World capitals on alert ahead of third WikiLeaks onslaught

WASHINGTON’S envoy to Iraq has condemned WikiLeaks as “absolutely awful” as world capitals braced for the looming release of three million sensitive diplomatic cables by the whistleblower website.

The latest tranche of documents, the third since WikiLeaks published 77,000 classified US files on the Afghan conflict in July, have spurred Washington to warn both Turkey and Israel of the embarrassment they could cause, and American diplomats have also briefed officials in London, Oslo and Copenhagen.

“We are worried about additional documents coming out,” US ambassador to Baghdad James Jeffrey told an embassy briefing.