The Wikileaks collection

[Fuchs]

Again, waterboarding was a standard training tool for US service members in SERE and deemed as legal by the experts.

Boxing is legal as a sport as well, but it's illegal if you do it without consent.
Same with sex.
Or carrying money out of a bank.


The lack of consent is the difference between waterboarding training and waterboarding torture.

[JMA]

Australia blames U.S. over WikiLeaks

Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the people who originally leaked the documents, not Assange, were legally liable and the leaks raised questions over the "adequacy" of U.S. security.

"Mr Assange is not himself responsible for the unauthorized release of 250,000 documents from the U.S. diplomatic communications network," Rudd told Reuters in an interview.

"The Americans are responsible for that," said Rudd, who had been described in one leaked U.S. cable as a "control freak."

"Control Freak" or not Rudd is correct. Refreshing honesty.

Go after the guy who actually stole the stuff and the guys responsible for securing the data.

[Steve the Planner]

Back to that same issue---the actual source (s) of the leak (s).

That sure is a lot of stuff from one PFC....

Also, why, if it was known about for months/years, was the response to wait, then cry wolf????

Very strange.

I heard one talking head today explain that since the US sent a letter to Assange warning him (an Aussie with Swedish/EU status?) that publishing the leaks would violate US laws. How exactly do we enforce them against hiM? Rendition?

[JJackson]

Rendition?

Extraordinary?

[J Wolfsberger]

I heard one talking head today explain that since the US sent a letter to Assange warning him (an Aussie with Swedish/EU status?) that publishing the leaks would violate US laws. How exactly do we enforce them against hiM? Rendition?

Realistically? All the talk about prosecution for espionage, treason, etc. seems to overlook the small question of jurisdiction. At best, we might be able to get Sweden to extradite him to the US, and we could prosecute him for receiving stolen property (or something of the like). I don't see how we'd be able to do anything more.

[bourbon]

What is the forum rule regarding linking to cables in relevant threads?

Example: several cables exist regarding Brazilian COIN efforts in Rio’s favela’s - an issue of interest to several forum members. Is it acceptable to post them in the Rio thread?


A fulltext search engine for the cables that have been released, is available at: www.cablesearch.org

[Ken White]

I'll ask. In the meantime, please do not link 'em.

Thanks for asking.

[Ken White]

What is the forum rule regarding linking to cables in relevant threads?

Example: several cables exist regarding Brazilian COIN efforts in Rio’s favela’s - an issue of interest to several forum members. Is it acceptable to post them in the Rio thread?

A fulltext search engine for the cables that have been released, is available at: www.cablesearch.org

Please do not link directly to the actual cables. There are many here who operate on .gov or .mil computers and if they inadvertently go to a cable from this site then they and potentially this site could have a major problem.

If there is any question about whether the actual cables are at a site, a flag similar to “CAUTION – possible links to Wikileaks. US Government policy prohibits official users from accessing”, or similar is desirable.

Whatever any of us thinks of the US Government policy on prohibiting the assessing those cables they are apparently serious about it. I personally disagree with it and with the over politicization for US domestic political purposes of the entire issue. It is much wing flapping about very little. Regardless, the US Government and the US Media are at this time in the de rigueur over reaction mode.

Due to that over reaction and the probable sensible policies that generally get settled upon after the initial flurry, it is not possible to establish a specific or firm policy that will foster the free interchange of ideas while not violating the current US Government policy whatever that may be. A site like cablesearch might be safe today but could be on the 'unacceptable' list of the Government policy tomorrow.


...............Please err on the side of caution in deference to those members who visit this site from .gov or .mil computers..............


...

[omarali50]

I visit this site to see what the saner end of the military-industrial complex is thinking and I am rarely disappointed in the quality of the opinions (as a lifelong left-liberal fellow traveller, I will be the first to admit that the quality of debate and data is much higher than that found on "my side" of the fence). But I am a little disappointed that so many good people are hyperventilating about wikileaks. I think the long term trajectory of our civilization (and yes, I said "our")is towards greater transparency and the first large country to get used to it may well be the United States and that is going to be a good thing. The ancient Chinese sages supposedly said that the sight of flowers and the sound of falling water are the only goods without admixture of evil, so expect some evil in this transparency, but all in all, it will be an improvement over the past. I think Julian Assange has done modern civilization a great service.