Sunday, August 15, 2010

WikiLeaks to release more war files


WikiLeaks says it will publish the last batch of classified documents on the Afghan war within weeks, despite the Pentagon's efforts to stall the release.

The whistle-blower website is planning to release 15,000 more classified files on the Afghan war, which the Pentagon says will be even worse than WikiLeaks' initial release of some 76,000 war documents.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has warned of the "potentially very severe" consequences the release of the documents may have on American and allied soldiers as they "convey a huge amount of information about our tactics, techniques and procedures" which the Taliban and al-Qaeda may take advantage of.

WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange, however, told reporters in Sweden on Saturday that "this organization will not be threatened by the Pentagon or any other group."

"For the Pentagon to be making threatening demands for censorship of a press organization is a cause for concern, not just for the press but for the Pentagon itself," Assange told AP.

He further pointed out that WikiLeaks will be working with media partners in releasing the remaining documents.

According to Assange, all the documents will be reviewed "line by line" and the names of "innocent parties" will not be disclosed.

While no country has tried to shut down WikiLeaks, Assange says some countries, including Australia and the UK, have been gathering intelligence on the organization.

This comes after over 76,000 secret military files containing highly confidential information about the US-led war in Afghanistan were published last month.

The documents included accounts of how the coalition forces had killed or wounded Afghan civilians in unreported attacks.

Assange argues that the US secret war files show a systematic pattern of criminal behaviors by the US military forces.

Meanwhile the United States is scared that these documents will put their national security at risk.

No comments:

Post a Comment