US leaks include 'devastating' criticism of UK
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, Nov 29, IRNA -- The biggest leak of secret diplomatic missives in the history of international relations contains stringent criticism of the UK, according to extracts published by the Guardian newspaper Monday.
A total of 251,287 cables from more than 250 US embassies and consulates around the world include 'devastating' criticism of UK operations in Afghanistan, serious political criticisms of Prime Minister David Cameron and instructions to spy on British MPs.
“The dispatches reveal particular contempt for the failure to impose security around Sangin – the town which has claimed more British lives than any other in the country,” the Guardian said.
The initial reaction by the Foreign Office was to “condemn any unauthorised release of this classified information, just as we condemn leaks of classified material in the UK.”
“They can damage national security, are not in the national interest and, as the US have said, may put lives at risk. We have a very strong relationship with the US government. That will continue,” a Foreign Office spokesman said.
Former Conservative foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind described the leaks as “very, very disgraceful” and warned that the publication of classified documents, which reportedly date from 1966 to the end of February this year, was putting lives at risk.
'Some of the information will severely damage operations against terrorism, the strategy of western and democratic governments to deal with countries like Iran or North Korea,” said Rifkind, who now chairs the parliamentary intelligence and security committee.
But former British ambassador to Washington Sir Christopher Meyer played down the impact of the leaks, saying they would make no difference to the way diplomats behaved. He also claimed it was wrong to interpret some cable requests as instructions to spy.
'So far on policy I don't see any revelations. What I do see is more embarrassment than damage,” Meyer told BBC Radio Four’s Today program.
“I'm slightly underwhelmed by the content so far, although the fact and the size of the leak does raise very big issues about how you keep things confidential,' he said.
US Ambassador to London, Louis Susman, also insisted that he did not believe the leaked diplomatic communications regarding British politicians would damage Anglo-American relations.
'Diplomatic cables inform the foreign policy decisions made by the US government but should not be seen as representing US policy on their own. They are a part of the extensive cooperation we have with other countries, which is based on relationships of trust,” Susman said.
'When this trust is betrayed, it is harmful to the United States and our interests. However, I am confident that our uniquely productive relationship with the United Kingdom will remain close and strong, focused on promoting our shared objectives and values,' he said.
Professor Michael Cox, associate fellow at Chatham House thinktank, said the leaks were a “great treasure trove for historians and students of international relations.”
“It is a sign that in the information age, it is very difficult to keep anything secret. But as to whether it's going to cause the kind of seismic collapse of international relations that governments have been talking about, I somehow doubt,” Cox said.
“Diplomats have always said rude things about each other in private, and everyone has always known that. Governments have a tendency to try to keep as much information as possible secret or classified, whether it really needs to be or not. The really secret information, I would suggest, is still pretty safe and probably won't end up on WikiLeaks.”
The Guardian is among five newspapers around the world to start to publish details from entire bundles of the Wikileaks even though the UK government has issued a Defence Advisory Notice (DA-Notice) warning about editors sensitive issues related to national security.
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