Julian Assange tells Gates to stuff it

[cortez]

(CNN) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Friday that he was disappointed by criticism from Secretary of Defense Robert Gates over the release of about 76,000 pages of U.S. documents related to the war in Afghanistan.

Gates said Thursday that the massive leak will have significant impact on troops and allies, revealing techniques and procedures.

Assange rejected that assessment Friday, saying in a release that Gates "has overseen the killings of thousands of children and adults" in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, also criticized Assange and the person who gave him the documents. WikiLeaks, Mullen said, was risking lives to make a political point.

"Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is, they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family," Mullen said Thursday at a Pentagon news conference.

Gates said he asked that the FBI help the Pentagon in its investigation of who might have leaked the documents to Assange's internet site.

An Army private suspected of leaking classified material, including videos and other documents, has been transferred from Kuwait to a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Virginia.

Pfc. Bradley Manning, who served as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, was charged in June with eight violations of the U.S. Criminal Code and is the military's focus in the investigation into who gave thousands of documents to WikiLeaks.

Manning, 22, will remain in confinement as the Army continues the investigation to determine whether he should face the military equivalent of a trial over the charges, according to an Army statement Thursday.

Assange has refused to say where his whistle-blower website got about 91,000 United States documents about the war. About 76,000 of them were posted on the site Sunday in what has been called the biggest leak since the Pentagon Papers about the Vietnam War.

Assange's statement Friday was harshly critical of Gates, particularly over deaths in Afghanistan.

"Secretary Gates could have used his time, as other nations have done, to announce a broad inquiry into these killings," the statement said. "He could have announced specific criminal investigations into the deaths we have exposed. He could have announced a panel to hear the heartfelt dissent of U.S. soldiers, who know this war from the ground. He could have apologized to the Afghani people.

"But he did none of these things. He decided to treat these issues and the countries affected by them with contempt. Instead of explaining how he would address these issues, he decided to announce how he would suppress them.

"This behavior is unacceptable. We will not be suppressed. We will continue to expose abuses by this administration and others."

[cortez]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/30/afghanistan.wikileaks/index.html?hpt=T2

[mike88]

techniques and procedures.......................genocide with depleted uranium, bonus kill of your own troops 10 years later. war criminals need to be tried and executed.

[Large Sarge]

this story still does not add up to me

[Phoenix]

this story still does not add up to me




This "criticism" is just like the allegations that Obama "stood up to Israel."

[Hatha Sunahara]

Here's a link to Gordon Duff who claims Wikileaks is a Mossad operation:

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/07/29/gordon-duff-wiki-leaks-is-isreal-like-we-all-didnt-know/


Hatha

[learn2swim]

Yes, this could be chalked up as a demoralization tactic, also an excuse to clamp down on the internet.

[learn2swim]

And consider that wiki doesn't want anything to do with 9-11.... ???

[Saul Mine]

Who is this Assange character? Why does he live so dangerously, daring professional murderers to catch him? What point is he trying to make? So far we have only his examples of embarrassing officials, with no particular benefit to anybody. His leaks so far have not been instructive or useful or even very embarrassing . He is beginning to sound like a setup character for another false flag event.

[Large Sarge]

is this the start??

Troops getting slaughtered because of wiki



US casualties in Afghanistan soar to record highs
Buzz up!34 votes ShareretweetEmailPrint Play Video AFP – Outrage over huge leak of Afghan war files
Slideshow:Afghanistan Play Video Pakistan Video:Pakistan in mass flood rescue Reuters Play Video Pakistan Video:Floods kill hundreds in Pakistan AP AFP/File – NATO and US soldiers are seen standing guard in Kabul. Three foreign soldiers were killed in two separate … By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer Robert H. Reid, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 57 mins ago
KABUL, Afghanistan – In a summer of suffering, America's military death toll in Afghanistan is rising, with back-to-back record months for U.S. losses in the grinding conflict. All signs point to more bloodshed in the months ahead, straining the already shaky international support for the war.

Six more Americans were reported killed in fighting in the south � three Thursday and three Friday � pushing the U.S. death toll for July to a record 66 and surpassing June as the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the nearly nine-year war.

U.S. officials confirmed the latest American deaths Friday but gave no further details. Five of the latest reported deaths were a result of hidden bombs � the insurgents' weapon of choice � and the sixth to an armed attack, NATO said in statements.

U.S. commanders say American casualties are mounting because more troops are fighting � and the Taliban are stiffening resistance as NATO and Afghan forces challenge the insurgents in areas they can't afford to give up without a fight.

"Recent months in Afghanistan have ... seen tough fighting and tough casualties. This was expected," the top U.S. and NATO commander, Gen. David Petraeus, said at his Senate confirmation hearing last month. "My sense is that the tough fighting will continue; indeed, it may get more intense in the next few months."

That forecast is proving grimly accurate.

The month has brought a sharp increase in the tragic images of war � medics frantically seeking to stop the bleeding of a soldier who lost his leg in a bombing, fearful comrades huddled around a wounded trooper fighting for his life, the solemn scenes at Dover Air Force Bare in Delaware when shattered relatives come to receive the bodies of their loved ones.

After a dip in American deaths last spring following the February capture of the southern town of Marjah, U.S. fatalities have been rising � from 19 in April to 34 in May to 60 in June. Last month's deaths for the entire NATO-led force reached a record 104, including the 60 Americans. This month's coalition death count stands at 89, including the 66 Americans.

Click image to see more photos of Afghan conflict


AP
Some U.S. military officers speculated that the spring drop in fatalities was due in part to the fact that many Taliban fighters in the south � the main focus of NATO operations � were busy harvesting the annual opium poppy crop, a major source of funding for the insurgents.

As the harvest ended and the pace of battle accelerated, more American troops were streaming into the country as part of President Barack Obama's decision last December to dispatch 30,000 reinforcements in a bid to turn back a resurgent Taliban.

American troop strength stands at about 95,000, and by the end of August the figure is expected to swell to 100,000 � three times the number in early 2009. Commanders say more boots on the ground inevitably means more casualties.

With the additional troops, U.S. commanders have been stepping up the fight against the insurgents in their longtime strongholds such as the Arghandab Valley, Panjwaii and Zhari � all on the outskirts of Kandahar city, the biggest urban area in the ethnic Pashtun south.

Much of the fighting in those areas involves brief but intense exchanges of fire. NATO and Afghan patrols also must maneuver through fields often littered with homemade bombs, which have become the biggest killer of pro-government forces.

The Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins around Aug. 11, may provide some respite in the bloodletting because Taliban fighters and Afghan government forces will be fasting, although some commanders believe the insurgents will keep up the pace in areas where the coalition is trying to step up their own operations.

Fighting around Kandahar is part of a NATO strategy to secure the city, the Taliban's spiritual birthplace where support for the insurgency runs deep. U.S. commanders have described Kandahar city as the key to controlling the Taliban's southern heartland because of the city's symbolic links to the insurgency.

As the U.S. and its allies step up pressure around Kandahar, Taliban resistance has also intensified in Helmand province to the west and in Zabul province to the east. Those three provinces account for roughly 70 percent of the U.S. deaths this month.

"We are going into places that have been significant support bases for the Taliban for the past several years, and they're going to fight hard for those," Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, who directs day-to-day operations, said this month. "And that's why we expect the casualties to go up."

The rise in casualties is likely to erode support for the war in Washington and the capitals of the 45 other countries that provide troops � especially if NATO commanders are unable to show progress in curbing the Taliban. The Dutch are due to remove the last of their 1,600-member force at the end of this month, and Canada plans to remove its 2,700 troops next year.

Obama has promised to begin withdrawing U.S. troops in July next year with the pace to be determined by conditions on the ground.

At the same time, there are signs that Afghan patience with the presence of thousands of foreign troops is running thin.

In the capital, Kabul, police fired weapons into the air Friday to disperse a crowd of angry Afghans who shouted "Death to America!", hurled stones and set fire to two vehicles after an SUV, driven by U.S. contract employees, was involved in a traffic accident that killed four Afghans, according to the capital's criminal investigations chief, Abdul Ghaafar Sayedzada.

The contractor, DynCorp International, confirmed that its employees, working on a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, were involved in an accident on the main road to the Kabul airport. In a statement, DynCorp said that when its employees got out of their vehicle, they and other DynCorp employees, who arrived at the scene to help, were attacked by the crowd, which burned their vehicles.

"Our condolences go out to the families of those who were killed or injured," DynCorp said. "An investigation is under way."

People at the scene claimed foreigners fired shots, killing and wounding Afghan civilians. DynCorp said the contractors fired no shots and that Afghan police helped move the contractors to safety away from the crowd. Hospital officials said the deaths and injuries were caused by the traffic accident.

Ahmad Jawid, who also was at the scene, asked: "Are we not Muslims? Are we not from Afghanistan? Infidels are here and they are ruling us. Why?"

[PatColo]

"Julian Assange tells Gates to stuff it"

Political Theater...

http://www.getawayhostel.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/theater-masks.jpg

It's pretty clear to the reality-based community at this point that Assange/Wikileaks is a PTB controlled opposition tool. What were the gists of the recent document revelations? Pakistan=bad, scary moozlems=bad...

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is 'annoyed' by 9/11 truth (http://911blogger.com/news/2010-07-22/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-annoyed-911-truth)

Is the latest Wikileaks release serving the military industrial complex? (http://911blogger.com/news/2010-07-26/latest-wikileaks-release-serving-military-industrial-complex)

GORDON DUFF: WIKI-LEAKS IS ISRAEL, LIKE WE ALL DIDN’T KNOW (http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/07/29/gordon-duff-wiki-leaks-is-isreal-like-we-all-didnt-know/)

WIKILEAKS WORKS FOR THE CIA AND MOSSAD? (http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2010/07/wikileaks-works-for-cia-and-mossad.html)



This "criticism" is just like the allegations that Obama "stood up to Israel."


We were right, the US-israel rift was simply much ado about nothing (http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=117454#axzz0unP9CTuD)


9/11 Truth tells Assange/Wikileaks/Mossad/CIA to stuff it: :-*

aww jeez looky there, every time I check that number gets bigger, 1,234 licensed architects & engineers (http://ae911truth.org) now calling the official 9/11 CT a fraud! ;D


http://www.ae911truth.net/flash/wtc7ani2.swf

http://www.ae911truth.org/images/explo2.jpg

[PatColo]

Anyone read about these recent "leaks" from wikileaks/Assange re the Iraq war?

Again, it's the limited hangout game: coalition troops were guilty of turning over Iraqi prisoners to mean evil Iraqi police (scary moozlems, them!) torture-squads.

I take for granted US/UK/Izzy troops were doing the torture, not just "irresponsibly turning over torturees to the evil Iraqi torturers...

US Gave Captives To Iraqi Torture Squads (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/24/iraq-war-logs-us-iraqi-torture)

Wikileaks: Release has exposed the terrifying reality of the Iraq War (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/8083084/Wikileaks-Release-has-exposed-the-terrifying-reality-of-the-Iraq-War.html)

Wikileaks Iraq War Logs - Key Findings (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/8085076/Wikileaks-Iraq-war-logs-key-findings.html)

These are all UK sources- has the US MSM said much on these latest limited hangouts? If they haven't, I'd chalk it up to a ploy to prop up the notion that they're "devastating truths", ;)

[keehah]

not just "irresponsibly turning over torturees to the evil Iraqi torturers...

This is how they whitewashed the war crimes (starting with the fact we had no reason to attack Afghanistan) of the Canadian troops.

I don't see this working for the American branch of globalist criminals.

Good call back in July all!

[PatColo]

GORDON DUFF: HO HUM, MORE WIKILEAKS “CHICKENFEED” (http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/10/23/gordon-duff-ho-hum-more-wikileaks-chickenfeed/)

October 23, 2010

LAMEST WIKILEAK SO FAR…IS ISRAEL BEHIND IT?

By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor

The new Wikileaks claims the US undereported by 15,000, the deaths of Iraqi “civilians.” With the numbers listed by the military as little as 10% or less of the actual deaths, bumping up the numbers must be a joke. More leaks about torture and killings, Iraqi torture and the US “looking away?” More idiocy. With the US sending “suspects” around the world on rendition flights, sent to secret prisons and obvious to anyone with a brain, to shallow graves, this Wikileak is simply another sideshow, more “chickenfeed.”

more
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/10/23/gordon-duff-ho-hum-more-wikileaks-chickenfeed/