US diplomatic cables to be dropped by wikileaks; US doing pre-emptive damage control

[Max™]

Wait, the US describing insurgents in another nation as "freedom fighters"?

Inb4 we invade turkey in 2020.

[aurik]

We can't invade until after the freedom fighters have established a new turkish government and we decide we don't like them after all.

[Max™]

True enough.

[Mistress Stowastiq]

I don't understand what kind of information is put inside of diplomatic cables but I am of course curious so I will go look.

[Elvis]

This is similar to what we did in Central and Latin America. All the documents and diplomatic cables were eventually released and they paint a drastically different picture than what the government was saying at the time and blah blah. Its the same shit.

http://garlinggauge.com/wp-content/u.../09/droopy.gif

[Cadsuane]

State department insists on the illegality of wikileaks releases, refuses to cooperate with redaction efforts.

The State Department legal adviser on Saturday warned WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange that the expected release of approximately 250,000 secret State Department documents would have "grave consequences" and place at risk the lives of journalists, human rights activists and soldiers.

The letter, released by the State Department late Saturday night, comes as U.S. officials have in recent days warned foreign governments that the documents could expose sensitive information and harm relations with the United States. The documents are expected to be released this weekend.

The letter, written by Legal Adviser Harold Hongju Koh, was apparently in response to a request by Assange for information on any individuals who may be "at significant risk of harm" by the disclosure of the documents. Koh wrote that the Obama administration will "not engage in a negotiation regarding the further release or dissemination of illegally obtained U.S. Government classified materials."

According to the letter, the State Department has been in contact with representatives of The New York Times, The Guardian newspaper of Britain and Der Spiegel of Germany, each of which has already received the WikiLeaks documents. Koh urged Assange to not publish the materials and destroy all copies.

Their release would place at risk ongoing military operations, including those aimed at stopping terrorists and human traffickers, and could harm relations among countries that work together "to confront common challenges from terrorism to pandemic diseases to nuclear proliferation that threaten global stability," he wrote.

The State Department has prepared for the possible release by reviewing thousands of diplomatic cables and "assessing the potential consequences of the public release of these documents," spokesman P.J. Crowley said last week.

Crowley said the consequences to American interests could be severe. The cables, for instance, could reveal that senior government officials in other countries are the sources of embarrassing information about the inner workings of those governments, thus making it more difficult for the State Department to obtain such intelligence in the future.

WikiLeaks has bedeviled the Obama administration with a series of damaging revelations about U.S. policy overseas. In July, it released more than 70,000 military reports on the war in Afghanistan and in October nearly 400,000 reports on the Iraq war.

WikiLeaks has not disclosed the source of the materials. But suspicion has centered on Pfc. Bradley Manning, 22, an Army intelligence analyst whom the military arrested this year, charging him with the downloading and transfer of classified material.

PDF of the letter sent here:

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-s...nge_letter.pdf

[Kuya]

Is the release today? The angrier the government gets the more i want to see the documents.

[Cadsuane]

Supposedly. Apparently wikileaks is being DDoS'd to shit as we speak but the documents have already been disseminated to the press.

It is pretty exciting isn't it?

[Kuya]

F5

[Correction]

Part of the problem with these leak-bombs is that it's too much info at once.

You'd think they'd spread these leaks out so each big one gets its own shot in the 24-hour news cycle - so much info won't be properly disseminated in the media like this.

Don't worry, another pic of Emma Watson in see-through underwear will leak in December and we'll forget the U.S. was ever a bad guy.

[Rhinox]

and they're out

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/wo...s.html?_r=1&hp

[Cadsuane]

It's... it's glorious.

[Kuya]

The information has been released, i'm currently reading it on El Pais, but you can also find it on the Guardian, Le Monde, and i think the New York Times.

http://www.elpais.com/global/

edit: too late

[Kuya]

The information mentions that the State Department wanted/wants embassadors to collect information on other countries, which is something i would expect when done through the diplomatic process, but in some instances, the department asks the diplomats to collect information on military installations, which starts getting into the territory of actual spying. The emphasis seems to be on Africa and Palestine.

edit: has anyone found out yet why the US seems so interested in Paraguay?

[BerenTebogo]

Can anyone give a tl;dr of the important information? I'm desperately trying to be productive in the homework department over here :\

[Kuya]

You're gonna have to wait at least 3-4 days. Most of the information here is only important to people interested in international relations.

[Xajii]

nytimes site is fucked, lol..

[Weeks]

Can anyone give a tl;dr of the important information? I'm desperately trying to be productive in the homework department over here :\

Gadaffi has a hot blonde nurse.

Yes, wikileaks is the new TMZ.

[Kurokikaze]

Nothing good can come from this being publicized... What are these fools trying to gain? -_-

[Kuya]

lol