Two years ago this week, WikiLeaks made headlines across the globe with the publication of the collection of documents known as the “Iraq War Logs.”  These documents, along with the Afghan War Diary and the U.S. Diplomatic Cables, are attributed to soldier PFC Bradley Manning.  In words also attributed to him, this file is described as “one of the more significant documents of our time, removing the fog of war and revealing the true nature of asymmetrical warfare.”

So what has the public learned from the publicizing of the Iraq War Logs?  Below are some of the most significant facts.  We ask that you share this with your friends on facebook, twitter and e-mail, in recognition of the date of the Iraq War Logs’ publication, and Bradley Manning’s 885th day in prison.

• At date of publication, there were 15,000 more civilian deaths that had been previously admitted by the US government. 66,000 civilians were reported dead in the logs, out of 109,000 deaths in total.

• The Guardian stated that the logs show “US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers”; the coalition, according to The Guardian, has “a formal policy of ignoring such allegations”, unless the allegations involve coalition forces.

• Sometimes US troops classified civilian deaths as enemy casualties. For example, the July 12, 2007, Baghdad airstrike by US helicopter gunships which killed two Reuters journalists along with several men thought to be armed suspected to be insurgents. They, including the journalists, were all listed as “enemy killed in action”.

• A number of the documents, as defined by Al Jazeera English, describe how US troops killed almost 700 civilians for coming too close to checkpoints, including pregnant women and the mentally ill. At least a half-dozen incidents involved Iraqi men transporting pregnant family members to hospitals.

• The New York Times said the reports contain evidence of many abuses, including civilian deaths, committed by contractors. The New York Times points out some specific reports, such as one which says “after the IED strike a witness reports the Blackwater employees fired indiscriminately at the scene.” In another event on 14 May 2005, an American unit “observed a Blackwater PSD shoot up a civ vehicle” killing a father and wounding his wife and daughter.

If you are an American citizen, then your tax dollars funded the operation in Iraq.  Think this should give you the right to know the facts?  Then it’s time to stand up for whistle-blower Bradley Manning!

Also check out the official Iraq Veterans Against the War response to the Iraq War Logs publication, here.