Pentagon Rebuffs WikiLeaks on Review of War Documents
Al Pessin 18 August 2010
The website WikiLeaks says the U.S. military has expressed willingness to help review the second batch of secret Afghan war documents it plans to publish, but the Pentagon insists there has been no such contact.
Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Wednesday the Pentagon has had no direct contact with WikiLeaks and is not interested in helping the group eliminate sensitive information from the documents to post them online.
WikiLeaks has already released more than 70,000 classified or secret documents from Afghanistan. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says the site intends to publish another 15,000 documents on the Internet within weeks. He said all the documents are being reviewed "line by line," and that the names of "innocent parties who are under reasonable threat" will be removed.
The Pentagon has demanded that WikiLeaks take the reports off its site, refrain from posting more and return everything. Assange has refused, saying WikiLeaks will not be threatened by the Pentagon or any other group.
The Pentagon has told WikiLeaks its actions risk the lives of U.S. soldiers and Afghan citizens and could possibly undermine military operations against extremists in Afghanistan.
Members of the Taliban are reported to have said they are studying the documents with an eye toward retaliating against any informants cooperating with the U.S. military.
The classified documents WikiLeaks published last month included allegations that Pakistani government agents met with and advised the Taliban, and that international forces in Afghanistan covered up military action that killed innocent civilians.
The journalists' group Reporters Without Borders has said WikiLeaks acted with "incredible irresponsibility" by publishing the documents, and other human-rights groups have expressed similar sentiments.
Assange, the Australian national who heads the group, says WikiLeaks has acted "safely and cautiously." WikiLeaks describes itself as a public service organization for whistleblowers, journalists and activists.
Military officials suspect a U.S. soldier gave the documents to WikiLeaks.
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