White House Scrambles to Downplay Afghan Leak

White House officials on damage control after the massive leak of Afghan war records on Wikileaks are stressing that most of the records date from the Bush administration, and all of them predate President Obama's December 2009 shift in strategy. The leaked records back up Obama's decision to boost troop levels and are unlikely to change public perception of the war, say both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

"The emerging picture from this leak adds up to little more than what we knew already— that the war in Afghanistan was deteriorating over the past several years and that we were not winning," said Sen. John McCain. The leak is likely to complicate efforts to get a $37 billion emergency war funding measure through the House, but the measure is likely to pass despite growing discontent with the war, the Washington Post reports.
(More WikiLeaks stories.)