US orders review after leak of 250,000 secret files
The State Department memos, reflecting in some cases unflattering assessments of world leaders, left the administration feeling vulnerable.
Publication of the secret memos and documents also increased widespread global alarm about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
It also revealed occasional US pressure tactics aimed at hot spots in Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Korea. The leaks disclosed bluntly candid impressions from both diplomats and other world leaders about America’s allies and foes.
It was, said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, the “September 11 of world diplomacy”.
In the aftermath of the massive document dump by online whistle-blower WikiLeaks and numerous media reports detailing their contents, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was expected to address the diplomatic repercussions.
Clinton may have to confront the fallout first hand after she leaves Washington on a four-nation tour of Central Asia and the Middle East.
The documents unearthed new revelations about long- simmering nuclear trouble spots, detailing US, Israeli and Arab world fears of Iran’s growing nuclear programme, American concerns about Pakistan’s atomic arsenal and US talk of a united Korean peninsula as a long-term solution to North Korean aggression.
None of the disclosures appeared particularly explosive, but they could become problematic for the officials concerned and for any secret initiatives they preferred to keep quiet.
At Ms Clinton’s first stop in Kazakhstan she will be attending a summit of officials from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a diplomatic grouping that includes many officials from countries cited in the leaked cables.
The documents published by The New York Times, France’s Le Monde, Britain’s Guardian, German magazine Der Spiegel and others laid out the behind-the- scenes conduct of US international relations, shrouded in public by platitudes, smiles and handshakes.
The White House condemned WikiLeaks’ release of the documents: “Such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government.”
US officials may also have to mend fences after revelations they gathered personal information on other diplomats. The leaks cited memos encouraging US diplomats at the UN to collect detailed data about the UN secretary general, his team and foreign diplomats.
The State Department played down diplomatic spying allegations. “Our diplomats are just that, diplomats,” a spokesman said.
“They collect information that shapes our policies and actions. This is what diplomats, from our country and other countries, have done for hundreds of years.”
The White House said: “By its very nature, field reporting to Washington is candid and often incomplete information. It is not an expression of policy, nor does it always shape final policy decisions.
“Nevertheless, these cables could compromise private discussions with foreign governments and opposition leaders, and when the substance of private conversations is printed on the front pages of newspapers across the world, it can deeply impact not only US foreign policy interests, but those of our allies and friends around the world.”
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claimed the US government was trying to cover up evidence of serious “human rights abuse and other criminal behaviour”. WikiLeaks posted the documents hours after it said its website was hit by a cyber attack that brought down the site for much of the day.
Clinton said WikiLeaks acted illegally in posting the material. She said the Obama administration was “aggressively pursuing” those responsible for the leak.
Despite the damage, Clinton said she was “confident” that US partnerships would withstand the challenges posed by revelations.
- CABLES showed King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia repeatedly urging the US to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear programme, and said the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt referred to Iran as “evil” and as an “existential threat,” and as a power that “is going to take us to war”.
- Papers show the US and South Korea were “gaming out an eventual collapse of North Korea” and discussing a unified state.
- Cables described unsuccessful US efforts to prod Pakistani officials to remove highly enriched uranium from a reactor.
- Cables also showed Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, telling Gen David Petraeus his country would pretend that US missile strikes against a local al-Qaida group had come from Yemen’s forces.
- US used hardline tactics to win approval from countries to accept freed detainees from Guantanamo Bay. It said Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if its president wanted to meet President Obama and the Pacific island of Kiribati was offered millions of dollars to take detainees.
- One cable said China’s Politburo directed a cyber intrusion into Google’s computer systems as part of a “coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and internet outlaws”.
- Criticism by US embassy staff of their host governments, include comparing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Adolf Hitler, calling Vladimir Putin an “alpha- dog“, Hamid Karzai as being “driven by paranoia” and Angela Merkel as someone who “avoids risk and is rarely creative”.
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