Assange is a duche

[Berserker]

"WikiLeaks has published a secret U.S. diplomatic cable listing places the United States considers vital to its national security, prompting criticism that the website is inviting terrorist attacks on American interests.

A State Department spokesman said the disclosure "gives a group like al Qaeda a targeting list."

The list is part of a lengthy cable the State Department sent in February 2009 to its posts around the world. The cable asked American diplomats to identify key resources, facilities and installations outside the United States "whose loss could critically impact the public health, economic security, and/or national and homeland security of the United States."

The diplomats identified dozens of places on every continent, including mines, manufacturing complexes, ports and research establishments. CNN is not publishing specific details from the list, which refers to pipelines and undersea telecommunications cables as well as the location of minerals or chemicals critical to U.S. industry.

The list also mentions dams close to the U.S. border and a telecommunications hub whose destruction might seriously disrupt global communications. Diplomats also identified sites of strategic importance for supplying U.S. forces and interests abroad, such as in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Panama Canal.

The cable is classified secret and not for review by non-U.S. personnel.

The United States and Great Britain condemned the disclosure.

"There are strong and valid reasons for classifying vital information, including the identification of critical infrastructure that is important to not only our society and economy, but those of other countries," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.

"Without discussing any particular cable, the release of this kind of information gives a group like al Qaeda a targeting list," he said. "This is why we have condemned WikiLeaks for what it has done."

British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement that the publication is "damaging to national security in the United States, Britain and elsewhere."

The list is "a gift to any terrorist (group) trying to work out what are the ways in which it can damage the United States," said Malcolm Rifkind, chairman of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee in Britain.

"It is grossly improper and irresponsible" for Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, and his website to publish that information, he said.

WikiLeaks, which facilitates the anonymous leaking of secret information, published the list of sensitive sites as part of a larger disclosure of what it says are 250,000 U.S. State Department documents that were never meant for public view. The site began publishing the first of those quarter-million documents last week.

Since then, the site has been hit with denial-of-service attacks, which seek to make a website unavailable. It also has been kicked off servers in the United States and France, and it lost a major revenue source on Friday, when U.S.-based PayPal cut off its account.

On Sunday, WikiLeaks appealed to supporters worldwide to mirror its website, saying the site "is under heavy attack. In order to make it impossible to ever fully remove WikiLeaks from the Internet, we need your help."

In a tweet sent on the microblogging site Twitter on Monday, WikiLeaks said it had several hundred mirror sites - websites at other online addresses that have the same content as WikiLeaks.

Assange, 39, is wanted by Swedish authorities on allegations of sex crimes, including rape. He has denied the allegations, but his whereabouts have been undisclosed since WikiLeaks began publishing the documents last week.

Investigators have focused much of their effort on finding Assange in Britain, where U.S. investigative activity is being conducted by the Defense Department, a senior law enforcement official said Friday."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/06/wikile ... tml?hpt=T1

[MorGrendel]

First, let me say Assange is a douche. He is not a patriot, he is not a freedom fighter. Who turns themself in, then fights extradition; Either you have nothing to hide or you don't, in which case you are just seeking publicity.

But, if not him, it would have been someone else. Where is the story about the leaks themselves? Hello, a quarter of a million secret documents just got leaked! Actually, I think the shear number of leaks is good, only in that it forces us to deal with the leaks now. Being a home owner, I can tell you first hand how one big burst pipe can be less damaging than a small unnoticed leak.

FYI: Bo still can not figure out how to get on this board.

[boagrius]

Hey I'm finally here. Don't get me started on this ass, not to sound to right wing but he should be taken out charged with treason or at least cyber terrorism and shot.

[Titus]

Cook, you realize that he is not American, so he did not commit treason. The person or persons who gave him the information are treasonous. He is just a douche and potentially a rapist.

[MorGrendel]

The chief prosecutor dismissed the charges of rape, as both women amitted in court that the sex was consensual.

[Titus]

So, just a douche now. Still say he should be a CIA target. Take him out. He basically declared cyber-war against us. We will just forget the cyber part, oops.

[boagrius]

if not treason at least on a level of say Bin Ladin, now I know this sounds extreme but hear me out. while not directly incharge of possible attacks on the US. he is behind a very serious threat to America and should be treated as such.

The way I see it we can handle this one of two ways take care of this and make it a statement in a way that says don't push us too far or thisw is what happens to those who do, or keep no secerets.
Tell everyone what we think right up front and say ok here we are if you dont like it tuff, and if you think you can take us, here's where were weak go ahead come and get us...if you can.

[Fritz]

Eh, Assange is an attention whore. In any case, he's just a conduit for leaks. I don't really see the point of getting all bent out of shape over a worthless middleman. If he didn't exist someone else would have created a web site similar to what wikileaks is (actually some former wikileaks folks that hate Assange on a personal level are doing just that). There are fanatics of all stripes out there. The wikileaks folks (and their erstwhile 4chan allies) are fanatical about free speech and freedom of the press. As far as fanatics go, I can deal with that. The only gripe I really have is that it appears to me they rushed through going over the documents so they could get the publicity. They actually did redact a fair amount of information, but got sloppy and missed things like the identify of informants. The real problem is ass wipes like PFC Manning, who is the likely source of the information now making it's way into the public eye (and who coincidentally went through the training company that I am currently XO of about a year before I got here). He will be enjoying 52 years in beautiful Leavenworth.

There is a saying on the internet: Don't feed the Trolls. Assange=Troll

[MorGrendel]

I agree with Fritz, if not Assange, it would have been someone else. Thankfully Assange and Manning didn't hide in a cave or else we would never have found them. . .