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submitted 1 week ago by GreyAlien@lemm.ee to c/world@lemmy.world

U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.

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[-] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I think @TingoTenga@lemmy.world is positing the idea that perhaps this was an intentional disclosure. A type of trial balloon, if you will.

[-] ultranaut@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

That makes no sense at all though, this would be the dumbest way possible to do that. If you're going to leak something you don't include a paper trail of high level people discussing classified information in ways that are neither legal nor secure. And especially to The Atlantic, they would never be the choice if this was intentional for reasons that should be obvious.

[-] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I would argue that just like rape is about power, things like this could conceivably be about power as well. Much of the hypocrisy of the right can be boiled down to showing that they can do this and you cannot. We see it as hypocrisy, but it's actually an expression of power. They don't care that we see them as hypocrites, because that's the point, to express their power to do this while the likes of Reality Winner and Jack Teixeira cannot.

What's anyone gonna do about it? Nothing ever happened to Bush for millions of missing emails, nothing happened to Clinton for a foolish private email server, and nothing happened to Trump in his first term when refused to use a secure phone and kept using his normal one. I think it will amount to the same for these people, as well.

I am not pushing back as hard as others on this opinion because I think it's reasonable to be skeptical for a few reasons. I am in the "it was probably a mistake" camp myself, but I can see based on prior behavior from people who are, well, rapists, that it could easily be about showing us what they can get away with as an expression of power.

[-] CarnivorousCouch@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Ah, I see. I don't think I agree, but I get the statement being made now.

[-] TingoTenga@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago

Yeah, I find the "accidental" chat with a journalist too strange to take it at face value.

[-] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I know others (including myself, a little) are being dismissive of your position, but the reason I think it is reasonable to be skeptical is because of past examples like this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killian_documents_controversy

The Killian documents controversy (also referred to as Memogate or Rathergate) involved six documents containing false allegations about President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard in 1972–73, allegedly typed in 1973. Dan Rather presented four of these documents as authentic in a 60 Minutes II broadcast aired by CBS on September 8, 2004, less than two months before the 2004 presidential election, but it was later found that CBS had failed to authenticate them. Several typewriter and typography experts soon concluded that they were forgeries. Lieutenant Colonel Bill Burkett provided the documents to CBS, but he claims to have burned the originals after faxing them copies.

This lead to massive shakeup of top personnel at CBS and 60 Minutes and ended up either coinciding with or becoming the reason for Dan Rather leaving the network.

[-] TingoTenga@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Thanks for the response and interesting link. I should have worded my initial comment better, I suppose.

What I am saying it that it may be worth considering that the extraordinary nature of the leak warrants a critical analysis of a possible ulterior motive or furtherance of some other agenda.

What I may be, I don't know.

However, for instance, even more than the leak itself, I find it ultimately more relevant that a very anti-European stance was expressed in the coziness of a "private" chat by the senior most national-security officials of the US.

[-] CarnivorousCouch@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

You're getting down voted on your top level comment, but I wanted to take a second to say I appreciate your back and forth here. I'm more inclined to call this incompetence, but your point that other motives and agendas could be at play is well taken.

[-] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

However, for instance, even more than the leak itself, I find it ultimately more relevant that a very anti-European stance was expressed in the coziness of a “private” chat by the senior most national-security officials of the US.

True, but it also seems totally plausible that it could be real conversation from a private chat. Seems like a terrible way to leak a message.

[-] TingoTenga@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago
[-] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago

Of course they didn't accidentally add a reporter to their private group chat - that's ridiculous! Obviously it was aliens who added him without them noticing. They have advanced technology to add group members in signal without anyone noticing.

this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2025
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