The Guardian report:
Hill says Iraqi leaders are careful to avoid harsh criticism of Saudi Arabia’s role for fear of offending the Americans, Riyadh’s close allies. But resentments simmer below the surface.
Diplomats insist that their job has to be done in secret. Their argument is that this secrecy allows them to be frank and honest. What it actually leads to is lies and mistrust.
The tension between these two countries exist whether they discuss it openly with each other or not. Instead of being frank and honest we are in a situation where those ‘resentments simmer below the surface’. And all because they fear offending the Americans? And this was in an American cable! This is crazy.
Nobody knows for sure whether the forced transparency from Wikileaks is going to make all this better or not, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that secrecy leads to mistrust, corruption and tensions between countries. And while I’m sure diplomats have done a great job at stopping some atrocities, we are hardly nearing world peace. I’m really not convinced the current method is working.