Jul 28, 2010 11:50 pm US/Pacific
Fallen Soldier's Father Angry At Military Leaks
STOCKTON (CBS13) ―
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Classified documents released by Wikileaks had reports on the incident that killed Green Beret Sgt. Chad Gonsalves four years ago.
CBS
The posting of tens of thousands of classified military documents by a whistleblower website will only hurt military members and their families, said a father of a serviceman who died in Afghanistan.
Sgt. Chad Gonsalves, 31, was a member of the elite Army Special Forces and wore the group's coveted Green Beret when his life was cut short four years ago.
Gonsalves' armored Humvee hit a roadside bomb, fatally wounding him. He left behind a wife and three young boys.
For his father, Larry, learning Wikileaks.org recently released a document set called the Afghan War Diary -- consisting of more than 91,000 classified reports covering the Afghanistan war -- is nothing more than opening old wounds.
"It's not going to do anything for families like me except stir up what we've already been through," Larry said.
Larry was one of the lucky parents: The military shared details about his son's death instead of hiding information.
The leaked documents revealed the bombing that killed his son sparked an even bigger attack on insurgents in order to get surviving soldiers out fast, but Larry didn't see "anything in there that really is different than what I was told," he said.
The only new details: "There were B-52 bombers… and the report stated there were three buildings destroyed. I didn't know buildings were destroyed," Larry said.
Larry, a Vietnam veteran, fears most of all that the leak will provide the nation's enemies with access to valuable information with the click of a mouse.
"Why anyone would want to put that out there, or any other military document, come on. Give us a break here," he said.
Not all of the reports were as detailed as the one describing the incident that killed Gonsalves, and names are not listed in reports.
Wikileaks.org is promising to release more classified war documents in the future.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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