A few days ago, I discussed the Wikileaks document drop, which exposed 90,000 pages of classified documents showing that we were paying Pakistan to aid our enemies. It was unsurprising news, information that anyone with an ounce of common sense could have surmised. What’s come out that is surprising — and disgusting — is that Wikileaks also published the names of hundreds of Afghan informants who are currently risking their lives (and their family’s lives) by helping us. The Taliban is reportedly already considering revenge strikes against the “traitors”.

Hundreds of Afghan civilians who worked as informants for the U.S. military have been put at risk by WikiLeaks’ publication of more than 90,000 classified intelligence reports which name and in many cases locate the individuals, The Times newspaper reported Wednesday.

The article says, in spite of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s claim that sensitive information had been removed from the leaked documents, that reporters scanning the reports for just a couple hours found hundreds of Afghan names mentioned as aiding the U.S.-led war effort.

One specific example cited by the paper is a report on an interview conducted by military officers of a potential Taliban defector. The militant is named, along with his father and the village in which they live.

“The leaks certainly have put in real risk and danger the lives and integrity of many Afghans,” a senior official at the Afghan foreign ministry told The Times on condition of anonymity. “The U.S. is both morally and legally responsible for any harm that the leaks might cause to the individuals, particularly those who have been named. It will further limit the U.S./international access to the uncensored views of Afghans.”

One former intelligence official told the paper that the Taliban could launch revenge attacks on “traitors” in the coming days.

Shame on Julian Assange. I’m just curious — does he have any idea the situation these informants are in? The risk they take in working with us? If discovered, they will be murdered. And it’s likely that they’ll see their families murdered, too. It’s such an incredible risk to take, and there’s such bravery in these informants, it makes me sick to my stomach to think that they have been betrayed. Betrayed by one of our own, the very people that they are helping. These people may very well die because of Julian Assange’s little act of treason, and it disgusts me. Even if they survive, it’ll be because they were moved, and they’ll be unable to continue helping us. And who would want to take their places, knowing that our previous informants had been outed?

Wikileaks whined earlier this year about collateral murder, and now, that’s exactly what they’re about to be party to. This is reprehensible, and I’m just curious — exactly how far will Obama allow this man to go before putting a stop to it? These brave Afghans are putting their lives at risk by helping us, because they have the audacity to want a better country than the one they currently have. And Julian Assange just signed their death warrants. I rarely say this, but God — I hope he burns in hell for this. He has blood on his hands, and I swear to God if he is not arrested then there is no justice in this world. Oh, wait, that’s right — he’s in hiding, the miserable little coward, behind the skirts of the Swedish government. So he can do all of this — published classified documents, put the lives of our informants at risk, hamper the war effort in Afghanistan — with no consequences.

Confederate Yankee reports that there’s a familiar traitor that may also be responsible for this.

The real suspected traitor in this mess is U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning, the analyst who bragged to a white hat hacker that he had stolen over a quarter-million military and diplomatic documents and sent them to WikiLeaks. Manning was taken into custody earlier this year after being fingered by the military as the source of the Apache gun camera footage Assange turned into a propaganda film called “Collateral Murder” that Assange used for fund-raising and not a little self-promotion. Manning is also the primary and obvious suspected leaker of these documents, which may be part of the $250,000 he stole.

I argued back in June that Manning should be charged with treason. If he is found to be the source of those documents, his only choice should be between rope, bullets, or a needle.

I couldn’t agree more. Both Manning and Assange need to be held accountable for the treason they’ve committed.