When the government documents related to the Afghan War were first released by Wikileaks, a former military intelligence officer told me that the unredacted files would be "an AQ/Taliban execution team's treasure trove." Shortly afterward, the Taliban indicated they were scouring the unredacted files for the names of Afghans who had helped out coalition forces.
The Pentagon used the fact that Wikileaks had not redacted the names of intelligence sources to shift the focus of the story onto the fact that these sources would now be in danger -- Adm. Mike Mullen memorably said that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange would have "blood on his hands." If that's true, he's not the only one. Glenn Greenwald points out that press reports suggest Wikileaks did reach out to the Pentagon -- and that the Pentagon refused to help them hide the relevant information prior to their release.
This doesn't exonerate Assange entirely from any harm that might result from that information being released. I don't believe in achieving one's goal by any means necessary. It's a stretch to say that Assange now bears no responsibility for what happens because the DoD refused to help him redact the documents. The notion that a few lives are small price to pay for Assange's ultimate goal of ending the war is but a mirror image of the arguments of his detractors. But this revelation does suggest that the Pentagon has as much blood on its hands as Assange when it comes to anyone hurt by the Taliban because of these documents.
