READ them.
Mazel Tov! You did a great job.
Shabbat Shalom,
Reuven
6 - fntstc4
I am unclear as to Iraq's development of anthrax under Saddam. Did he or didn't he develop and use anthrax? Does anybody out there know this answer?
7 - Dave Nalle
He definitely HAD live anthrax and within the last 5 years. That's been definitively established by these documents. And if he had the anthrax that means he had to also have the labs and facilities to keep the culture alive, and that suggests that he had the capability to weaponize it. The accepted view seems to be that he did not produce weaponized anthrax in substantial volume, however.
Dave
8 - Stephen
Iraq only ever produced liquid bulk anthrax with a 2/3-year shelf life. Its last remaining stocks were unilaterally destroyed in 1991.