AN exercise in damage control will be a poor response to the embarrassment caused to the Obama administration by the latest bout of revelations by WikiLeaks. The variety and nature of the leaks are stunning and likely to cause serious misgivings worldwide and compromise, to Washington's disadvantage, that trust which is so essential to diplomacy. Some revelations are nasty, but that is nothing new to the world of statecraft. Off-the-cuff remarks, such as the Saudi king's criticism of President Zardari, are often noted by intelligence agencies and diplomats and reported back home. We now know how President Kennedy wrote 'SoB' for a Commonwealth prime minister and how the document fell into the wrong hands. What is unique about the revelations now is their nearness in time and their inflammatory potential for Muslim communities. In Pakistan, those who for years have viewed with suspicion America's intentions about Islamabad's nuclear programme would consider themselves vindicated over information that Washington had made plans to relocate enriched uranium. The Foreign Office has called the leaks “irresponsible”, the White House “reckless”. The US ambassador in Islamabad Cameron Munter said he couldn't “vouch for the authenticity” of the documents, while one Congressman wants WikiLeaks to be termed “a terrorist organisation”.

These condemnations serve no purpose, for one supposes American and other governments will merely vent their anger again when more such documents are released. The papers are voluminous, and that lends them to the widest possible interpretation. Normally, information declassified decades later provides valuable research material for scholars, who are able to put them in historical perspective and see the difference between substance and inanities. Here it is the documents' relevance to current history that is stupefying and is bound to start a new and serious debate worldwide about the American system's ability to keep secrets.

Evidently, the governmental furore in America and elsewhere over the last burst of leaks did not deter the prolific website from continuing with its spree. Some Arab leaders' plea with the US to take out Iran's nuclear programme as revealed by WikiLeaks is bound to raise regional tensions, even though we know that every now and then Israeli and American leaders hint at the possible use of force against Iran. Governments across the globe now must get ready for a popular backlash because information that was meant for the eyes and ears of policymakers is now public. But basically it is America which is in the eye of the storm. It must come clean on issues which are bound to agitate peoples and governments across the world, especially in this region.