posted December 04, 2010 12:21 PM            

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE world's most notorious whistleblower Julian Assange has broken from hiding in London to reveal his next target is big business and the unveiling of corporate secrets.

The Wikileaks chief this week created a diplomatic relations nightmare by releasing 251,287 confidential US Embassy cables.

The website creator further enraged the US, UK and Australian governments earlier this year when he unleashed a trove of Afghan and Iraq war documents.

Now, the 39-year-old former computer hacker said, he will expose global corporations.

Speaking from his hideout in a London flat, Assange said a new haul of secret documents, about half of which relate to the private sector, would be released early next year.

Wikileak's next target will be a major American bank, he said.

"It will give a true and representative insight into how banks behave at the executive level in a way that will stimulate investigations and reforms," he told Forbes magazine, adding: "For this, there's only one similar example.

"It's like the Enron emails."

Assange also said he was sitting on a haul of damaging data on pharmaceutical, finance and energy companies.

He had information on everything from BP to an Albanian oil firm that attempted to sabotage competitors wells, he said.

"You could call it the ecosystem of corruption," he said.

The North Queensland born activist said as his profile grew the secrets fed to Wikileaks expanded.

"These megaleaks . . . they're an important phenomenon.

And they're only going to increase," he said.

The constant scandal-causing exposures are motivated by "pain for the guilty", he said.

Speaking from a room packed with computers and programmers, with wires trailing across the floor, Assange yesterday told the The Times why he had unleashed the latest Wikileaks deluge.

"You only live once, why not do something worthwhile?" Assange said.

"The cables cover serious issues for every country in the world with a US diplomatic presence.

"In as far as knowledge about what is truly going on in the world can influence our decisions, this material must result in political change and reform."

Later yesterday he spoke via a computer from what looked like an apartment with a lamp and painting.

He said the US government was "trying to make it as hard for us as possible to publish responsibly in the hope that it can get us to not publish anything at all".

The 39-year-old said he was constantly "being tracked" and changed his hair regularly to elude recognition.

He is being sheltered by high profile friends, and constantly moves, sleeping on couches and in attics.

Assange fears arrest and is wanted by Interpol to face rape allegations in Sweden.

He has denied the claims, saying they are part of a smear campaign to discredit him.

Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland instructed Federal Police to investigate Assange and said he possibly faced arrest and the removal of his passport if he entered Australia.

Looking significantly tired, puffy and pale yesterday, life on the run has clearly taken its toll on Assange.

He said he recently suffered the flu and was unused to the lack of sunlight in England.

"We're like a traveling production company; everyone moves somewhere, and we put on a production," he said.

"We haven't had any rest since April."

Mr McClelland said yesterday the Australian Federal Police is examining whether revealing 250,000 confidential diplomatic cables could be criminal.

The Government's anger at Assange followed the release on the whistleblower website of secret cables between US diplomats and their allies in Canberra, which revealed that Australians who have "disappeared" in the Middle East have been identified by US authorities and branded as potential terrorists.

Assange was still drip-feeding the classified documents out via his website last night, with the contents of 933 cables from the US embassy in Canberra, 75 from the Melbourne consulate, 12 from the Sydney consulate and 11 from Perth still to be revealed.

The cables, believed to go back to 2005, involve Australia's contact with the US on sensitive topics including terrorism, intelligence, arms control and military operations.

The Australian Government was forewarned about the contents of some of the sensitive material and Mr McClelland said some of the documents could be prejudicial to Australia's national security interests.

"Obviously, I have certain responsibilities in respect to domestic national security considerations, but clearly I won't obviously telegraph what those documents may be," Mr McClelland said.

"But certainly the release of those documents, on our assessment, could be prejudicial to Australia's national security interests."

Asked whether Assange was now the most wanted man in Australia, Mr McClelland said: "Well, again, certainly from Australia's point of view, we think there are potentially a number of criminal laws that could have been breached by the release of this information.

"The Australian Federal Police are looking at that.

"I don't want to pre-empt the outcome of that advice."

posted December 06, 2010 05:33 AM            

By Ian Drury
Last updated at 8:24 AM on 6th December 2010

* Comments (26)
* Add to My Stories

Threat: WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has warned that if he he is arrested or killed his followers will release more damaging information

Threat: WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has warned that if he he is arrested or killed his followers will release more damaging information

The founder of WikiLeaks has warned that his supporters are primed to publish a 'deluge' of leaked government documents should his activities be curtailed by any country.

Julian Assange has distributed to fellow hackers an encrypted 'poison pill' of damaging secrets, thought to include details on BP and Guantanamo Bay.

He believes the file is his 'insurance' in case he is killed, arrested or the whistleblowing website is removed permanently from the internet.

Mr Assange - understood to be lying low in Britain - could be arrested by Scotland Yard officers as early as tomorrow.

A warrant for his arrest was issued last Thursday by Swedish prosecutors who want to quiz him over rape allegations.

The developments came as fresh revelations were published on the WikiLeaks website. They include:

* A leading Chinese politician coordinated the hacking of Google - which forced it to quit the Communist country - after finding unflattering articles about him on the website.
* UK firm Rolls-Royce lost out on a £200million contract to supply helicopter engines to Spain after the U.S. lobbied Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero in Madrid. The deal was eventually signed by American company GE.
* And European Union President Herman Van Rompuy told a U.S. ambassador that European troops were still in Afghanistan only 'out of deference' to America.

Mr Assange, a reclusive Australian, has infuriated and embarrassed the U.S. in recent months by releasing hundreds of thousands of classified documents.

First, he published Army logs from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that suggested soldiers were complicit in murder and torture.

And last week he published the first of around 250,000 diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies, many containing sensitive information and embarrassing verdicts on leaders including David Cameron.

High-profile politicians in the U.S. including Sarah Palin, a narrow loser in the race to become the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, have suggested the computer programmer should be 'executed' for publishing leaked U.S. state secrets.

More...

* Chinese government 'ordered cyber attacks on Google', WikiLeaks reveals
* 'Irresponsible' WikiLeaks reveals list of terror targets

Mr Assange's British lawyer, Mark Stephens, warned today that WikiLeaks was holding further secret material which he dubbed a 'thermo-nuclear device' to be released if the organisation needed to protect itself.

He said many of the papers being retained contained 'material of equal importance to news-gathering' as those already published.

He said: 'They [WikiLeaks] have been subject to cyber-attacks and censorship around the world and they need to protect themselves.
Mr Assange's lawyer has warned WikiLeaks was holding a 'thermo-nuclear device' of further secret information

Mr Assange's lawyer has warned WikiLeaks was holding a 'thermo-nuclear device' of further secret information

'This is what they believe to be a thermo-nuclear device in the information age.

'It's interesting to note people as high up the American tree as Sarah Palin have called for him to be hunted down by American special forces and assassinated.

'We've seen a number of suggestions that he should be assassinated, again from credible sources around the world.

'This is all about a man who is a journalist. He received, unbidden, an electronic brown envelope that journalists receive.

'This particular journalist has put it out. What they are doing is criminalising him, criminalising journalistic activity.'
Sarah Palin has called for Mr Assange to be hunted down by American special forces

Sarah Palin has called for Mr Assange to be hunted down by American special forces

The prime suspect in the hunt for the person who stole the files is Bradley Manning, a 23-year-old U.S. Army intelligence analyst who is now in military custody.

The 'doomsday files' which have been downloaded from the WikiLeaks website by tens of thousands of supporters are understood to include information on Guantanamo Bay, and aerial video of a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan that killed civilians, BP reports and Bank of America documents.

The files are encoded with a 256-digit key. Experts have said it is virtually unbreakable.

Mr Stephens told the BBC that legal moves to arrest Mr Assange, who is wanted for questioning over the rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion of two women during a visit to Sweden in August, appeared to be a 'political stunt'.

Originally the entire case was dropped by Sweden's chief prosecutor.

Mr Stephens said that only 'after the intervention of a Swedish politician' that a new prosecutor in Gothenburg - not Stockholm, where his client and two women had been - began a new case.

He denies the allegations vehemently and has described them as a 'smear'.

Mr Stephens said that Sweden had allowed U.S. planes carrying terror suspects - the illegal practice of extraordinary rendition - to use its airfields.

He said: 'It doesn't escape me that Sweden was one of those lick-spittle states which used its resources and facilities for rendition flights.'

He also confirmed that the WikiLeaks site had come under siege from 'a huge number of cyber-attacks'.

We're being watched, say Assange's lawyers

Lawyers representing Mr Assange claim they have become surveillance targets and have accused the US state department of 'inappropriate' behaviour for failing to respect UN rules on attorney-client protocol.

Mark Stephens and Jennifer Robinson told the Guardian they had been watched by people parked outside their houses for the past seven days.

Ms Robinson said: 'I've noticed people consistently sitting outside my house in the same cars with newspapers.'

The lawyers, from firm Finers Stephens Innocent, also claimed to be experiencing 'other forms of pressure' from Washington.

Ms Robinson references a letter from a state department legal adviser addressed to both herself and Mr Assange - appearing to suggest that Wikileaks and its lawyers were one and the same.

She said: 'By eliding client and lawyer, that was a very inappropriate attempt to implicate me. That is really inappropriate to come from the state department of all places; they understand very well the rules on attorney-client protocol.'

posted December 06, 2010 11:31 AM            

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is calling the founder of the online site WikiLeaks a "high-tech terrorist" for releasing classified material from the U.S. government.

McConnell said that the online release of secret diplomat exchanges has done "enormous damage" to the country and to its relationship with its allies.

McConnell told NBC's "Meet the Press" that he hopes WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be prosecuted for the disclosures.

And he says that if it's found that Assange hasn't violated the law, then the law should be changed.

posted December 06, 2010 11:42 AM            

The other thing that "America" haters don't realize is that this was not the brilliant idea of Assange who wanted to expose the war efforts and communications between countries, it was the immature act of an idiot Army PFC in the Military that had access to a top secret database. He put other's lives in danger, which may lead to the possible destablization regions around the world all because he felt picked on and in protest of "don't ask don't tell".

Heck, there was more protest over revealing CIA Agent Valerie Plame in 2003.

It really saddens me that people are in danger because of the acts of two people; a whiny, disgruntled Army PFC and a wimpy, attention wh0re.

posted December 06, 2010 02:19 PM            

i would have to agree with archer, if there is a criminal or traitor here it is whoever leaked the info TO wikileaks. who was in a position to know the difference between exposure of hypocrisy and putting people in danger.

i can't say i read all 250000+ entries, but i hadn't heard there was any compromising military info fingering people who might be considered traitors by their countrymen.

but i do believe that america was far from the only "embarrassed" or "exposed" party. not sure what it has to do with "america haters". some people think the people at large should be privy to the truth.

posted December 06, 2010 05:03 PM            

"Commanders in the field are notified of possible risks to personnel or civilians so the forces can take any action necessary to protect the potential targets, Morrell said."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-05/pentagon-demand s-wikileaks-site-return-classified-u-s-military-documents.html

Of course BearsArcher, this is just the kind of activity all the America haters would cheer...and over which they would attempt to absolve this little media wh0re of any wrong doing.

katatonic, I don't give a rat's ass what you think is or is not "very American".

My post had a "personal context" which you apparently missed.

posted December 06, 2010 05:07 PM            

We know O'Bomber knew because WikiLeaks released documents on Afghanistan way back in July. Yet, O'Bomber was caught sitting on his ass doing nothing to prevent further leaks of classified US documents.

December 05, 2010
Gingrich faults Obama administration over WikiLeaks

Newt Gingrich suggested on Sunday the Obama administration deserves a share of blame for WikiLeaks’ disclosure of classified documents.

The former Republican House speaker, a probable 2012 candidate for president, also said on "Fox News Sunday" that the government should more aggressively go after the self-proclaimed whistle blower website and its founder, Julian Assange.

“This administration is so shallow and so amateurish about national security that it is painful and dangerous,” Gingrich said.

“Who is responsible for security?...You have a private first class who downloads a quarter million documents and the system doesn’t say, ‘Oh, you may be overextended? ...This is a system so stupid that it ought to be a scandal of the first order,” he added.

Gingrich took the hardest line on Assange.

posted December 06, 2010 05:13 PM            

however it would be nice if you remembered that i too am american and just because we don't agree doesn't mean i don't have a right to my opinion. in general i applaud truth sayers. i am still trying to get my head around the WHOLE of these leaks but there are a lot of them. i don't think anyone has enough evidence to suggest assassination of a person who may not have even been the actual culprit. and if they do assassinate him his coworkers will still be at large, so what point would there be?

posted December 06, 2010 05:20 PM            

Locations and strikes were named in some of the past correspondance. That is all I can or will say. It has impacted the battlefield.

posted December 06, 2010 05:21 PM            

but no actual damaging info is mentioned as having BEEN FOUND(in the military sense).

posted December 06, 2010 10:26 PM            

of course anything that sets the odds against our men is not truthsaying but endangering people and goes without saying, out of bounds. i wasn't talking about those since i didn't really know about them.

as to the rest all we hear is about transparency. here it is, and its easy to see why we are not given all the information at any time. its not pretty.

posted December 07, 2010 10:21 AM            

quote:

---

Assange had threatened, if arrested, to release the encryption key for a large file he says contains damaging U.S. secrets.

---

More diplomatic gossip or does it have some meat on the bone??

If a single individual is harmed ( not their egos) but harmed by WikiLeaks, Assange and his counterparts should be tried as terrorists. Blackmail is ilegal and that`s a good place to start charges to hold them.

------------------
What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted December 07, 2010 04:54 PM            

Was that treasonous as well?

Bears, I know your hubby is more in the secret ops parts of the military, so I understand that you might have a better grasp here than most of the civilians discussing this.

My understanding was that most of this was diplomatic cables.

posted December 07, 2010 05:32 PM            

I don't think it is more a matter of the cables (which are embarrassing but not life threatening) but the past information with the names of specific operations. Names may have been redacted but people that are affected in the region can't take chances that their whereabouts and operations have been compromised.

There are some of the cables, which indicate one country making statements about others, which as I said were embarrassing, but the cables that had to do with Karzai on Afghanistan are more sensitive in that we need him on our side (if that is possible since he loves our money and shows us his gratitude by releasing hundreds of captured Taliban prisoners). What loyalty or cooperation we have in those regions can be broken by certain references or even our dignitaries making negative references to others.

Here is one example: An Afghan official sees a cable where one of our dignitaries or admin people calls him a dog. He gets angry and informs someone of a village where we have a platoon patroling or embedded. The Taliban now has that village and possible movements on their radar and hits a patrol with an IED or RPG.

Will the news say "This is directly related to leaked cables that referred to so-and-so as a dog and in retaliation he informed some of his people to tell the Taliban where there were troop movements and resulted in a strike that killed 8 US troops this afternoon"?

I highly doubt we would ever see that headline.

Now, since Assange has been arrested, we have to wait for the other ball to drop. He stated earlier that he would release the passwords to even more sensitive files that in turn would compromise our troops and security.

It is all very sad because the ahole is NOT thinking about the consequences of his actions but instead is a narcissist that is releasing information for his own self-gratification and hiding it under the guise of "public information".

posted December 07, 2010 06:40 PM            

Thanks for your considerate and thorough reply.

Was the Army personnel who leaked the info, impacted directly by the DADT policy?

You're right in that we probably would never see that kind of headline. Too much journalism involved in that kind of article

I liked the example you give, and this is a possibility that probably should be considered, and my question would be, should our diplomats be venting in official documents? Not saying that you know or whatever, it's just aren't they supposed to be extremely digilent of what kind of items they put into documentation?

Jwhop,

posted December 07, 2010 07:13 PM            

I also asked that question about our officials venting in cables. It seems silly that they would do that in this day and age when everything we put out can be used against us.

As to PFC Manning, he was affected by DADT. He was struggling with being gay and being in the Army. In one report it was said he had a history of being teased and was even thrown out of his father's house for being gay. When the Army didn't reverse DADT he apparantly, became irate and decided to take information from a top secret database and turn it over in order to get back at the Military and out of the frustration he felt for what he went through.

Here is quote from the article posted below

:Manning came to the attention of the FBI and Army investigators after he contacted former hacker Adrian Lamo late last month over instant messenger and e-mail. Lamo had just been the subject of a Wired.com article. Very quickly in his exchange with the ex-hacker, Manning claimed to be the Wikileaks video leaker.

“If you had unprecedented access to classified networks 14 hours a day 7 days a week for 8+ months, what would you do?” Manning asked.

From the chat logs provided by Lamo, and examined by Wired.com, it appears Manning sensed a kindred spirit in the ex-hacker. He discussed personal issues that got him into trouble with his superiors and left him socially isolated, and said he had been demoted and was headed for an early discharge from the Army.

When Manning told Lamo that he leaked a quarter-million classified embassy cables, Lamo contacted the Army, and then met with Army CID investigators and the FBI at a Starbucks near his house in Carmichael, California, where he passed the agents a copy of the chat logs. At their second meeting with Lamo on May 27, FBI agents from the Oakland Field Office told the hacker that Manning had been arrested the day before in Iraq by Army CID investigators.

Lamo has contributed funds to Wikileaks in the past, and says he agonized over the decision to expose Manning — he says he’s frequently contacted by hackers who want to talk about their adventures, and he has never considered reporting anyone before. The supposed diplomatic cable leak, however, made him believe Manning’s actions were genuinely dangerous to U.S. national security.

“I wouldn’t have done this if lives weren’t in danger,” says Lamo, who discussed the details with Wired.com following Manning’s arrest. “He was in a war zone and basically trying to vacuum up as much classified information as he could, and just throwing it up into the air.”
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/leak/

posted December 07, 2010 09:13 PM            

I knwo that it's simplistic to put it in those terms, however, this is a huge example of how that policy is hurting the armed forces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bears,

I think this is the nicest thing discussing this with you here I remember a time where we would have had no way in hell of getting this far together