Watch: Hillary Clinton Condemns Wikileaks Release
Didn't get a chance yesterday to post Secretary Clinton's condemnation of the Wikileaks cable releases and her assurance that the State Dept. would withstand the challenges.
"To the American people, and to our friends and partners. I want you to know that we are taking aggressive steps to hold responsible those who stole this information...There is nothing laudable about endangering innocent people, and there is nothing brave about sabotaging the peaceful relations between nations on which our common security depends."
Th WaPo reports that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange could be charged under the Espionage Act:
"Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the Justice Department and Pentagon are conducting 'an active, ongoing criminal investigation.' Others familiar with the probe said the FBI is examining everyone who came into possession of the documents, including those who gave the materials to WikiLeaks and also the organization itself. No charges are imminent, the sources said, and it is unclear whether any will be brought."
Watch Clinton, AFTER THE JUMP...
Previously...
Diplomacy, State Dept. Exposed in 250,000+ Wikileaks Cable Dump [tr]
I'm sure that this quote from Thinkprogress has absolutely NOTHING to do with Hillary's anger about wikileaks...
"Included in the thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks is evidence that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered “American embassies and missions around the world” to spy on foreign leaders, including U.N Secretary Ban Ki Moon. Clinton’s directive included asking that biometric information be collected, which can include DNA and fingerprint samples."
Posted by: Kurt | Nov 30, 2010 8:47:50 AM
The ruffled feathers of the ruling class is a delight to behold.
Posted by: protogenes | Nov 30, 2010 9:35:56 AM
I didn't realize that releasing information that is embarrassing to the government is considered "espionage". In any case Assuage is functioning in the role of a journalist, since he did not collect the information himself but merely reported it to the public. Also, Assuage is not an American citizen and therefore American laws do not apply to him.
Perhaps if the jackals that run the United States government would stop acting like a bunch of wanna-be totalitarians then they wouldn't have to worry about these kinds of problems. There is a reason that Sweden, Iceland, Switzerland, and other neutral countries don't have these problems.
Posted by: Jason Young | Nov 30, 2010 10:41:45 AM
Hey Hill, how about prosecuting the people the cables expose as liars and thieves? Oh wait, that means you'd be in trouble, never mind! *eyes rolling into the back on my head*
Posted by: Bobby | Nov 30, 2010 12:11:07 PM
Instead of condemning the leaks, perhaps she should be disciplining the people who made disparaging remarks about our "allies", or if they really feel that way about our allies, maybe we should stop calling them our allies?
Posted by: Matt | Nov 30, 2010 12:37:20 PM
wikileaks is like the news for the globalitazion world , if you want '"globalization" you will have wikileaks, all of this people have forgoten they were once middle class and if they don't want to have middle class then they cannot be in power ,because if middle class cannot exist they have never existed.
breaching for security ? there is nothing wrong with keeping your people informed about all of the shannaningans they have been doing , is funny that is wrong when stuff like this happens to them but if they go to your business or house and do a search without warrant it is ok .
so what gives?
Posted by: josepe | Nov 30, 2010 1:01:05 PM
Is is really Hillory Clinton in that picture? It looks like Chaz Bono.
Posted by: Wrecks | Nov 30, 2010 1:39:10 PM
There's white water gathering at the corners of Hillary's mouth.
Posted by: Sean | Nov 30, 2010 5:09:15 PM
two words... Valerie Plame.
Posted by: richard s | Nov 30, 2010 5:57:15 PM
@Jason Young: your assertion about Assuage is true only if he never enters the US (which does seem unlikely) or the US can't get an ally to extradite him (no idea how likely that would be, but he should be careful where he travels).
Foreign nationals can be charged with anything (or even not charged but still held---look at Guantanamo Bay). Obviously a US citizen can be charged with breaking laws no matter where they are in the world. Similarly, the government could claim that the release of US diplomatic information from a US source using US computers was a cyber attack, and that Assuage was a co-conspirator, which complicates boundary and other issues.
Posted by: Paul R | Nov 30, 2010 8:59:22 PM