This is an historic day. 'Where were you when the State Department corruption was exposed?'

[seafan]

Suddenly, the US Government is up in arms about the safety of U. S. personnel, with the exposure of state department cables by WikiLeaks, the vast majority from the George W. Bush era.

I'd also like to know where these people were when Valerie Plame was deliberately and cruelly exposed as a clandestine agent, whose work centered around keeping us safe from nuclear threats. Who exposed her? Robert Novak. Scooter Libby. Dick Cheney. Karl Rove. ETC. Novak has now departed this life. The others still walk free.


Could it be that they are now worried only about their own a$$e$, and the growing international rebuke of their war mongering, shadow government and clandestine agitation all over the globe, once these cables are massively released?


Here are a few individuals whose communications to, from and within the State Department might prove quite illuminating, if they are contained in these cables:




Announcement of John R. Bolton as the US Ambassador to the UN, in a recess appointment, August 1, 2005.
His term of service was August 1, 2005 – December 9, 2006.


Bolton was forced out of the post December 9, 2006, due to the refusal of the Senate to confirm him.





We will never forget.

.....

But in recent days those who speak for the Pentagon - markedly former Deputy Secretary of Defence, Richard Perle, now a powerful influence from outside the administration - have insisted that the inspectorate process with which they have been so impatient need not prevent the US from going to war, whatever it produces. Pentagon officials echo what is said to be Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's view that there is no stopping the US pursuing its interests, however it sees fit.

The number three at the State Department, John Bolton, even said: 'There is no such thing as the United Nations. There is only the international community, which can only be led by the only remaining superpower, which is the United States.'

.....

Guardian UK, Sunday 12 January 2003

"If (the UN Secretariat building) lost 10 stories,” Bolton once quipped, “it wouldn't make a bit of difference." LINK

Also Marc Grossman, in George W. Bush's State Department.

.....

Phillip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, said: “It’s pretty clear Plame was targeting the Turks. If indeed that (State Department) official was working with the Turks to violate US law on nuclear exports, it would have been in his interest to alert them to the fact that this woman’s company was affiliated to the CIA. I don’t know if that’s treason legally but many people would consider it to be.”

.....

LINK

And a couple of other names:


Dennis Hastert, former US Congressman.

Larry Franklin over in the Pentagon, passing classified secrets to unauthorized individuals.


And Douglas Feith, also over at the Pentagon until 2005.

He announced his resignation one week after Seymour Hersh wrote The Coming Wars in the New Yorker on January 24, 2005.


Juan Cole noted at the time:

January 28, 2005

.....

Feith is clearly resigning ahead of the possible breaking of major scandals concerning his tenure at the Department of Defense, which is among the more disgraceful cases of the misleading of the American people in American history.

These are some of the people who are the real risk to our national security.





In an interview with FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, August 15, 2005:

.....


CD (Christopher Deliso): I know you can't name names, but are there any government agencies in particular that you can single out as being more corrupt or more involved with the substance of your allegations?

SE: The Department of State.

CD: What, the most corrupt?

SE: The Department of State is easily the most corrupted of the major government agencies.

.....

SE: That's the beauty of it. You can start from the AIPAC angle. You can start from the Plame case. You can start from my case. They all end up going to the same place, and they revolve around the same nucleus of people. There may be a lot of them, but it is one group. And they are very dangerous for all of us.

.....

The truth shall set us free.



US embassy cables leak sparks global diplomacy crisis


Guardian UK
David Leigh

Sunday 28 November 2010 18.13 GMT

The United States was catapulted into a worldwide diplomatic crisis today, with the leaking to the Guardian and other international media of more than 250,000 classified cables from its embassies, many sent as recently as February this year.

At the start of a series of daily extracts from the US embassy cables - many of which are designated "secret" – the Guardian can disclose that Arab leaders are privately urging an air strike on Iran and that US officials have been instructed to spy on the UN's leadership.

These two revelations alone would be likely to reverberate around the world. But the secret dispatches which were obtained by WikiLeaks, the whistlebowers' website, also reveal Washington's evaluation of many other highly sensitive international issues.

These include a major shift in relations between China and North Korea, Pakistan's growing instability and details of clandestine US efforts to combat al-Qaida in Yemen.

Among scores of other disclosures that are likely to cause uproar, the cables detail:

• Grave fears in Washington and London over the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme. • Alleged links between the Russian government and organised crime.

• Devastating criticism of the UK's military operations in Afghanistan.

• Claims of inappropriate behaviour by a member of the British royal family.

.....

The cache of cables contains specific allegations of corruption and against foreign leaders, as well as harsh criticism by US embassy staff of their host governments, from tiny islands in the Caribbean to China and Russia.

.....

The cables name countries involved in financing terror groups, and describe a near "environmental disaster" last year over a rogue shipment of enriched uranium. They disclose technical details of secret US-Russian nuclear missile negotiations in Geneva ....

.....

The cables published today reveal how the US uses its embassies as part of a global espionage network, with diplomats tasked to obtain not just information from the people they meet, but personal details, such as frequent flyer numbers, credit card details and even DNA material.

Classified "human intelligence directives" issued in the name of Hillary Clinton or her predecessor, Condoleeza Rice, instruct officials to gather information on military installations, weapons markings, vehicle details of political leaders as well as iris scans, fingerprints and DNA.

The most controversial target was the leadership of the United Nations. That directive requested the specification of telecoms and IT systems used by top UN officials and their staff and details of "private VIP networks used for official communication, to include upgrades, security measures, passwords, personal encryption keys".

.....

John Bolton used NSA intercepts to spy on Colin Powell at State Department, from DU, 2006

NSA Turned Over Names of Americans Wiretapped to Ex-State Dept. Official John Bolton, from 2006


Alleged NSA memo details U.S. eavesdropping at U.N.

Scott Shane and Ariel Sabar, Baltimore Sun

March 4, 2003

In a rare leak that could prove embarrassing to the U.S. government, a British newspaper has printed a seemingly authentic National Security Agency memo ordering stepped-up eavesdropping against countries on the U.N. Security Council whose votes are crucial in the U.S. effort to build support for war against Iraq.

Intelligence experts say the memo, dated Jan. 31, marked "Top Secret" and printed Sunday in The Observer, appears genuine. While no surprise to those familiar with the global eavesdropping the NSA conducts from Fort Meade, the memo may complicate U.S. diplomacy by underscoring that the intelligence agency routinely monitors phone calls, faxes and e-mail not only of hostile countries but of allies and neutral nations.

.....

And the U. S. has the nerve to point out corruption of others around the world...



After much anguish and suffering by those of us who have fought and screamed and demonstrated, yet seemingly felt powerless as the corruption has unfolded in our own government, and especially since 2001, the release of the 250,000+ State Department cables by WikiLeaks will finally give the people a position of strength to clean out this nest of criminals, thieves and warmongers, wherever in the world they are hiding.


It is the only true path to a better world for us all.

[derby378]

1. At a Cici's Pizza in Dallas, reading about it on DU

:applause:

[Ozymanithrax]

2. I see no difference between Cheney, Libby, and Rove revealing...

classified information for political purposes and disgruntled employes leaking to wikileaks and the media.

If one was wrong, the other was equally wrong.

[sabrina 1]

16. Was Plame responsible for lying to get this country into an illegal

and devastating war? Was she planning to bomb hundreds of thousands of Muslim civilians for no reason whatsoever? Was she plotting to ignore our laws on torture, on the rights of POWs eg, to violate the Geneva Conventions? Was she enriching herself and her friends by committing all these crimes?

Or was Plame and her husband, Joe Wilson, actually looking out for the best interests of this country?

I don't see the remotest connection between these two stories. How do you equate war criminals with Valerie Plame? Explain please, for all I know she could have been plotting crimes like those mentioned above, and IF she was she would have deserved to be exposed, just as they do. But from what I know about Plame, even those criminals mentioned in the OP who went after her, didn't accuse of her crimes.

[Ozymanithrax]

24. Violation of the law is violation of the law...

IF it is wrong for Cheney then it is equally wrong to Wikileaks.

I'm not big into relative morality.

Either it is wrong to leak information that leads to the deaths of people or it isn't.

[WinkyDink]

28. So you would have objected to the Civil Rights-era civil disobedience?

[sabrina 1]

38. Where is Wikileaks violating any laws? They are not U.S.

citizens so have no obligation to remain silent, as our useless media does when they become aware of crimes committed by this or any other government.

Does the U.S. own the world's press now? It has long been understood that the U.S. will never prosecute its own criminals and that punishment for the horrible crimes they have committed against millions of people, will have to come from outside.

I find it appalling to see any defense of these lying criminals on a democratic board. I hope every lie they have told, that caused the slaughter of so many people, is exposed and that one day they will be prosecuted for their genocidal crimes against humanity.

Of course it would have been better if it was our own media who exposed the crimes, and our own government. We used to have hope that this would happen once Republicans were thrown out of office, but we now know that it will not.

[dixiegrrrrl]

88. + 1

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Capitalocracy]

39. It may not be as black and white as you think

First of all, whose death is this going to lead to? What Bush and Cheney did was part of a propaganda effort to support an illegal war, leading to hundreds of thousands if not millions of deaths, in addition to putting an agent's life in danger in and of itself. Wikileaks check the material for information that could reveal troop movements or any information that could be used by the enemy to kill them, and does not release that information. I know what you're going to say, it's not for them to decide, but they shouldn't have to... no information that does not directly aid the enemy in finding and killing our troops is meant to be classified. And don't say that the one side, who is throwing an agent under the bus and into potential physical danger in order to start a war, is the same as the other, a group that leaks classified information to reveal war crimes while taking care not to reveal any information that could put soldiers in danger, are equally guilty.

Second, what they did may not even be illegal. The fact of the matter is, as I mentioned before, we do not have a state secrets law. The government does not have a right to lie, except in the direct protection of troops on the battlefield. Covering up their own crimes does not fit into that category, and you could make a strong legal argument that what Wikileaks is doing is not a violation of law (and wouldn't be even if Assange were a U.S. citizen).

[Luminous Animal]

40. Wikileaks is not breaking the law. They did not steal the cables, they are merely publishing them.

Similarly, the media who reported on Plame did not break the law.

[olegramps]

70. The outing of Plame was designed to discredit her husband.

YOu are either badly misinformed or on the wrong board. Plame, who was working to protect your ass, was outed in a lame attempt to discredit her husband, a highly regarded citizen, who challenged the lies that were being told to the citizens to justify their invasion of Iraq.

[Mnemosyne]

96. They used Wilson as an excuse to out her. She was the one they wanted

to stop.

[defendandprotect]

99. Think they, perhaps, simply got "two birds with one stone" .... ???

[Mnemosyne]

110. DP, most likely, but still believe Plame was the main target. n/t

[defendandprotect]

111. Agree that Plame was the likely target .....

not sure exactly what she was doing but something to do with ridding

area of nuclear weapons? Tracking them?

Perhaps could have put the lie to WMD --

For one reason or another I didn't read her book -- I should go back and take

a look at it.

Have you seen the movie?


But Wilson had also made noise that was inconvenient for them --

[Mnemosyne]

112. Haven't seen the movie yet, have to wait for dvd.

My theory is that BFEE/PTB had plans to possibly set off nuke and her info would have disputed their lies. Just a theory though.

Hopefully someday we will know the truth. Not likely with this administration...

[jeff47]

90. There's laws against publishing them.

The only completely legal route for wikileaks would be to return all the data to the US Government.

The press uses the first amendment to shield themselves from this particular law, but I'm not sure Wikileaks would be legally considered "the press".

[moodforaday]

103. Jeff, answer 1 question please.

Since when does WikiLeaks operate under the US law?

[jeff47]

105. Whenever a member of Wikileaks enters the US.

If any of them enter the US, they're subject to arrest under US law.

More to the point, I was responding to someone else who seemed to be talking about US law. Since there is no international law regarding classified information.

[TheKentuckian]

44. You see no difference between the top of the government outing people and a whistleblower?

You'd make about a good a judge as Scalia.

Is a father sleeping with his daughter no difference than anybody else having sex with a willing partner?

[bjobotts]

45. We're talking about outing crooks and traitors selling democracy down the river.

[Major Hogwash]

55. Who the hell are you, Judge Dredd?

Christ, get off of the soapbox and quit talking down to people!

[Dr.Phool]

62. Who died?

[Javaman]

76. That's the part that always cracks me up...

"Americans are at risk!", but they give zero examples as to how they are at risk.

Yet, the wars have killed and displaced millions.

the only people "at risk" are the half-wit politicians and their jobs.

the plebes will always fight their vanity wars.

[bowens43]

69. wow. I don't know what to say to this.

If you don't see the difference between these to things then you are morally blind.

[vanbean]

80. I think we have been infiltrated.

[Daemonaquila]

74. Following "the law" is the definition of moral relativism.

"The law" has no existence outside the agreement of people to follow it. In the best circumstances, "the law" is a compact among members of society based on shared values and agreements regarding important issues. In the real world, "the law" is a set of rules set down in brute part by moneyed interests and government power brokers to maintain their personal interests and agendas from elements of society that hold to a different philosophy.

Therefore, following the law requires moral relativism. It doesn't matter whether the law is just or unjust, in the people's interest or just plain murderous. We revile Soviet bloc, Nazi, Khmer Rouge, etc. cops and soldiers and citizens for destroying the lives of so many while cloaking their obviously unjust and destructive actions in the legitimacy of "following the law" and "following orders." What's good for the goose is good for the gander - we can not be comfortable in our moral relativism and hide behind "the law" any more than we would want them to do so.

The information that was leaked has already led to the deaths of many people as our government plotted, killed, took military and law enforcement actions, sacrificed individuals for political goals, and more. It is always possible that publishing government documents - secret or given freely to the mainstream media by government sources - may lead to someone's death. The government cold-heartedly makes that decision many times per day. I have no problem saying that making public those decisions, and the process behind them, is the moral thing to do despite that the possibility that some may suffer or die.

The difference is plain between Cheney and Wikileaks. Cheney (and Condolezza and Hilary) and company got people killed on purpose, and they did it on a massive scale, over and over. They OWN the government, and do it with impunity. Without the kind of information made available by the secret documents, there is no proof of the deeds or duplicity, and no way to hold them accountable. The people have decisions to make, too - some of them are under what circumstances we are willing to endanger ourselves and others to fight for a better, less corrupt, less murderous government. If you think there are other, "clean" ways to get the job done, you're living in a dreamworld. It is wrong for the people to refuse to risk anyone or anything. It is also a false decision and false morality, because that decision also leads to deaths as corrupt officials and their plots go unchallenged.

[defendandprotect]

100. Agree 1000% .....

and Pentagon Papers is but one example --

and then we also have the Nuremberg Laws and the courts/Justices who carried

those laws out!

[Javaman]

77. water carrier is not a good job title. nt

[Atypical Liberal]

81. Death of whom?

Here's the thing, if the people who die are doing something they shouldn't be doing, should I be upset that they die?

I am of the opinion that the vast majority of secrets that governments keep are not "moral" secrets. They are mostly secrets to protect the power and money of the people in office and the people who helped put them in office.

Personally, I say out every damn secret that a government is unable to keep under its hat. I suspect there will be far, far more good things made possible by the truth than bad things.

[keepCAblue]

92. What a sick and twisted viewpoint. Exposing corruption is a moral imperative. n/t

[smiley]

94. wikileaks and Julian Assange

as far as I know are not U.S. citizens

[defendandprotect]

98. No .... Not any more than the Pentagon Papers release by Daniel Elsberg was in

any way similar to Cheney, Bush, Libby and their plotting for more wars --

[fascisthunter]

22. they did so to hide truths about Iraq and their being no Yellow Cake

in order to start a war, and commit crimes against two countries in particular. The fact you can't distinguish between the two is very telling.

[Ozymanithrax]

26. Moral relativism is not the best place to argue form.

I am sure that Cheney could make an equally imationed argument how, from his point of view, the world needed this done for the good of the country and mankind.

Julian Assange may even get a little wood thinking of how freedom will be helped by nameless people who die because of this.

I condem both sides. Send the all to the same prison cell.

[WinkyDink]

30. The two events are not equal. Do you not grasp the "whistle-blower" concept?

[Ozymanithrax]

32. I do not beleve that what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

I grasp that if we violate the law and people die, eve if it seems good for us it is wrong.

If the man wanted to be a whistle blower there are ways to do that within the law. Turning over to Wikileaks isn't a legal avenue. He could have claimed whistelblwoer status and fought it in the law. He could turned this stuff over to member of congress.

There is not a planck difference between the two sides here.

[bjobotts]

46. Nonsense. Turned it over to the "people" who will push congresmen etc.

[bjobotts]

47. Example:Nothing about 9/11 report is factual, supported or even truthful yet it's accepted

[bjobotts]

48. 9/11truth can't even get out so yeah, leak to the people first.We aren't afraid to see it.

[bjobotts]

51. For instance just read this from Existentialist Cowboy to see how relevant Wiki-leaks is:

"...Like Hitler's racial claptrap and GOP economic crap, the official theory of 911 makes people feel good about being rich and self-absorbed.

'Terrorists' just hate us, it is believed, because we are 'free'. Are we? Are we free when we are lied to? Are we free when we are so easily manipulated into 'believing' a load of clap trap for which there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever? Are we free when we are clearly trained not to question authority? Are we free when lies become the basis for foreign and domestic policies? Are we free when as a result of right wing policy just one percent of the U.S. populations owns more than the rest of us combined? No!

We are not free until we accept responsibility for our own beliefs!

There is, for example, absolutely no credible or verifiable evidence to support any part of the official conspiracy theory of 911. It is not my purpose here to repeat the numerous refutations of every part of the official theory. It has been thoroughly refuted and debunked and ridiculed and only idiots have not gotten the message: no part of it is true, no part of it is supported by either fact, logic, or admissible evidence. It is thoroughly refuted.

Most recently the very existence of the alleged flights had been debunked with the government's own data! There is no wreckage traceable to Flights 93 or 77; the government's own data --BTS --indicates that Flights 11 and 77 had been mothballed! There was no wreckage traceable to any airliner found at the Pentagon. No hijackers appeared on the official autopsy report of Pentagon victims --the only official shred of evidence relative to the Pentagon. There were no airline passengers or 'hijackers' buried at Arlington National Cemetery. There is absolutely nothing to support anything said by Bush, the 911 Report or the many media minions who parroted this outrageous and absurd conspiracy theory.

Yet --it is believed but only because it was 'official' and espoused by a sitting 'President'. But it was a 'president' who stole his office. We believed it because we were blackmailed not because it was either true or support by facts..." E-Cowboy


So you see why Wiki-Leaks does more good when presented directly to the public before an "official" version can be presented to corrupt the truth and the vultures involved.

[Kaleko]

93. Good post.

Do you have a link to E-Cowboy's article handy?

Thanks, and thumbs up.

[Dr.Phool]

63. If we have criminals running our government. Out them.

Embarrassment and exposure of criminal activities is the right thing to do.

Give Assange the Presidential medal Of Freedom. He's putting his OWN life in danger more than anybody elses.

"within the law". What laws did Assange break? He's not an American citizen or resident. And as far as I know, there is no way to release this information legally in the United States. Are you going to beg criminals to investigate and incriminate themselves.

Your arguments aren't even close to being rational.

[Tunkamerica]

66. The difference is that the documents actually saw the light of day

which I doubt would happen if turned over to congress.

I'm not sure of the fallout from all this. I don't know if we'll ever know if this was a net positive or negative. But to repeat over and over your opinion that two wrongs don't make a right, or whatever cliche you were going to pull out next, is not exactly constructive (or informative, interesting, etc...).

[Javaman]

78. I feel sorry for you.

your inability to understand the difference between help and hindrance.

[WinkyDink]

25. Destroying a covert CIA operation to UPHOLD the law is VASTLY different from exposing CORRUPTION.

[Ozymanithrax]

29. That is the argument of the people who agree with it...

But the same laws were broken. And countries around with world will be looking at collaborators, finding them, and killing them.

But I guess accepting murder in order to find corruptions is OK.

That is called moral relativism.

[WinkyDink]

31. Are you back in the Beria era?

[JDPriestly]

59. I looked at a few of the Wikileaks posted by the Guardian.

I don't see how the ones I saw could endanger any lives. Which Wikileaks do you think would endanger lives? Any particular ones that are so damaging?

[Javaman]

79. Don't expect an answer...

the poster just enjoys spouting water carrying euphemisms.

Instead of employing critical thought.

It's easier for some people. black and white works for them. Gray scares them.

[defendandprotect]

104. In fact, this release may prevent the loss of more lives due to US warmongering and

warmaking --

Corruption thrives when it can exist in secrecy --

We need more challenges like this to US terrorism --

[Umbral]

33. What did Assange's oath of office entail? Was it at all similar to Cheney's, Libby's or Armitage's?

[liberation]

60. I see the night shift is here...

Ah yes, the classic false equivalence angle... not just for Comedy Central hosts anymore.

LOL

[malaise]

3. Get this to the greatest page

Super post.

[xchrom]

4. Recommend

[BrklynLiberal]

5. When the Bush minions risked our security, it was for their own private agenda.

I believe Wikileaks is not trying to sabotage anything...but merely expose the truth.

The current crying and whining are only because there are those who do not want to be seen sacrificing liberties for false security...which is what the State Department is doing.

GREAT POST! Thanks.

[Gregorian]

6. Cleaning up my garage (a possible metaphor), rocking out to this-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mjx7f9JBBQ

[ProSense]

7. Is proof of any of the things you linked to among the cables? All I

see being reported is stuff like this:

Hillary Clinton ordered diplomats to spy on UN: WikiLeaks docs

[jberryhill]

57. That apparently counts for "corruption" I guess

That and the opinion that China hacked Google, Putin is not a nice guy, and a lot of folks don't like Iran.

All shocking corruption.

[loudsue]

8. Thank you for posting this, seafan. Too many too soon forget what a nightmare our secret government

has become. K & R

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. Ditto....good job. Bookedmarked.

:thumbsup:

[seafan]

18. These cables will fill in lots of missing pieces as we at DU dug out and documented for years.

Throughout the catastrophic rise and installment into the presidency of George W. Bush, the people were shunted aside as control over our own government has taken a hard right turn away from us. We have been at the mercy of those who have global hegemony and obscene profit from that agenda as their single focus.


For years, we have screamed "NOT IN OUR NAME!", yet no one intervened to stop them.

With an ineffectual Congress; a disinterested Court, except when it came to allowing unlimited corporate money to influence our elections; and yet another president who was unable and/or unwilling to take a stand for the people who sent him to chart a better course for our country, we had been rendered nearly hopeless.



Now, the playing field has been adjusted, you might say. We needed a tectonic plate shift. I think we are witnessing it. WikiLeaks has collated information from people across the globe who have come together to fight for the truth of our world.


I don't think any of us yet realize how historical these events of today will prove to be.

[Celtic Raven]

9. K&R

Great post. :thumbsup:

[EFerrari]

10. I hope PJ Crowley has many changes of pants.

Karma, baby. After all the people he's screwed over, including the ones he's liberated from live on earth, he and his colleagues deserve exactly what they're getting.

:toast:

[bemildred]

11. I was thinking "Bolton" and "Perle" and "Wolfowitz" could be useful search terms ...

But "Crowley" is good too.
:hi:

[EFerrari]

12. Yeah, after a while, the @ssholes' names become unforgettable.

:)

:hi:

[seafan]

21. Karma is introducing herself as we speak.

And a mighty fine one she is.

[seafan]

13. Orders from Clinton: US Diplomats Told to Spy on Other Countries at United Nations

US Diplomats Told to Spy on Other Countries at United Nations

DER SPIEGEL
November 28, 2010

The US State Department gave its diplomats instructions to spy on other countries' representatives at the United Nations, according to a directive signed by Hillary Clinton. Diplomats were told to collect information about e-mail accounts, credit cards and passwords, among other things.

US diplomats are alleged to have been requested by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to spy on the diplomats of other countries at the United Nations. That was the purpose of the "National Humint Collection Directive," which has been seen by SPIEGEL. The document was signed by Clinton and came into force on July 31, 2009.

.....

The US State Department also wanted to obtain information on the plans and intentions of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his secretariat relating to issues like Iran, according to the detailed wish list in the directive. The instructions were sent to 30 US embassies around the world, including Berlin.

The detailed document also reveals which UN issues most interested the US government. These included: "Darfur/Sudan," "Afghanistan/Pakistan," Somalia, Iran and North Korea. Other top issues included Paraguay and the Palestinian Territories, eight West African states including Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Senegal, as well as various states in Eastern Europe.

As justification for the espionage orders, Clinton emphasized that a large share of the information that the US intelligence agencies works with, comes from the reports put together by State Department staff around the world.

.....

Editor's note: DER SPIEGEL's full reporting on the WikiLeaks US diplomatic cables will be published first in the German-language edition of the magazine, which will be available on Monday to subscribers and at newsstands in Germany and Europe. SPIEGEL ONLINE International will publish extended excerpts of SPIEGEL's reporting in English in a series that will launch on Monday.

[Dr.Phool]

64. Some of this isn't even "new"news. Just official corroboration.

James Bamford has written in his books, since "The Puzzle Palace" written in the '80s, that the reason we pushed for the UN to be located in the US, was to make it easier to spy on diplomats.

[me b zola]

15. K&R

[Ramulux]

17. This is the greatest thing to happen in so long

I really hope people actually pay attention to the information released in these documents, the media is already trying to downplay their importance but I dont think they are going to be able to stop the damage because Europe kind of has a decent media that isn't just going to follow the governments orders.

I have infinitely more respect for Julian Assange than I do for Barack Obama.

[harun]

19. I think you are right on. This information will bring changes in Europe but not in the U.S.

Nobody's ever paying attention here because we don't have any real news services anyone actually watches/listens to.

[klook]

42. Front-page news at the Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Same thing at The Independent.

Oh yeah, New York Times, too. The pathetic Atlanta Journal-Constitution has nothing but a 1-liner on the front, linking to an article with the teaser "WikiLeaks release condemned." That'll be the big story in most U.S. media -- the meta-story, not the real story.

[harun]

83. The NY Times piece was good and told the truth about what was

actually released (220 doc's).

[klook]

43. dupe

Mods - please delete. Sorry, accidental duplicate post.

[glinda]

56. Very true. Like people are going to actually read the released info? C'mon.

They barely read anything at all let alone could even figure anything out. Sad.

[lunasun]

49. the media is already trying to downplay their importance

if it does get attention here becuase of global comment then the U$media will just vilify it more and say its so evil.

[avaistheone1]

52. +1000

If Barack Obama were a John Kennedy or a Martin Luther King, Obama would have gone about cleaning up the State Department as one of his most important tasks. Instead Obama seems too comfortable with the status quo. He thrives on the status quo.

[pleah]

20. K&R

[cascadiance]

23. On Marc Grossman, we really need more info on his relationship to Joe Wilson...

They both went graduated from the same class in the same school, which would tell me that they had to know each other relatively well. Especially if they were both serving diplomatic positions in neighboring countries roughly at the same time in Iraq and Turkey too.

http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/1640

It would seem very odd that if they were "friends" as another writer claims here, that one of them would out the other's wife's organization, Brewster Jennings. And Grossman was rumored to have been tied in to the Susurluk scandal in Turkey too according to this post.

http://rastibini.blogspot.com/2009/09/former-fbi-agent-confirms-investigation.html

[Poboy]

27. recommend.

[Canuckistanian]

34. K&R

Good work, seafan

[moondust]

35. Unrec

[xiamiam]

37. why

[Dr.Phool]

65. Double rec!

[OnyxCollie]

36. K&R. nt

[NYMdaveNYI]

41. Where was I, you ask?

Sitting here on DU, all day.

[BolivarianHero]

50. America's Glasnost is nigh...

The vultures better fucking run.

[slay]

53. We've been waiting for this day for far too long

the secrets are coming out. the corruption is exposed. the question is - what now. who will act? will anything change?

[Mosaic]

54. The Empire Crumbles

And everyday we get closer and closer to becoming honest and decent, more like Canada. I cheer that on.

[laughingliberal]

58. Spent the day searching out what I could find in the leaks. K&R nt

[Cobalt-60]

61. At my Mom's place

For the first time in over a decade I heard the truth about our Police State.
It's a pity I had to hear it from someone else.

[Turborama]

67. Breaking the releases on DU's LBN & stayed up all night until 10:30am posting articles & related OPs

I had a few hours sleep and am back on it now. This is a really exciting time for news, politics and history junkies.

When the releases first came out: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4632228

When the UN scandal first came out: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4632241

[indimuse]

68. KNR! n/t

[blindpig]

71. Bloated roadkill explodes in the heat of the day. n/t

[davidwparker]

72. kick for later

[Beacool]

73. Oh yeah, let me jump for joy because some of our state secrets have been exposed.

Yep, that helps the nation.......how?

Or are some of you naive enough to think that other countries are not spying on us at every opportunity they get?

Feel morally superior all you want, but this is not helpful to our nation.

Why didn't Wikileaks hack into some of the other countries that are a real danger to the world at large?

:eyes:

[EFerrari]

97. You seem to be confusing the government with the nation. n/t

[Javaman]

75. When they say, "this puts Americans at risk", what they really mean is...

this puts politicians at risk.

When they day that "Americans couldn't survive if we did blah blah blah", what they really mean is, Politicians couldn't survive if we did blah blah blah.

When they say, "Impeachment is not good for America", what they really mean is, Impeachment is not good for politicians.

If ever there was a better example of how middle management lies to protect their jobs, I can't find one.

face it. The corporations own it all, run it all and control it all. Our politician's are nothing more than the paper pusher middle management flunkies out to do whatever they have to to protect their chinsy jobs. Lie, cheat steal, graff, bribe, you name it, they will do it. Just so they don't have to go back to being "one of the little people".

When you fall from power, the view back up is a long one.

[katty]

89. yup-exactly what it means

[northoftheborder]

82. Was there an exact time when all this was known????

I was online last night looking for information about this, but couldn't find anything specific, just rumors. I was out of town all day yesterday, so not where I could read or hear any news. Is it just being dripped out slowly, a few at a time, or is it actually on some of the news outlets websites?

[meow mix]

84. recommended

[Raster]

85. Kicked and HIGHLY Recommended!

Shine the light!:kick:

[HowHasItComeToThis]

86. AXIS OF EVIL

[robertpaulsen]

87. Bookmarked & I wish I could recommend this more than once!

Thanks for staying on top of this, seafan!

:patriot:

[Uncle Joe]

91. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, seafan.

[florida08]

95. a pleasure to kick and recommend

Sunlight is always better than darkness..and this country has been dark for a very long time. Thanks for all the info seafan.

[seafan]

102. WikiLeaks is shining a bright light into the dark and secretive corners of government.

Our media? What a joke.


While the world erupts around us, this is what Americans get:




The choice between Catapulting The Propaganda






OR:



Dancing With the Stars






Because WikiLeaks is bringing TRUTH into the light for us to see, we are breaking free from the prison of total information control.


Nothing will stop it now.

[patrice]

101. Keep the true story alive and tell anyone you can possibly get to listen.

[earth mom]

106. To the Hague with all of the U.S. warmongering criminals!

I hope that they all get arrested when they fly to other countries in their luxurious private planes.

Karma is a bitch!

[Pavulon]

108. Never going to happen. Unless assange has a picture of bush nomming on an Iraqi

and bacon sandwich with a side of franks red hot, they only consequence will be the cash it takes to soothe ruffled feathers. You will be paying for that directly.

[Octafish]

107. Kicked and Recc'd this yesterday when it was new. I'd Rec it again if I could.

It's that good. Every word solid gold. Thank you, Seafan.

Regarding the Department of State. Oh yeah. What Galbraith, JFK's ambassador to India, assigned to effect a peace and withdrawal from Vietnam in 1963 through Gandhi and Ho Chi Minh was derailed by Prescott Bush's partner, Averell Harriman said:

'Those of us who had worked for the Kennedy election were tolerated in the government for that reason and had a say, but foreign policy was still with the Council on Foreign Relations people.' -- J.K. Galbraith

We don't live in gangster times, my Friend. We live in NAZI times. Because they OWN the NAZIs.

[seafan]

109. We must never let our history disappear. Thanks, Octafish, for never letting go of it.

Peace, my friend.