American Morning
WikiLeaks dump ‘embarrassing’ and damaging to U.S. relations, former govt. official says
(CNN) – A day after the whistleblower site WikiLeaks began publishing details from a massive collection of confidential U.S. diplomatic documents, the chorus of criticism from government leaders grew louder Monday. Top U.S. officials were quick to denounce the publication of the leaked documents Sunday. And the U.K.'s foreign office followed suit Monday, saying it condemned any release of classified documents. "They can damage national security, are not in the national interest and, as the U.S. [has] said, may put lives at risk," the office said in a statement.
The full set of documents includes 251,288 cables sent by American diplomats between the end of 1966 and February 2010, WikiLeaks said in a statement announcing the release. Of those, 8,017 originated from the office of the secretary of state, and more than 15,600 are classified as secret, WikiLeaks said.
Today on American Morning, John Roberts talks to James Rubin, former U.S. assistant Secretary of State, about how the information affects national security. Watch to find out why Rubin calls the documents a "broad-based attack on U.S. foreign policy."
About this Show
Welcome to the American Morning blog where you can get daily news updates from American Morning's reporters and producers. Join us for "the most news in the morning," weekdays from 6-9 a.m. ET, only on CNN.
On Twitter
@Weedstomper; you're so right! They have certainly proved how 'BAD' they were throughout the last decade. Much of the nations employment, employers, businessess, homemortgages, corporations, banks, the national treasury, and innocent lives have certainly met an 'untimely demise' due to; not an accident, but greed-based bad decisions! PLEASE DON'T TRY TO TURN THE WIKILEAKS 'LEAK' INTO ANOTHER 'DIG' AT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY! Much of the 'leak' was about the REPUBLICAN administration with world leaders, anyway!
So lets see, the Wiki Leaks founder is not on Interpol's most wanted list....but only for the supposed sex crime in Sweeden and nothing else.
I'm just curious, is everybody accused of a sex crime in Sweeden on interpols list or can we be honest and admit that he is on this list because of Wikieaks. It's foolish lies like this that make people roll their eyes whenever some officials speak.
Scott is right when he suggests that most government and corporate secrecy is aimed at hiding blunders and protecting someone's behind.
Why though, is he is so upset by Hamid Karzai, alleged corruption and bags of cash floating around? It seems like a case of the American mindset to forget that this is the American way. it was, for exmple, Americans who introduced bags of cash into Iraq and spent it who knows how in an attempt to buy favours. Lets not forget the prevalence of homegrown corruption in places like Bell, california, andTom Delay and his vote buying and money laundering.
Karzai really is at a disadvantage. There just aren't that many ATM's or places that accept debit and credit cards in the Hindu Kush. There aren't that many freezers in which to keep your cash crisp and green either. What is a poor boy to do then except distribute it by the bagful if he wants to keep up with the Joneses.
If it were a republican administration in charge Wikileaks would have already had an untimely demise from a deadly accident .
Classifying documents was supposed to be used to secure documents that were important for national security. What this has shown is that the majority of the time our govt. is classifying docs for no such reason.
The classification system was not supposed to be used to hide docs that were merely embarassing or allowed the govt. to lie about our asuuposed allies.
The Pat Tillman situation is a perfect example. He was killed by friendly fire, so all documentation dealing with his death was classified. This wasn't a national security issue, this was just an attempt to hide from his family the truth about his death.
Or the fact that all of the worst we have suspected about Hamid Karzi is also believed by our govt. yet they classify these so they can continue to lie to the citizens and funnel millions of dollars over there to him.
WikiLeak is just another anti-American terrorist organization that should be "black-bagged with extreme prejudice". Period.
I don't know why we get upset over comments made about people in positions of importance? HOW many times have we smiled at our boss or others while thinking about how stupid they are? With that said I would LOVE to see this wikileaks guy put in jail! Here is a guy that is against the war, gets his hands on some documents and publishes them, KNOWING full well that they can cause damage, possibly get people killed, maybe even start a war! HE could care less about others, it is all about him & making money!
Just why has the UK not put this individuals in prison? This puts many lives in danger. What people say formallly and what someone says in confidence are two different things. This information is property, and should be treated as theift.
Watching UK children approve of this war in Iraq, during one of their meetings, I was appaulled. Their children are very brainwashed, by theri administration, to allow government to go into war without provocation and based on misleading information as the U.S. has.
From what's been talked about in the media so far – it mostly shows that world leaders sit on the pot just like the rest of us do. Whatever true information is shared in the long run might just promote visibility, honesty in dealings... if everyone realizes that their comments and actions might be revealed on the world stage. No harm comes from having to make decisions out in the open!!