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US braces for blowback over Afghan war disclosures
By KIMBERLY DOZIER - AP - Tuesday July 27, 2010
Intelligence officials, past and present, are raising concerns that the WikiLeaks.org revelations could endanger U.S. counterterror networks in the Afghan region, and damage information sharing with U.S. allies.
People in Afghanistan or Pakistan who have worked with American intelligence agents or the military against the Taliban or al-Qaida may be at risk following the disclosure of thousands of once-secret U.S. military documents, former and current officials said.
Meanwhile, U.S. allies are asking whether they can trust America to keep secrets. And the Obama administration is scrambling to repair any political damage to the war effort back home.
The material could reinforce the view put forth by the war's opponents in Congress that one of the nation's longest conflicts is hopelessly stalemated. Congress has so far backed the war, and an early test of that continued support will come Tuesday when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., holds a hearing on the Afghan war.
Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Tuesday the military doesn't know who was behind the leaks, although it has launched "a very robust investigation."
Morrell complained that too much was being made of the documents, of which even the most recent is at least six months old.
Speaking about questions the material raises about the reliability of Pakistan in the war on terror, he said statements about a dubious partnership are "clearly out of step with where this relationship is now, and has been heading for some time."
Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday he worries that the leaks won't stop "until we see someone in an orange jump suit."
Still, the leaks are not expected to affect passage of a $60 billion war funding bill. Despite strong opposition among liberals who see Afghanistan as an unwinnable quagmire, House Democrats must either approve the bill before leaving at the end of this week for a six-week vacation, or commit political suicide by leaving troops in the lurch in war zones overseas.
As that political battle plays out, U.S. analysts are in a speed-reading battle against their adversaries.
They are trying to limit the damage to the military's human intelligence network that has been built up over a decade inside Afghanistan and Pakistan. Such figures range from Afghan village elders who have worked behind the scenes with U.S. troops to militants who have become double-agents.
Col. Dave Lapan, a Defense Department spokesman, said the military may need weeks to review all the records to determine "the potential damage to the lives of our service members and coalition partners."
WikiLeaks insists it has behaved responsibly, even withholding some 15,000 records that are believed to include names of specific Afghans or Pakistanis who helped U.S. troops on the ground.
But former CIA director Michael Hayden denounced the leak Monday as incredibly damaging to the U.S. — and a gift to its enemies.
"If I had gotten this trove on the Taliban or al-Qaida, I would have called it priceless," he said. "I would love to know what al-Qaida or the Taliban was thinking about a specific subject in 2007, for instance, because I could say they got that right and they got that wrong."
Hayden predicted the Taliban would take anything that described a U.S. strike and the intelligence behind it "and figure out who was in the room when that particular operation, say in 2008, was planned, and in whose home." Then the militants would probably punish the traitor who'd worked with the Americans, he said.
"It's possible that someone could get killed in the next few days," said former senior intelligence officer Robert Riegle. He recalled what happened when the U.S. arrested the Soviet double agent, Robert Hanssen: "When people found out what we knew, people died."
Another casualty may be the U.S. attempts to forge cooperation with Pakistan's secretive intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence.
Multiple American cables complain about ISI complicity with the Taliban. And they also tell the Pakistanis "how much we know about them," said Riegle, who now runs Mission Concepts Inc., a private intelligence firm.
"You're not going to see any cooperation," he said. "People are going to freeze."
The raw data released Sunday may also prove useful in a wider way to America's "frenemies" — the intelligence services of countries like China and Russia, who have the resources to process and make sense of such vast vaults of data, said Ellen McCarthy, former intelligence officer and president of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.
Former CIA chief Hayden added: "If I'm head of the Russian intelligence, I'm getting my best English speakers and saying: 'Read every document, and I want you to tell me, how good are these guys? What are their approaches, their strengths, their weaknesses and their blind spots?'"
Former CIA official Paul Pillar described what he called the coming chill in the U.S. intelligence community, which had been pushed into sharing information across agencies in the aftermath of the intelligence failures that led to 9/11.
"The pendulum will now swing back," he said. Pillar, who now teaches at Georgetown University, said the community would shift from "need to know" back to "need to protect.",0099
Morrell was interviewed on CBS's "The Early Show" and Bond appeared on NBC's "Today" show.
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Huge leak of secret files sows new Afghan war doubts
Jo Biddle - AFP - Tuesday July 27, 2010
The leak of 90,000 secret military files has emboldened critics of the war in Afghanistan, who raised fresh questions Tuesday about the viability of the increasingly unpopular US-led campaign.
The New York Times said in an editorial Tuesday the documents made public by the website WikiLeaks "confirm a picture of Pakistani double-dealing that has been building for years."
The Times said President Barack Obama will have to deal firmly with Islamabad in response to the most controversial files, which indicate that key ally Pakistan allows its spies to meet directly with the Taliban.
"If Mr Obama cannot persuade Islamabad to cut its ties to, and then aggressively fight, the extremists in Pakistan, there is no hope of defeating the Taliban in Afghanistan," wrote the daily.
Americans are increasingly weary of this costly war," wrote the Times, one of three media organizations, along with German magazine Der Spiegel and Britain's Guardian, to have received the documents weeks ago from WikiLeaks.
Some members of Congress questioned Obama's Afghanistan strategy, as well as an as-yet unpassed 37-billion dollar funding bill for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, following the leaks.
Democratic Senator Russell Feingold said the disclosures "make it clear that there is no military solution in Afghanistan."
Meanwhile, Democratic Representative Jane Harman, who chairs a Homeland Security intelligence subcommittee, said the documents "reinforce the view that the war in Afghanistan is not going well."
The 92,000 documents released Sunday, dating from 2004 to 2009, triggered an outcry from nations fighting in Afghanistan as the Pentagon scrambled to uncover the source of the security breach and whether it would endanger lives.
US experts were working to see if the huge cache "could jeopardize force protection or operational security, or even worse still, the national security of this country," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told Fox News.
In addition to the Pakistan allegations, the leaked files maintain that the deaths of innocent civilians have been covered up, and that Iran is funding Taliban militants eight years after the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the radical Islamic regime from power.
The bombshell revelations triggered outrage, with a top NATO general calling for increased vigilance against such leaks as the White House slammed them as "irresponsible."
The coalition needed to be aware that some "documents are pushed out into the open via leaks, but that obliges us even more to work with the greatest care," said General Egon Ramms, who is in charge of NATO forces in Afghanistan.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs warned that the leaks had put the names of service personnel and military operations in the public domain, but played down the likely strategic and political impact.
"In terms of broad revelations, there aren't any that we see in these documents," Gibbs said, pointing out that most of the period covered by the leaks was during the previous Bush administration.
Britain, which has some 9,500 troops in Afghanistan, said Monday it regretted the leak while Pakistan has said the reports were "skewed" and not based on the reality on the ground.
In Berlin, a defense ministry spokesman said releasing the documents "could affect the national security of NATO allies and the whole NATO mission."
But WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange defended the decision to publish the leaked files, saying they showed "thousands" of war crimes may have been committed in Afghanistan.
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Hit list draws fire in wake of leaked US documents
AP - When it comes to war, killing the enemy is an accepted fact. But there are charges that some American commando operations in Afghanistan may have amounted to war crimes.
The thousands of pages of classified U.S. documents released Sunday by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.org include nearly 200 incidents involving an elite military unit tasked with hunting down and killing enemy combatants.
But military officials and experts are denouncing suggestions that U.S. troops are engaged in war crimes in Afghanistan. They say enemy hit lists may be ugly and uncomfortable, but they are an enduring and sometimes unavoidable staple of war.
Amnesty International's Tom Parker says it's hard to tell "where assassination ends and war starts."
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Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Iraq Secrets Leaked
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Iraq war logs: An introduction
The leaking of more than 390,000 previously secret US military reports details the hidden realities of the war in Iraq
By Nick Davies, Jonathan Steele, James Meek and David Leigh
The Guardian - Friday, October 22, 2010
The invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq has been one of the most bloodily divisive international conflicts of the past decade. The reputations of George W Bush and Tony Blair, are stained, perhaps indelibly, by it.
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Iraq war logs.
Secret files show how US ignored torture
• Massive leak reveals serial detainee abuse
• 15,000 unknown civilian deaths in war
Photo: Insurgent suspects are led away by US forces. Some of those held in Iraqi custody suffered appalling abuse, the war logs reveal.
A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes.
Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
The electronic archive is believed to emanate from the same dissident US army intelligence analyst who earlier this year is alleged to have leaked a smaller tranche of 90,000 logs chronicling bloody encounters and civilian killings in the Afghan war.
The new logs detail how:
• US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct appears to be systematic and normally unpunished.
• A US helicopter gunship involved in a notorious Baghdad incident had previously killed Iraqi insurgents after they tried to surrender.
• More than 15,000 civilians died in previously unknown incidents. US and UK officials have insisted that no official record of civilian casualties exists but the logs record 66,081 non-combatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities.
The numerous reports of detainee abuse, often supported by medical evidence, describe prisoners shackled, blindfolded and hung by wrists or ankles, and subjected to whipping, punching, kicking or electric shocks. Six reports end with a detainee's apparent death.
As recently as December the Americans were passed a video apparently showing Iraqi army officers executing a prisoner in Tal Afar, northern Iraq. The log states: "The footage shows approximately 12 Iraqi army soldiers. Ten IA soldiers were talking to one another while two soldiers held the detainee. The detainee had his hands bound … The footage shows the IA soldiers moving the detainee into the street, pushing him to the ground, punching him and shooting him."
The report named at least one perpetrator and was passed to coalition forces. But the logs reveal that the coalition has a formal policy of ignoring such allegations. They record "no investigation is necessary" and simply pass reports to the same Iraqi units implicated in the violence. By contrast all allegations involving coalition forces are subject to formal inquiries. Some cases of alleged abuse by UK and US troops are also detailed in the logs.
In two Iraqi cases postmortems revealed evidence of death by torture. On 27 August 2009 a US medical officer found "bruises and burns as well as visible injuries to the head, arm, torso, legs and neck" on the body of one man claimed by police to have killed himself. On 3 December 2008 another detainee, said by police to have died of "bad kidneys", was found to have "evidence of some type of unknown surgical procedure on [his] abdomen".
A Pentagon spokesman told the New York Times this week that under its procedure, when reports of Iraqi abuse were received the US military "notifies the responsible government of Iraq agency or ministry for investigation and follow-up".
The logs also illustrate the readiness of US forces to unleash lethal force. In one chilling incident they detail how an Apache helicopter gunship gunned down two men in February 2007.
The suspected insurgents had been trying to surrender but a lawyer back at base told the pilots: "You cannot surrender to an aircraft." The Apache, callsign Crazyhorse 18, was the same unit and helicopter based at Camp Taji outside Baghdad that later that year, in July, mistakenly killed two Reuters employees and wounded two children in the streets of Baghdad.
Iraq Body Count, the London-based group that monitors civilian casualties, says it has identified around 15,000 previously unknown civilian deaths from the data contained in the leaked war logs.
Although US generals have claimed their army does not carry out body counts and British ministers still say no official statistics exist, the war logs show these claims are untrue. The field reports purport to identify all civilian and insurgent casualties, as well as numbers of coalition forces wounded and killed in action. They give a total of more than 109,000 violent deaths from all causes between 2004 and the end of 2009.
This includes 66,081 civilians, 23,984 people classed as "enemy" and 15,196 members of the Iraqi security forces. Another 3,771 dead US and allied soldiers complete the body count.
No fewer than 31,780 of these deaths are attributed to improvised roadside bombs (IEDs) planted by insurgents. The other major recorded tally is of 34,814 victims of sectarian killings, recorded as murders in the logs.
However, the US figures appear to be unreliable in respect of civilian deaths caused by their own military activities. For example, in Falluja, the site of two major urban battles in 2004, no civilian deaths are recorded. Yet Iraq Body Count monitors identified more than 1,200 civilians who died during the fighting.
Phil Shiner, human rights specialist at Public Interest Lawyers, plans to use material from the logs in court to try to force the UK to hold a public inquiry into the unlawful killing of Iraqi civilians.
He also plans to sue the British government over its failure to stop the abuse and torture of detainees by Iraqi forces. The coalition's formal policy of not investigating such allegations is "simply not permissible", he says.
Shiner is already pursuing a series of legal actions for former detainees allegedly killed or tortured by British forces in Iraq.
WikiLeaks says it is posting online the entire set of 400,000 Iraq field reports – in defiance of the Pentagon.
The whistleblowing activists say they have deleted all names from the documents that might result in reprisals. They were accused by the US military of possibly having "blood on their hands" over the previous Afghan release by redacting too few names. But the military recently conceded that no harm had been identified.
Condemning this fresh leak, however, the Pentagon said: "This security breach could very well get our troops and those they are fighting with killed. Our enemies will mine this information looking for insights into how we operate, cultivate sources and react in combat situations, even the capability of our equipment."
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Detainees abused by coalition troops
US and Iraqi troops blamed for broken bones, cuts, bruises and humiliation tactics in catalogue of everyday abuses
Photo: Iraqi soldiers guard a blindfolded detainee during an operation outside Baquba, north of Baghdad.
The war logs contain multiple reports of the abuse of detainees by coalition soldiers although they are neither as clear nor as alarming as the evidence of abuse by Iraqi forces.
Because they record the activities of the US military, the logs hold few references to British handling of detainees. Two reports dated 23 June 2008 record two Shia men who described being punched and kicked by unidentified British troops. Both men had injuries that were consistent with their stories. There is no record of any formal investigation.
Another log, dated 2 September 2008, records that a civilian interrogator working with the Americans reported that British soldiers had dragged him through his house and repeatedly dunked his head into a bowl of water and threatened him with a pistol. The log claims that his story was undermined by inconsistencies and an absence of injuries.
In relation to US troops the logs reveal numerous claims of assaults on detainees, particularly by marines. A woman reports being pulled by the hair and kicked in the face and displays injuries that tend to confirm her story; a man who was detained claims a US soldier kicked his legs and punched his chest and arms, and he is found to have multiple contusions and abrasions on his legs, arms, chest and face.
On several occasions US soldiers report their colleagues. One reveals that the driver of his Stryker armoured vehicle habitually calls out an English-language warning to soldiers in the rear and then brakes heavily to send detainees flying forward, and that those in the back take it in turns to hit their prisoners. Another describes a fellow soldier choking a detainee before pointing an unloaded shotgun at his belly and pulling the trigger.
Some incidents are minor cruelties. A US soldier at Habbaniya is stood down after writing "pussy" on the forehead of a prisoner who was crying. Other incidents are fuelled by fear and anger. When a 26-year-old Iraqi throws a satchel bomb at a US convoy, American soldiers chase him into his house and beat him, leaving him with multiple cuts and bruises.
The logs record no incident of systematic torture or assault by coalition troops as serious as those attributed to Iraqi personnel. In one case, in February 2009, a detainee who endured three days of torture by Iraqi security forces says he was handed over to them by coalition soldiers because he refused to answer their questions. In all cases involving coalition troops there is a policy to hold formal inquiries, although preliminary reports frequently show signs of deliberate scepticism towards the claims of detainees.
One report considers allegations of assault made by 16 Iraqis who were arrested in a joint patrol by American and Iraqi forces. The report undermines every single claim and repeatedly concludes that "the signs of physical trauma are the result of legitimate use of force as documented in Sgt Tim M and Sgt Leonard C's sworn statements".
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Civilians gunned down at checkpoints
Photo: Samar Hassan screams after her parents were shot by US troops in Tal Afar in January 2005. Hussein and Camila Hassan died when they failed to stop their car at a checkpoint. Their five children survived.
Fear of suicide bombers means troops have shot drivers and passengers who were simply too scared or confused to stop
Patrolling a main road near Musayyib, south of Baghdad, one evening in September 2005, two US soldiers saw a vehicle approaching in the dark. They waved their arms and flashed lights that were meant to indicate it should stop. When the car continued to advance the troops fired warning shots. They then raised their M249 squad automatic weapons, a light machine gun that sprays bullets at colossal speed. Each man fired as many as 100 rounds at the car.
The predictable result was that the people in the front, a man and a woman, were killed. In the back their nine- and six-year-old children were lucky to survive with injuries in the thighs and legs.
This Iraqi family's fate was by no means unique. The war logs, seen by the Guardian, contain a horrific dossier of cases where US troops killed innocent civilians at checkpoints, on Iraq's roads and during raids on people's homes. The victims include dozens of women and children. The US rarely admitted their deaths publicly.
In the secret logs the killings mainly figure as "escalation of force incidents". Commanders send in reports outlining how soldiers faithfully followed the rules of engagement: first signals, then warning shots, and as a last resort direct fire to disable a vehicle or its driver.
The relentless drumbeat of civilian deaths illustrates the nature of 21st century warfare and key differences from the way the Americans conducted themselves in their eight-year war in Vietnam.
Suicide attacks were unknown in America's last major foreign conflict before Iraq. There was no expectation that anything on wheels or indeed any pedestrian could be a moving bomb. The second difference is a change in western military doctrine, common to other Nato armies during counter-insurgencies.
Known since 2001 as force protection, it puts a high premium on minimising all conceivable risk by permitting troops to bypass traditional methods of detecting friend from foe in favour of extreme pre-emptive action.
It may be argued that drivers should be more careful to obey troops' orders, but in the dark civilians can be as jumpy as soldiers. Unlike troops they have no training or prior experience. They may not be sure who the people with flashing lights are on the road ahead. If it is an unofficial roadblock manned by bandits or militias it may be safer to try to race past. They may think they are being ordered to prepare to stop when they reach the checkpoint, not slow down or halt immediately They may fear that if they do a U-turn or retreat this will be considered suspicious.
A month after the Musayyib killing troops from the 1st Battalion 64th Armour were manning a cordon and search checkpoint in Baghdad.
A civilian car approached in the dark and ignored shouts and flashing lights. The troops fired a single warning shot, and when the vehicle failed to stop they fired 13 to 15 rounds from their 7.62mm rifles. The car contained a woman and three children. Two of the children were dead, the other child and the woman driver were injured.
One of the biggest death tolls in this kind of incident occurred on 14 June 2005. Troops from 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment were manning a checkpoint near Hurricane Point, a US base near Ramadi.
A maroon four-door Opel disregarded hand signals and warning shots and accelerated, the log says. Humvees were parked in the centre of the road in front of it. Marines were positioned on each side. The car was still 150 yards away when troops fired at the car's engine block.
When it was 100 yards away troops fired again. The car carried on moving at between 40mph and 45mph. Now the marines fired at the driver. This time the car halted.
In the vehicle the marines found 11 civilians, of whom seven – two children and five adults – were dead. The intelligence report says "the large number of civilian KIA [killed in action] resulted from the family having placed their children on the floorboards of the vehicle. The disabling shots aimed at the grill are believed to have travelled though the vehicle low to the floorboards".
In another horrendous incident on the evening of 29 September 2004 a US marine convoy was travelling on a road near Saqlawiya, west of Baghdad, when a car came up close behind, in spite of hand and other signals from the soldier in the rear Humvee to stay further back.
He fired at the engine and then into the windscreen. The vehicle swerved and plunged into a canal. A man managed to escape and was pulled from the water by a soldier.
The log does not say whether the marines left at this point but it records that they contacted the Iraqi police to take over the job of checking the car. "Saqlawiyah IPS [Iraqi police service] responded to the scene and recovered (2) adult females, (3) children ages 5 to 8, and (1) infant from the vehicle. All (6) had drowned," the log concludes.
The victims of these road killings were not always in cars or vans. In Falluja on 26 March 2004 a cyclist approached a US Humvee with military police investigating a booby trap that had just been found.
According to the intelligence report he was riding "very quickly". "The MPs went through the levels of escalation of force but the man on the bicycle would not slow down. A bag or package was in a basket on the front of the bicycle. Marines engaged [shot at] the male and report (1) IZ [Iraqi] male killed." The report adds: "No explosives were found in the bag/package that was in the basket of the bike."
Raids on Iraqi homes also led to the deaths of innocents when intelligence was poor. Sneaking up to what a report describes as a "suspicious" house while conducting a "cordon and search" just after 5am in the western town of Rutba on 11 September 2005, marines discovered there was no one in it above the age of 10. A 10-year-old girl and an infant boy were killed. Three other children suffered blast wounds. The marines took one back to their base for treatment.
"The children's parents were not at the premises at the time of the incident … No CF [coalition forces] casualties or damages reported," the logs record.
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Apache helicopters kill 14 civilians in hunt for insurgents
'Gun runs' over Baghdad saw pilots blasting vehicles and buildings on the slightest suspicion
Video: The full 39-minute WikiLeaks video, Collateral Murder, showing Apache helicopters killing two Reuters reporters and attacking other targets on dubious grounds
US Apache helicopters killed at least 14 unarmed civilians in a series of previously unreported "gun runs" in eastern Baghdad only four days after the notorious killing of two journalists and 10 other civilians that was captured on a leaked cockpit video released in April.
The footage obtained by the WikiLeaks website led to the arrest of Iraq-based US army analyst Bradley Manning, who is accused of being its source. Posted on YouTube, the 39-minute cockpit video shows three incidents in which people were targeted as they walked along Baghdad streets, sat in a van or went into a building, unaware that gunships were aiming to destroy them. Because the dead included two Iraqi journalists working for Reuters TV the US authorities mounted a rare investigation.
War logs examined by the Guardian reveal that a bigger incident with a greater number of casualties occurred in a neighbouring part of Baghdad four days later on 16 July 2007. This time the Apaches were aided by unmanned surveillance drones and two F-16 fighter-bombers as US ground troops stepped up operations in densely populated eastern Baghdad against militants loyal to the anti-occupation cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. When it was over a local Iraqi informer told a US army interpreter that 14 civilians were dead, according to a military intelligence report.
The bloody incident begins after two foot patrols from A Company of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment come under small arms fire. One patrol "clears" the nearby Islamic Bank and then comes under fire again from a building belonging to the electricity ministry. Ten minutes later the other patrol reports fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Two Apache helicopters are called in, known in US military jargon as Crazyhorse elements 20 and 21, and both "engage the AIF" (anti-Iraqi forces). (The helicopter involved in the shooting four days earlier was Crazyhorse 18.)
Ten minutes later one of the helicopters fires at two more AIF targets and reports it is being shot back at. An Iraqi army patrol arrives with a US training team. A US foot patrol from A Company reports that a nearby mosque is calling insurgents out to attack the Americans. No source is given, but the patrol may have an Iraqi interpreter who can understand the voice from the minaret.
The helicopter pilots spot a crowd gathering who are described as "possible AIF". The second helicopter, Crazyhorse 21, "conducts final gun run" to strafe unnamed targets that the intelligence report does not specify. By now two F-16 fighter-bombers are on station along with an unnamed drone that is filming the scene. Four Bradley armoured vehicles full of US ground troops are at the ready nearby.
But there is no more firing from the Iraqis and the drone's video footage, which is being monitored by US controllers, shows people coming out of the mosque and dispersing. "No weapons were seen." US troops remain on the scene for another 50 minutes before returning to base.
It is not their practice to remove or identify bodies. If done at all it is usually left to Iraqis. In this case the war log on the incident ends with what are described as unconfirmed reports of casualties. An Iraqi colonel says 12 AIF are dead. A named Iraqi informer on the ground rings the Parachute Infantry Regiment's interpreter and tells him 14 civilians are dead.
It is not clear whether both men are referring to one group of dead with differing estimates of whether they were insurgents or civilians, or whether there were separate groups totalling 26.
The terseness of the war log, which was compiled some time after the event, conveys little drama – which is why the cockpit video released by WikiLeaks in April is so important. It shows the true face of war as pilots treat a small densely populated corner of a foreign city as a battle space in which any adult male they spot is suspected of being a gunman.
Even so they are not supposed to kill unless they or any ground troops they are assisting have come under fire, or they are sure a person seen to be carrying a gun is about to fire at US troops.
If rules of engagement are broken the war logs usually conceal it. This appears to have happened with the killings illustrated in the leaked cockpit video. The Guardian has examined the secret intelligence reports for 12 July 2007 and compared them with the recorded words of the pilots and ground commanders. Parts of the video recording already showed the helicopter pilot and gunner giving false information to their commanders in order to get permission to fire. The logs show clear evidence of a cover-up after the event.
Take the second round of shooting in the 38-minute sequence. It revolves around a dark-coloured minivan that approaches a wounded man lying by the pavement and trying to drag himself to his feet. Two men jump out and go to his aid. Neither is carrying a weapon. They pay no attention to the bodies lying several yards away. Yet the cockpit recording has their commander saying "they have individuals going to the scene, looks like possibly uh picking up bodies and weapons". The helicopters get permission to blast the van regardless, even though firing on people who are aiding casualties violates US rules of engagement and international law.
The intelligence report of the incident says Crazyhorse "engaged AIF". In fact there is nothing seen by the helicopter pilots to show the men are insurgents. Indeed, when US ground troops reach the shot-up van a few minutes later they discover its passengers include two small girls who have been wounded, suggesting it was an innocent civilian vehicle that had rushed to help the wounded victim because it was the nearest transport available.
The third bout of gunfire from the helicopters comes when they destroy a large building on a street corner with three Hellfire missiles. Before firing the first one the pilot says: "There are at least six individuals in that building with weapons." The cockpit video has shown only one man going into the building, carrying something that might be a weapon. Two clearly unarmed men then go in and another unarmed man walks past the entrance seconds before the gunner launches his missile. Over the next few minutes the helicopters fire two more missiles in order to destroy the building completely.
As untrue as the helicopter pilots' live reporting was, the intelligence summary they filed later compounds the lies. Now the alleged gunmen are said to have been running into the building – clearly more suspicious behaviour than walking.
In the report's own laconic language: "1125: Crazyhorse engaged with 3xMissle 6XAIF with wepons that ran into a building at Grid MB 5514 8626. Building destroyed 6x AIF KIA".
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Apache crew killed insurgents who tried to surrender
US military legal adviser told helicopter crew that Iraqi men were valid targets as they could not surrender to aircraft
A US gunship crew was cleared to attack two insurgents on the ground even though the pilots had reported that the men were trying to surrender, the leaked Iraq war logs reveal.
The Apache helicopter pilots killed both Iraqi men after being advised by a US military lawyer that they could not surrender to an aircraft and therefore remained valid targets. A leading military law expert consulted by the Guardian has questioned this legal advice.
The Guardian can also reveal that the helicopter involved in the incident in 2007 had the same call sign – Crazyhorse 18 – as the Apache whose crew later mistakenly killed two Reuters journalists and injured two children in a notorious shooting in urban Baghdad. The killings drew worldwide condemnation in April this year when WikiLeaks obtained video footage taken from the helicopter's gun camera and released it on the internet.
It has not been possible to establish whether the same personnel were involved in both attacks.
According to the account of the earlier incident in the leaked logs, the insurgents had jumped out of their truck after it came under fire from the Apache. "They came out wanting to surrender," Crazyhorse 18 signalled.
Clearance to kill came back from an unnamed lawyer at the nearby Taji airbase. "Lawyer states they can not surrender to aircraft and are still valid targets," the log entry says.
After receiving the lawyer's advice, the pilots reported that the men had by now got back into their truck and were attempting to drive on. The gunship made two attempts to kill the fleeing men, launching a Hellfire missile at the truck.
At first the fresh attack failed. "Individuals have run into another shack," the crew signalled. As the Apache hovered high in the sky, a few miles north of Baghdad, the pilots viewed a zoomed-in image of the fleeing pair on their video screen.
The crew then received a further specific top-level kill instruction from brigade HQ and made another strafing run, firing bursts from long distance at 300 rounds a minute from the Apache's 30mm cannon. This time, the gunner succeeded in killing both men.
At 1.03pm on 22 February, just 24 minutes after receiving legal clearance, the crew filed a log entry: "Crazyhorse 18 reports engaged and destroyed shack with 2X AIF [anti-Iraq forces]. Battle damage assessment is shack/dump truck destroyed."
Crazyhorse 18 was part of the US army's 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, normally based at Fort Hood, Texas. Five months after this incident, on 12 July 2007, the crew of an Apache with the same call sign mistakenly killed 22-year-old Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and his driver, Saeed Chmagh, after opening fire on a group of eight men they believed to be insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK47 rifles in a Baghdad suburb.
Two children were badly injured and their father killed when the Apache crew fired armour-piercing shells at a van which arrived on the scene.
The account of the February incident recorded in the classified log suggests the Crazyhorse 18 crew were not trigger-happy, but sought immediate advice from their superiors at all stages of the attack.
Under the 1907 Hague regulations, it is forbidden "to kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms, or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion".
Britain's own official Ministry of Defence publication, the Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, says there are practical difficulties around surrenders to aircraft, but adds: "With the advent of close-support and ground-attack helicopter units, the surrender of ground troops … has become a more practical proposition."
One of Britain's foremost experts on the subject, Professor Sir Adam Roberts, cast doubt on the legal advice given to the Crazyhorse 18 crew. "Surrender is not always a simple matter," Roberts, emeritus professor of international relations at Oxford University and joint editor of Documents on the Laws of War, told the Guardian. But the reasoning given by the US military lawyer was "dogmatic and wrong".
"The issue is not that ground forces simply cannot surrender to aircraft," he said. "The issue is that ground forces in such circumstances need to surrender in ways that are clear and unequivocal."
However, he added: "If the insurgents did indeed get back into the truck and drove off in the same direction as previously, then they probably acted unwisely, in a way that called into question their act of surrender … The US airmen might legitimately reckon that the truck contained weapons and that the men could be intending to rejoin the fight sooner or later."
The detailed account of events on that February morning begins with a common occurrence: insurgents near the huge Taji airbase start lobbing rockets and mortar shells, in the hope of killing Americans. US troops return the shelling, and Crazyhorse 18 is dispatched on a mission to see whether the retaliation has had any effect. At 11.34am, three minutes after takeoff, the crew spot the insurgents fleeing their launch site with a mortar and tripod on the back of a Bongo – a light truck manufactured by Kia.
The crew confirm a "positive identification" of the enemy. But it is 13 minutes before the pilots are officially "cleared to engage" with automatic cannonfire by their headquarters.
The Apache opens fire, and two Iraqis fling themselves out of the Bongo as the heavy shells blast the truck and cause its stock of mortar ammunition to "cook off".
The enemy gunners try to make their escape in a dumper truck, driving northwards. At 12.33pm, the Apache reports that it has fired on the truck, "and then they came out wanting to surrender".
Two minutes later, "Crazyhorse 18 reports they got back into truck and are heading north". Four minutes after that: "Crazyhorse 18 cleared to engage dumptruck. 1/227 [1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment] lawyer states they cannot surrender to aircraft and are still valid targets."
The two Iraqis try to take refuge in a shack. After a 13-minute delay, another instruction appears to come from a remarkably high level: the office of the commander [IH6] of the Ironhorse brigade at Camp Taji.
The signal reads: "IH6 approves Crazyhorse 18 to engage shack."
After the killing, the helicopter pilots summarise what for them and their superiors has apparently been a successful chase: "Ix engagement with 30mm. 2x AIF killed in action. 1x mortar system destroyed. 1x Bongo truck destroyed with many secondary explosions. 1x dumptruck destroyed. 1x shack destroyed."
At 1.25pm, their gunship heads home to Taji to refuel and reload with ammunition.
--
Iraq war logs
U.S. soldiers Bradley Manning is accused of
copying and leaking thousands of secret documents.
U.S. Military records are impossible to read.
Trained British and Ameircan jourlalists have explained the meanings.
Here are some sample of actual logs leaked by Bradley Manning to Wikileaks:
200 bullets fired by soldiers at speeding vehicle kills parents and wounds their two children
Date: 2005-09-23 19:45:00
Tracking no. 2005-267-024805-0349
Summary:
AT 1954D, 1-155 IN REPORTS THAT 3/B/1-155 IN REPORTED AN EOF AT GRID MB 247 198 ON RTE CLEVELAND. 3/B/1-155 IN REPORTED THEY WERE APPROACHED BY A VEHICLE THAT WOULD NOT YIELD TO THEIR PATROL. 3/B/1-155 IN REPORTED USING LIGHTS AND HAND AND ARM SIGNALS, ALSO FIRING WARNING SHOTS, BUT THE VEHICLE STILL APPROACHED. 3/B/1-155 IN THEN FIRED INTO THE VEHICLE. THERE WERE TWO WEAPONS USED, BOTH WERE M249 SQUAD AUTOMATIC WEAPONS. A TOTAL OF 200 ROUNDS FIRED, 100 FROM EACH WEAPON WHICH RESULTED IN (2)CIV WIA AND (2) CIV KIA. IPS ARRIVED ON SCENE AND RECOVERED THE (2) CIV KIA, AND THE (2) CIV WIA ARE BEING BROUGHT BACK TO FOB ISKANDARIYAH BAS. THE (2) CIV WIA WERE CHILDREN (1) 9 Y.O. WITH GUNSHOT WOUNDS TO THE LOWER THIGH AND LEGS, AND (1) 6 Y.O. WITH GUNSHOT WOUNDS TO THE LEFT AND RIGHT LOWER LEGS, AND LEFT KNEE. THE (2) CIV KIA WERE THE PARENTS OF THE CHILDREN. THE IPS NOTIFIED AN UNCLE OF THE CHILDREN, WHO IS THE ONLY LIVING RELATIVE. THE LOCAL AMBULANCE DRIVER ALONG WITH A SOLDIER, AND A INTERPRETER ACCOMPANIED THE CHILDREN TO 86 CSH.
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Two children killed when troops fired on civilian vehicle
Date 2005-10-26 19:56:00
Tracking no. 2005-299-214408-0715
Summary:
1856C, ESCALATION OF FORCE BY 1-64 UNIT WAS ON THE OUTER CORDON FOR A CORDON AND SEARCH WHEN A CIVILIAN VEHICLE APPROACHED AND IGNORED SHOUTS VEHICLE HORN AND FLASHED LIGHTS. UNIT FIRED ONE SHOTGUN ROUND AS A WARNING SHOT. VEHICLE IGNORED THE WARNING AND CONTINUED. UNIT FIRED 13-15 ROUNDS OF 7.62 INTO THE VEHICLE KILLING 2 CHILDREN AND WOUNDING ONE CHILD AND ONE FEMALE. 2 CIV KIA, 2 CIV WIA, 0 CF INJ/DAMAGE
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Seven killed, including two children, by marines 'speeding towards' checkpoint
Date 2005-06-14 15:30:00
Tracking no. attlemaj-38797356
Summary
AT 1530D, THE HURRICANE POINT ECP ATTEMPTED TO STOP A VEHICLE WITH HAND AND ARM SIGNALS BEFORE THE VEHICLE GOT CLOSE TO THE CORDON THAT HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED AFTER THE SVBIED ATTACK. A MAROON 4-DOOR OPEL DISREGARDED ALL HAND AND ARM SIGNALS AND CONTINUED AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED. THE HP ECP ENGAGED THE VEHICLE WITH WARNING SHOTS AS IT APPROACHED FROM THE EAST ON MICHIGAN. THE VEHICLE DISREGARDED THE WARNING SHOTS AND ACCELERATED TOWARD THE CORDON SET AT THE S. BRIDGE VCP. THE CORDON AT THE S. BRIDGE CONSISTED OF HMMWV GUN TRUCKS IN THE CENTER OF THE ROAD, AND DISMOUNTED MARINES PROVIDING SECURITY IN AND OFF TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, AND SIX LARGE ORANGE CONES IN THE ROAD ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE S. BRIDGE. S. BRIDGE ECP ENGAGED THE GRILL OF THE VEHICLE WITH WARNING AND DISABLING SHOTS AT APPROXIMATELY 150 METERS FROM THE CORDON. THE VEHICLE CONTINUED TO DISREGARD THE SAF FROM THE OP AND CONTINUED TOWARD THE ESTABLISHED CORDON. THE DISMOUNTED MARINES SAID THE VEHICLE ACCELERATED AS IT APPROACHED THE CONES AT THE NORTH END OF THE S. BRIDGE. WHEN THE VEHICLE DID NOT STOP, THE S. BRIDGE OP AND 1/5 JUMP WHICH WAS PART OF THE CORDON ENGAGED THE FRONT GRILL OF THE VEHICLE AT APPROXIMATELY 100 METERS BUT THE VEHICLE CONTINUED TO APPROACH AT 40-45 MPH. WHEN THE VEHICLE DID NOT STOP AFTER ALL THE WARNING SHOTS, THE MARINES ENGAGED THE DRIVER TO STOP THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS STOPPED DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE ORANGE CONES. THERE WERE A TOTAL OF 11X CIVILIANS IN THE VEHICLE. THE ENGAGEMENT RESULTED IN 7X CIV KILLED (2X WERE CHILDREN) AND 2X CIV INJ. THE LARGE NUMBER OF CIVILIAN KIA RESULTED FROM THE FAMILY HAVING PLACED THEIR CHILDREN ON THE FLOOR BOARDS OF THE VEHICLE. THE DISABLING SHOTS AIMED AT THE GRILL ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE TRAVELED THROUGH THE VEHICLE LOW TO THE FLOOR BOARDS CAUSING THE LARGE NUMBER OF KIA. NO CF INJ/DAMAGE.
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Civilians drown after vehicle fired on runs off road into canal
Date 2004-09-29 18:11:00
Tracking no. MEF LNO-21328397
Summary
AT 1811D, A L/3/5 RESUPPLY PATROL WAS TRAVELING WESTBOUND ON MSR MOBILE WHEN A VEHICLE APPROACHED THE REAR OF THEIR CONVOY. MARINES IN THE REAR VEHICLE, A HIGH-BACK HMMWV WITH A PAINTED SIGN WARNING VEHICLES TO NOT APPROACH, SUCCESSIVELY USED HAND SIGNALS, A POP-UP WHITE STAR CLUSTER, AND (2) SHOTS TO THE ENGINE BLOCK TO WARN THE VEHICLE TO SLOW DOWN AND NOT APPROACH THE CONVOY. DESPITE THESE WARNINGS, THE VEHICLE CONTINUED TO APPROACH TO WITHIN 20M, AND FINALLY L/3/5 FIRED INTO THE WINDSHIELD. THE VEHICLE SWERVED OFF THE ROAD INTO A CANAL 1.5KM NORTH OF SAQLAWIYAH (38S LB 768 976) AND SANK. (1) ADULT MALE EXITED THE VEHICLE AND WAS RECOVERED FROM THE CANAL; ALL OTHER PASSENGERS SANK WITH THE VEHICLE. THE ADULT MALE WAS TREATED BY THE CORPSMAN ON THE SCENE AND WAS TRANSPORTED TO THE SAQLAWIYAH JCC AND SUBSEQUENTLY TRANSPORTED TO THE JORDANIAN HOSPITAL. SAQLAWIYAH IPS RESPONDED TO THE SCENE AND RECOVERED (2) ADULT FEMALES, (3) CHILDREN AGES 5 TO 8, AND (1) INFANT FROM THE VEHICLE. ALL (6) HAD DROWNED. THE SAQLAWIYAH IPS ARE TAKING ALL RECOVERED BODIES TO RAMADI.
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Marines blowing open a door on a suspicious house wound several children including a two-year-old
Date 2005-09-11 05:16:00
Tracking no. 2005-254-140255-0863
Summary
AT 0516D, K 3/6 PLACED AN EXPLOSIVE CHARGE ON A DOOR OF A SUSPICIOUS HOUSE IVO (37S FS 190 576) 500M N OF AR RUTBAH WHILE CONDUCTING A CORDON AND SEARCH IN AR RUTBAH. UPON ENTERING THE HOUSE, MARINES DISCOVERED (3) NWIA. THE NWIA CONSISTED OF (1) 10 YEAR OLD MALE, (1) 10 YEAR OLD FEMALE, AND (1) 2 YEAR OLD MALE WHO ALL SUSTAINED BLAST INJURIES. THE 10 YEAR OLD FEMALE AND THE 2 YEAR OLD MALE DOW WHILE AWAITING MEDEVAC. THE 10 YEAR OLD BOY WAS SUBSEQUENTLY MEDEVACED TO BALAD FOR FURTHER TREATMENT. THE CHILDREN S PARENTS WERE NOT AT THE PREMISES AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT. CAG HAS BEEN NOTIFIED AND IS ENROUTE TO THE RESIDENCE. NO CF CASUALTIES OR DAMAGES REPORTED
--
Reporters have explained the U.S. military jargon:
ACF Anti-coalition forces
ACR Armored cavalry regiment
AGL Above ground level
AIF Anti-Iraqi forces
AMZ Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
AO Area of operations
AP Anti-personnel
AQI Al-Qaeda in Iraq
ASR Alternate supply route
AWT Air weapons team
BCT Brigade combat team
BDA Battle damage assessment
BITT Border Iraqi training team
Blue-blue "Friendly fire" between coalition forces
CAS Close air support
CAV Cavalry
CCIR Commander's critical information requirements
CF Coalition forces
CIV Civilian
CO Company
Cordon and knock Cordoning off an area and searching it for insurgents or weapons
CP Checkpoint
CWIA Civilian wounded in action
DET Detonation, or detained
DMG Damage
DOW Died of wounds
EFP Explosively formed penetrator
EOD Explosive ordnance disposal
FMC Fully mission capable
FOB Forward operating base
FRAGO Fragmentary order
FWCAS Fixed-wing close air support
GOI Government of Iraq
Green-green "Friendly fire" between Iraqi forces
GSW Gunshot wound
HE High explosives
HHQ Higher headquarters
HMMWV High mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle (Humvee)
IA Iraqi army
IBP Iraqi border patrol
ICW In coordination with
ID Infantry division
IDF Indirect fire
IED Improvised explosive device
IIP Iraqi Islamic Party
IN Infantry
ING Iraqi national guard
INJ Injuries
IO Information operations
IOT In order to
IP Iraqi police
ISI Islamic State of Iraq
ISO In support of
ISP Iraqi special police
ISR Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
IVO In the vicinity of
IZ Iraq/Iraqi
JAI Jaish al-Islami
JAM Jaish al-Mahdi
JSS Joint security station
JTJ Jama'at al-Tawhid w'al-Jihad
KIA Killed in action
KLE Key leader engagement
LN Local national
LOAC Laws of armed combat
MAG Magazine
MAM Military-aged male
MAS Muqtada al-Sadr
MEU Marine Expeditionary Unit
MITT Military intelligence training team
MOI Ministry of Interior
MP Military police
MRAP Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle
MNFI Multi-National Forces (Iraq)
NEU Neutral
NFI No further information
NFTR Nothing further to report
NSTR Nothing significant to report
OBJ Objective
PAX Persons
PB Patrol base
PBIED Person-borne improvised explosive device
PID Positive identification
POC Point of contact
POETT Port of entry training team
POO Point of origin
PPE Personal protective equipment
PTL Patrol
QJBR Tanzim al-Qaid'at al-Jihad fi al-Balad al-Rafidayn
QRF Quick reaction force
RPG Rocket-propelled grenade
RDX Research Department Explosive
RPT Report
RTB Return to base
RTE Route
RWCAS Rotary-wing close air support
S2 Brigade-level intelligence
SAF/SAFIRE Small arms fire
SIGACT Significant action
SITREP Situation report
SOI Sons of Iraq
SVIED Suicide vest improvised explosive device
TF Task force
TTP Tactics, techniques and procedures
VBIED Vehicle-borne improvised explosive device
UI Unidentified
UNK Unknown
USACE US Army Corps of Engineers
UXO Unexploded ordnance
VEH Vehicle
VIC Vicinity
WIA Wounded in action
_______________________________
Iraq war logs: An introduction
The leaking of more than 390,000 previously secret US military reports details the hidden realities of the war in Iraq
By Nick Davies, Jonathan Steele, James Meek and David Leigh
The Guardian - Friday, October 22, 2010
The invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq has been one of the most bloodily divisive international conflicts of the past decade. The reputations of George W Bush and Tony Blair, are stained, perhaps indelibly, by it.
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Iraq war logs.
Secret files show how US ignored torture
• Massive leak reveals serial detainee abuse
• 15,000 unknown civilian deaths in war
Photo: Insurgent suspects are led away by US forces. Some of those held in Iraqi custody suffered appalling abuse, the war logs reveal.
A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes.
Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
The electronic archive is believed to emanate from the same dissident US army intelligence analyst who earlier this year is alleged to have leaked a smaller tranche of 90,000 logs chronicling bloody encounters and civilian killings in the Afghan war.
The new logs detail how:
• US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct appears to be systematic and normally unpunished.
• A US helicopter gunship involved in a notorious Baghdad incident had previously killed Iraqi insurgents after they tried to surrender.
• More than 15,000 civilians died in previously unknown incidents. US and UK officials have insisted that no official record of civilian casualties exists but the logs record 66,081 non-combatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities.
The numerous reports of detainee abuse, often supported by medical evidence, describe prisoners shackled, blindfolded and hung by wrists or ankles, and subjected to whipping, punching, kicking or electric shocks. Six reports end with a detainee's apparent death.
As recently as December the Americans were passed a video apparently showing Iraqi army officers executing a prisoner in Tal Afar, northern Iraq. The log states: "The footage shows approximately 12 Iraqi army soldiers. Ten IA soldiers were talking to one another while two soldiers held the detainee. The detainee had his hands bound … The footage shows the IA soldiers moving the detainee into the street, pushing him to the ground, punching him and shooting him."
The report named at least one perpetrator and was passed to coalition forces. But the logs reveal that the coalition has a formal policy of ignoring such allegations. They record "no investigation is necessary" and simply pass reports to the same Iraqi units implicated in the violence. By contrast all allegations involving coalition forces are subject to formal inquiries. Some cases of alleged abuse by UK and US troops are also detailed in the logs.
In two Iraqi cases postmortems revealed evidence of death by torture. On 27 August 2009 a US medical officer found "bruises and burns as well as visible injuries to the head, arm, torso, legs and neck" on the body of one man claimed by police to have killed himself. On 3 December 2008 another detainee, said by police to have died of "bad kidneys", was found to have "evidence of some type of unknown surgical procedure on [his] abdomen".
A Pentagon spokesman told the New York Times this week that under its procedure, when reports of Iraqi abuse were received the US military "notifies the responsible government of Iraq agency or ministry for investigation and follow-up".
The logs also illustrate the readiness of US forces to unleash lethal force. In one chilling incident they detail how an Apache helicopter gunship gunned down two men in February 2007.
The suspected insurgents had been trying to surrender but a lawyer back at base told the pilots: "You cannot surrender to an aircraft." The Apache, callsign Crazyhorse 18, was the same unit and helicopter based at Camp Taji outside Baghdad that later that year, in July, mistakenly killed two Reuters employees and wounded two children in the streets of Baghdad.
Iraq Body Count, the London-based group that monitors civilian casualties, says it has identified around 15,000 previously unknown civilian deaths from the data contained in the leaked war logs.
Although US generals have claimed their army does not carry out body counts and British ministers still say no official statistics exist, the war logs show these claims are untrue. The field reports purport to identify all civilian and insurgent casualties, as well as numbers of coalition forces wounded and killed in action. They give a total of more than 109,000 violent deaths from all causes between 2004 and the end of 2009.
This includes 66,081 civilians, 23,984 people classed as "enemy" and 15,196 members of the Iraqi security forces. Another 3,771 dead US and allied soldiers complete the body count.
No fewer than 31,780 of these deaths are attributed to improvised roadside bombs (IEDs) planted by insurgents. The other major recorded tally is of 34,814 victims of sectarian killings, recorded as murders in the logs.
However, the US figures appear to be unreliable in respect of civilian deaths caused by their own military activities. For example, in Falluja, the site of two major urban battles in 2004, no civilian deaths are recorded. Yet Iraq Body Count monitors identified more than 1,200 civilians who died during the fighting.
Phil Shiner, human rights specialist at Public Interest Lawyers, plans to use material from the logs in court to try to force the UK to hold a public inquiry into the unlawful killing of Iraqi civilians.
He also plans to sue the British government over its failure to stop the abuse and torture of detainees by Iraqi forces. The coalition's formal policy of not investigating such allegations is "simply not permissible", he says.
Shiner is already pursuing a series of legal actions for former detainees allegedly killed or tortured by British forces in Iraq.
WikiLeaks says it is posting online the entire set of 400,000 Iraq field reports – in defiance of the Pentagon.
The whistleblowing activists say they have deleted all names from the documents that might result in reprisals. They were accused by the US military of possibly having "blood on their hands" over the previous Afghan release by redacting too few names. But the military recently conceded that no harm had been identified.
Condemning this fresh leak, however, the Pentagon said: "This security breach could very well get our troops and those they are fighting with killed. Our enemies will mine this information looking for insights into how we operate, cultivate sources and react in combat situations, even the capability of our equipment."
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Detainees abused by coalition troops
US and Iraqi troops blamed for broken bones, cuts, bruises and humiliation tactics in catalogue of everyday abuses
Photo: Iraqi soldiers guard a blindfolded detainee during an operation outside Baquba, north of Baghdad.
The war logs contain multiple reports of the abuse of detainees by coalition soldiers although they are neither as clear nor as alarming as the evidence of abuse by Iraqi forces.
Because they record the activities of the US military, the logs hold few references to British handling of detainees. Two reports dated 23 June 2008 record two Shia men who described being punched and kicked by unidentified British troops. Both men had injuries that were consistent with their stories. There is no record of any formal investigation.
Another log, dated 2 September 2008, records that a civilian interrogator working with the Americans reported that British soldiers had dragged him through his house and repeatedly dunked his head into a bowl of water and threatened him with a pistol. The log claims that his story was undermined by inconsistencies and an absence of injuries.
In relation to US troops the logs reveal numerous claims of assaults on detainees, particularly by marines. A woman reports being pulled by the hair and kicked in the face and displays injuries that tend to confirm her story; a man who was detained claims a US soldier kicked his legs and punched his chest and arms, and he is found to have multiple contusions and abrasions on his legs, arms, chest and face.
On several occasions US soldiers report their colleagues. One reveals that the driver of his Stryker armoured vehicle habitually calls out an English-language warning to soldiers in the rear and then brakes heavily to send detainees flying forward, and that those in the back take it in turns to hit their prisoners. Another describes a fellow soldier choking a detainee before pointing an unloaded shotgun at his belly and pulling the trigger.
Some incidents are minor cruelties. A US soldier at Habbaniya is stood down after writing "pussy" on the forehead of a prisoner who was crying. Other incidents are fuelled by fear and anger. When a 26-year-old Iraqi throws a satchel bomb at a US convoy, American soldiers chase him into his house and beat him, leaving him with multiple cuts and bruises.
The logs record no incident of systematic torture or assault by coalition troops as serious as those attributed to Iraqi personnel. In one case, in February 2009, a detainee who endured three days of torture by Iraqi security forces says he was handed over to them by coalition soldiers because he refused to answer their questions. In all cases involving coalition troops there is a policy to hold formal inquiries, although preliminary reports frequently show signs of deliberate scepticism towards the claims of detainees.
One report considers allegations of assault made by 16 Iraqis who were arrested in a joint patrol by American and Iraqi forces. The report undermines every single claim and repeatedly concludes that "the signs of physical trauma are the result of legitimate use of force as documented in Sgt Tim M and Sgt Leonard C's sworn statements".
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Civilians gunned down at checkpoints
Photo: Samar Hassan screams after her parents were shot by US troops in Tal Afar in January 2005. Hussein and Camila Hassan died when they failed to stop their car at a checkpoint. Their five children survived.
Fear of suicide bombers means troops have shot drivers and passengers who were simply too scared or confused to stop
Patrolling a main road near Musayyib, south of Baghdad, one evening in September 2005, two US soldiers saw a vehicle approaching in the dark. They waved their arms and flashed lights that were meant to indicate it should stop. When the car continued to advance the troops fired warning shots. They then raised their M249 squad automatic weapons, a light machine gun that sprays bullets at colossal speed. Each man fired as many as 100 rounds at the car.
The predictable result was that the people in the front, a man and a woman, were killed. In the back their nine- and six-year-old children were lucky to survive with injuries in the thighs and legs.
This Iraqi family's fate was by no means unique. The war logs, seen by the Guardian, contain a horrific dossier of cases where US troops killed innocent civilians at checkpoints, on Iraq's roads and during raids on people's homes. The victims include dozens of women and children. The US rarely admitted their deaths publicly.
In the secret logs the killings mainly figure as "escalation of force incidents". Commanders send in reports outlining how soldiers faithfully followed the rules of engagement: first signals, then warning shots, and as a last resort direct fire to disable a vehicle or its driver.
The relentless drumbeat of civilian deaths illustrates the nature of 21st century warfare and key differences from the way the Americans conducted themselves in their eight-year war in Vietnam.
Suicide attacks were unknown in America's last major foreign conflict before Iraq. There was no expectation that anything on wheels or indeed any pedestrian could be a moving bomb. The second difference is a change in western military doctrine, common to other Nato armies during counter-insurgencies.
Known since 2001 as force protection, it puts a high premium on minimising all conceivable risk by permitting troops to bypass traditional methods of detecting friend from foe in favour of extreme pre-emptive action.
It may be argued that drivers should be more careful to obey troops' orders, but in the dark civilians can be as jumpy as soldiers. Unlike troops they have no training or prior experience. They may not be sure who the people with flashing lights are on the road ahead. If it is an unofficial roadblock manned by bandits or militias it may be safer to try to race past. They may think they are being ordered to prepare to stop when they reach the checkpoint, not slow down or halt immediately They may fear that if they do a U-turn or retreat this will be considered suspicious.
A month after the Musayyib killing troops from the 1st Battalion 64th Armour were manning a cordon and search checkpoint in Baghdad.
A civilian car approached in the dark and ignored shouts and flashing lights. The troops fired a single warning shot, and when the vehicle failed to stop they fired 13 to 15 rounds from their 7.62mm rifles. The car contained a woman and three children. Two of the children were dead, the other child and the woman driver were injured.
One of the biggest death tolls in this kind of incident occurred on 14 June 2005. Troops from 1st Battalion 5th Marine Regiment were manning a checkpoint near Hurricane Point, a US base near Ramadi.
A maroon four-door Opel disregarded hand signals and warning shots and accelerated, the log says. Humvees were parked in the centre of the road in front of it. Marines were positioned on each side. The car was still 150 yards away when troops fired at the car's engine block.
When it was 100 yards away troops fired again. The car carried on moving at between 40mph and 45mph. Now the marines fired at the driver. This time the car halted.
In the vehicle the marines found 11 civilians, of whom seven – two children and five adults – were dead. The intelligence report says "the large number of civilian KIA [killed in action] resulted from the family having placed their children on the floorboards of the vehicle. The disabling shots aimed at the grill are believed to have travelled though the vehicle low to the floorboards".
In another horrendous incident on the evening of 29 September 2004 a US marine convoy was travelling on a road near Saqlawiya, west of Baghdad, when a car came up close behind, in spite of hand and other signals from the soldier in the rear Humvee to stay further back.
He fired at the engine and then into the windscreen. The vehicle swerved and plunged into a canal. A man managed to escape and was pulled from the water by a soldier.
The log does not say whether the marines left at this point but it records that they contacted the Iraqi police to take over the job of checking the car. "Saqlawiyah IPS [Iraqi police service] responded to the scene and recovered (2) adult females, (3) children ages 5 to 8, and (1) infant from the vehicle. All (6) had drowned," the log concludes.
The victims of these road killings were not always in cars or vans. In Falluja on 26 March 2004 a cyclist approached a US Humvee with military police investigating a booby trap that had just been found.
According to the intelligence report he was riding "very quickly". "The MPs went through the levels of escalation of force but the man on the bicycle would not slow down. A bag or package was in a basket on the front of the bicycle. Marines engaged [shot at] the male and report (1) IZ [Iraqi] male killed." The report adds: "No explosives were found in the bag/package that was in the basket of the bike."
Raids on Iraqi homes also led to the deaths of innocents when intelligence was poor. Sneaking up to what a report describes as a "suspicious" house while conducting a "cordon and search" just after 5am in the western town of Rutba on 11 September 2005, marines discovered there was no one in it above the age of 10. A 10-year-old girl and an infant boy were killed. Three other children suffered blast wounds. The marines took one back to their base for treatment.
"The children's parents were not at the premises at the time of the incident … No CF [coalition forces] casualties or damages reported," the logs record.
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Apache helicopters kill 14 civilians in hunt for insurgents
'Gun runs' over Baghdad saw pilots blasting vehicles and buildings on the slightest suspicion
Video: The full 39-minute WikiLeaks video, Collateral Murder, showing Apache helicopters killing two Reuters reporters and attacking other targets on dubious grounds
US Apache helicopters killed at least 14 unarmed civilians in a series of previously unreported "gun runs" in eastern Baghdad only four days after the notorious killing of two journalists and 10 other civilians that was captured on a leaked cockpit video released in April.
The footage obtained by the WikiLeaks website led to the arrest of Iraq-based US army analyst Bradley Manning, who is accused of being its source. Posted on YouTube, the 39-minute cockpit video shows three incidents in which people were targeted as they walked along Baghdad streets, sat in a van or went into a building, unaware that gunships were aiming to destroy them. Because the dead included two Iraqi journalists working for Reuters TV the US authorities mounted a rare investigation.
War logs examined by the Guardian reveal that a bigger incident with a greater number of casualties occurred in a neighbouring part of Baghdad four days later on 16 July 2007. This time the Apaches were aided by unmanned surveillance drones and two F-16 fighter-bombers as US ground troops stepped up operations in densely populated eastern Baghdad against militants loyal to the anti-occupation cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. When it was over a local Iraqi informer told a US army interpreter that 14 civilians were dead, according to a military intelligence report.
The bloody incident begins after two foot patrols from A Company of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment come under small arms fire. One patrol "clears" the nearby Islamic Bank and then comes under fire again from a building belonging to the electricity ministry. Ten minutes later the other patrol reports fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Two Apache helicopters are called in, known in US military jargon as Crazyhorse elements 20 and 21, and both "engage the AIF" (anti-Iraqi forces). (The helicopter involved in the shooting four days earlier was Crazyhorse 18.)
Ten minutes later one of the helicopters fires at two more AIF targets and reports it is being shot back at. An Iraqi army patrol arrives with a US training team. A US foot patrol from A Company reports that a nearby mosque is calling insurgents out to attack the Americans. No source is given, but the patrol may have an Iraqi interpreter who can understand the voice from the minaret.
The helicopter pilots spot a crowd gathering who are described as "possible AIF". The second helicopter, Crazyhorse 21, "conducts final gun run" to strafe unnamed targets that the intelligence report does not specify. By now two F-16 fighter-bombers are on station along with an unnamed drone that is filming the scene. Four Bradley armoured vehicles full of US ground troops are at the ready nearby.
But there is no more firing from the Iraqis and the drone's video footage, which is being monitored by US controllers, shows people coming out of the mosque and dispersing. "No weapons were seen." US troops remain on the scene for another 50 minutes before returning to base.
It is not their practice to remove or identify bodies. If done at all it is usually left to Iraqis. In this case the war log on the incident ends with what are described as unconfirmed reports of casualties. An Iraqi colonel says 12 AIF are dead. A named Iraqi informer on the ground rings the Parachute Infantry Regiment's interpreter and tells him 14 civilians are dead.
It is not clear whether both men are referring to one group of dead with differing estimates of whether they were insurgents or civilians, or whether there were separate groups totalling 26.
The terseness of the war log, which was compiled some time after the event, conveys little drama – which is why the cockpit video released by WikiLeaks in April is so important. It shows the true face of war as pilots treat a small densely populated corner of a foreign city as a battle space in which any adult male they spot is suspected of being a gunman.
Even so they are not supposed to kill unless they or any ground troops they are assisting have come under fire, or they are sure a person seen to be carrying a gun is about to fire at US troops.
If rules of engagement are broken the war logs usually conceal it. This appears to have happened with the killings illustrated in the leaked cockpit video. The Guardian has examined the secret intelligence reports for 12 July 2007 and compared them with the recorded words of the pilots and ground commanders. Parts of the video recording already showed the helicopter pilot and gunner giving false information to their commanders in order to get permission to fire. The logs show clear evidence of a cover-up after the event.
Take the second round of shooting in the 38-minute sequence. It revolves around a dark-coloured minivan that approaches a wounded man lying by the pavement and trying to drag himself to his feet. Two men jump out and go to his aid. Neither is carrying a weapon. They pay no attention to the bodies lying several yards away. Yet the cockpit recording has their commander saying "they have individuals going to the scene, looks like possibly uh picking up bodies and weapons". The helicopters get permission to blast the van regardless, even though firing on people who are aiding casualties violates US rules of engagement and international law.
The intelligence report of the incident says Crazyhorse "engaged AIF". In fact there is nothing seen by the helicopter pilots to show the men are insurgents. Indeed, when US ground troops reach the shot-up van a few minutes later they discover its passengers include two small girls who have been wounded, suggesting it was an innocent civilian vehicle that had rushed to help the wounded victim because it was the nearest transport available.
The third bout of gunfire from the helicopters comes when they destroy a large building on a street corner with three Hellfire missiles. Before firing the first one the pilot says: "There are at least six individuals in that building with weapons." The cockpit video has shown only one man going into the building, carrying something that might be a weapon. Two clearly unarmed men then go in and another unarmed man walks past the entrance seconds before the gunner launches his missile. Over the next few minutes the helicopters fire two more missiles in order to destroy the building completely.
As untrue as the helicopter pilots' live reporting was, the intelligence summary they filed later compounds the lies. Now the alleged gunmen are said to have been running into the building – clearly more suspicious behaviour than walking.
In the report's own laconic language: "1125: Crazyhorse engaged with 3xMissle 6XAIF with wepons that ran into a building at Grid MB 5514 8626. Building destroyed 6x AIF KIA".
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Apache crew killed insurgents who tried to surrender
US military legal adviser told helicopter crew that Iraqi men were valid targets as they could not surrender to aircraft
A US gunship crew was cleared to attack two insurgents on the ground even though the pilots had reported that the men were trying to surrender, the leaked Iraq war logs reveal.
The Apache helicopter pilots killed both Iraqi men after being advised by a US military lawyer that they could not surrender to an aircraft and therefore remained valid targets. A leading military law expert consulted by the Guardian has questioned this legal advice.
The Guardian can also reveal that the helicopter involved in the incident in 2007 had the same call sign – Crazyhorse 18 – as the Apache whose crew later mistakenly killed two Reuters journalists and injured two children in a notorious shooting in urban Baghdad. The killings drew worldwide condemnation in April this year when WikiLeaks obtained video footage taken from the helicopter's gun camera and released it on the internet.
It has not been possible to establish whether the same personnel were involved in both attacks.
According to the account of the earlier incident in the leaked logs, the insurgents had jumped out of their truck after it came under fire from the Apache. "They came out wanting to surrender," Crazyhorse 18 signalled.
Clearance to kill came back from an unnamed lawyer at the nearby Taji airbase. "Lawyer states they can not surrender to aircraft and are still valid targets," the log entry says.
After receiving the lawyer's advice, the pilots reported that the men had by now got back into their truck and were attempting to drive on. The gunship made two attempts to kill the fleeing men, launching a Hellfire missile at the truck.
At first the fresh attack failed. "Individuals have run into another shack," the crew signalled. As the Apache hovered high in the sky, a few miles north of Baghdad, the pilots viewed a zoomed-in image of the fleeing pair on their video screen.
The crew then received a further specific top-level kill instruction from brigade HQ and made another strafing run, firing bursts from long distance at 300 rounds a minute from the Apache's 30mm cannon. This time, the gunner succeeded in killing both men.
At 1.03pm on 22 February, just 24 minutes after receiving legal clearance, the crew filed a log entry: "Crazyhorse 18 reports engaged and destroyed shack with 2X AIF [anti-Iraq forces]. Battle damage assessment is shack/dump truck destroyed."
Crazyhorse 18 was part of the US army's 1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, normally based at Fort Hood, Texas. Five months after this incident, on 12 July 2007, the crew of an Apache with the same call sign mistakenly killed 22-year-old Reuters photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and his driver, Saeed Chmagh, after opening fire on a group of eight men they believed to be insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK47 rifles in a Baghdad suburb.
Two children were badly injured and their father killed when the Apache crew fired armour-piercing shells at a van which arrived on the scene.
The account of the February incident recorded in the classified log suggests the Crazyhorse 18 crew were not trigger-happy, but sought immediate advice from their superiors at all stages of the attack.
Under the 1907 Hague regulations, it is forbidden "to kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms, or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion".
Britain's own official Ministry of Defence publication, the Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, says there are practical difficulties around surrenders to aircraft, but adds: "With the advent of close-support and ground-attack helicopter units, the surrender of ground troops … has become a more practical proposition."
One of Britain's foremost experts on the subject, Professor Sir Adam Roberts, cast doubt on the legal advice given to the Crazyhorse 18 crew. "Surrender is not always a simple matter," Roberts, emeritus professor of international relations at Oxford University and joint editor of Documents on the Laws of War, told the Guardian. But the reasoning given by the US military lawyer was "dogmatic and wrong".
"The issue is not that ground forces simply cannot surrender to aircraft," he said. "The issue is that ground forces in such circumstances need to surrender in ways that are clear and unequivocal."
However, he added: "If the insurgents did indeed get back into the truck and drove off in the same direction as previously, then they probably acted unwisely, in a way that called into question their act of surrender … The US airmen might legitimately reckon that the truck contained weapons and that the men could be intending to rejoin the fight sooner or later."
The detailed account of events on that February morning begins with a common occurrence: insurgents near the huge Taji airbase start lobbing rockets and mortar shells, in the hope of killing Americans. US troops return the shelling, and Crazyhorse 18 is dispatched on a mission to see whether the retaliation has had any effect. At 11.34am, three minutes after takeoff, the crew spot the insurgents fleeing their launch site with a mortar and tripod on the back of a Bongo – a light truck manufactured by Kia.
The crew confirm a "positive identification" of the enemy. But it is 13 minutes before the pilots are officially "cleared to engage" with automatic cannonfire by their headquarters.
The Apache opens fire, and two Iraqis fling themselves out of the Bongo as the heavy shells blast the truck and cause its stock of mortar ammunition to "cook off".
The enemy gunners try to make their escape in a dumper truck, driving northwards. At 12.33pm, the Apache reports that it has fired on the truck, "and then they came out wanting to surrender".
Two minutes later, "Crazyhorse 18 reports they got back into truck and are heading north". Four minutes after that: "Crazyhorse 18 cleared to engage dumptruck. 1/227 [1st Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment] lawyer states they cannot surrender to aircraft and are still valid targets."
The two Iraqis try to take refuge in a shack. After a 13-minute delay, another instruction appears to come from a remarkably high level: the office of the commander [IH6] of the Ironhorse brigade at Camp Taji.
The signal reads: "IH6 approves Crazyhorse 18 to engage shack."
After the killing, the helicopter pilots summarise what for them and their superiors has apparently been a successful chase: "Ix engagement with 30mm. 2x AIF killed in action. 1x mortar system destroyed. 1x Bongo truck destroyed with many secondary explosions. 1x dumptruck destroyed. 1x shack destroyed."
At 1.25pm, their gunship heads home to Taji to refuel and reload with ammunition.
--
Iraq war logs
U.S. soldiers Bradley Manning is accused of
copying and leaking thousands of secret documents.
U.S. Military records are impossible to read.
Trained British and Ameircan jourlalists have explained the meanings.
Here are some sample of actual logs leaked by Bradley Manning to Wikileaks:
200 bullets fired by soldiers at speeding vehicle kills parents and wounds their two children
Date: 2005-09-23 19:45:00
Tracking no. 2005-267-024805-0349
Summary:
AT 1954D, 1-155 IN REPORTS THAT 3/B/1-155 IN REPORTED AN EOF AT GRID MB 247 198 ON RTE CLEVELAND. 3/B/1-155 IN REPORTED THEY WERE APPROACHED BY A VEHICLE THAT WOULD NOT YIELD TO THEIR PATROL. 3/B/1-155 IN REPORTED USING LIGHTS AND HAND AND ARM SIGNALS, ALSO FIRING WARNING SHOTS, BUT THE VEHICLE STILL APPROACHED. 3/B/1-155 IN THEN FIRED INTO THE VEHICLE. THERE WERE TWO WEAPONS USED, BOTH WERE M249 SQUAD AUTOMATIC WEAPONS. A TOTAL OF 200 ROUNDS FIRED, 100 FROM EACH WEAPON WHICH RESULTED IN (2)CIV WIA AND (2) CIV KIA. IPS ARRIVED ON SCENE AND RECOVERED THE (2) CIV KIA, AND THE (2) CIV WIA ARE BEING BROUGHT BACK TO FOB ISKANDARIYAH BAS. THE (2) CIV WIA WERE CHILDREN (1) 9 Y.O. WITH GUNSHOT WOUNDS TO THE LOWER THIGH AND LEGS, AND (1) 6 Y.O. WITH GUNSHOT WOUNDS TO THE LEFT AND RIGHT LOWER LEGS, AND LEFT KNEE. THE (2) CIV KIA WERE THE PARENTS OF THE CHILDREN. THE IPS NOTIFIED AN UNCLE OF THE CHILDREN, WHO IS THE ONLY LIVING RELATIVE. THE LOCAL AMBULANCE DRIVER ALONG WITH A SOLDIER, AND A INTERPRETER ACCOMPANIED THE CHILDREN TO 86 CSH.
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Two children killed when troops fired on civilian vehicle
Date 2005-10-26 19:56:00
Tracking no. 2005-299-214408-0715
Summary:
1856C, ESCALATION OF FORCE BY 1-64 UNIT WAS ON THE OUTER CORDON FOR A CORDON AND SEARCH WHEN A CIVILIAN VEHICLE APPROACHED AND IGNORED SHOUTS VEHICLE HORN AND FLASHED LIGHTS. UNIT FIRED ONE SHOTGUN ROUND AS A WARNING SHOT. VEHICLE IGNORED THE WARNING AND CONTINUED. UNIT FIRED 13-15 ROUNDS OF 7.62 INTO THE VEHICLE KILLING 2 CHILDREN AND WOUNDING ONE CHILD AND ONE FEMALE. 2 CIV KIA, 2 CIV WIA, 0 CF INJ/DAMAGE
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Seven killed, including two children, by marines 'speeding towards' checkpoint
Date 2005-06-14 15:30:00
Tracking no. attlemaj-38797356
Summary
AT 1530D, THE HURRICANE POINT ECP ATTEMPTED TO STOP A VEHICLE WITH HAND AND ARM SIGNALS BEFORE THE VEHICLE GOT CLOSE TO THE CORDON THAT HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED AFTER THE SVBIED ATTACK. A MAROON 4-DOOR OPEL DISREGARDED ALL HAND AND ARM SIGNALS AND CONTINUED AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED. THE HP ECP ENGAGED THE VEHICLE WITH WARNING SHOTS AS IT APPROACHED FROM THE EAST ON MICHIGAN. THE VEHICLE DISREGARDED THE WARNING SHOTS AND ACCELERATED TOWARD THE CORDON SET AT THE S. BRIDGE VCP. THE CORDON AT THE S. BRIDGE CONSISTED OF HMMWV GUN TRUCKS IN THE CENTER OF THE ROAD, AND DISMOUNTED MARINES PROVIDING SECURITY IN AND OFF TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, AND SIX LARGE ORANGE CONES IN THE ROAD ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE S. BRIDGE. S. BRIDGE ECP ENGAGED THE GRILL OF THE VEHICLE WITH WARNING AND DISABLING SHOTS AT APPROXIMATELY 150 METERS FROM THE CORDON. THE VEHICLE CONTINUED TO DISREGARD THE SAF FROM THE OP AND CONTINUED TOWARD THE ESTABLISHED CORDON. THE DISMOUNTED MARINES SAID THE VEHICLE ACCELERATED AS IT APPROACHED THE CONES AT THE NORTH END OF THE S. BRIDGE. WHEN THE VEHICLE DID NOT STOP, THE S. BRIDGE OP AND 1/5 JUMP WHICH WAS PART OF THE CORDON ENGAGED THE FRONT GRILL OF THE VEHICLE AT APPROXIMATELY 100 METERS BUT THE VEHICLE CONTINUED TO APPROACH AT 40-45 MPH. WHEN THE VEHICLE DID NOT STOP AFTER ALL THE WARNING SHOTS, THE MARINES ENGAGED THE DRIVER TO STOP THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE WAS STOPPED DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE ORANGE CONES. THERE WERE A TOTAL OF 11X CIVILIANS IN THE VEHICLE. THE ENGAGEMENT RESULTED IN 7X CIV KILLED (2X WERE CHILDREN) AND 2X CIV INJ. THE LARGE NUMBER OF CIVILIAN KIA RESULTED FROM THE FAMILY HAVING PLACED THEIR CHILDREN ON THE FLOOR BOARDS OF THE VEHICLE. THE DISABLING SHOTS AIMED AT THE GRILL ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE TRAVELED THROUGH THE VEHICLE LOW TO THE FLOOR BOARDS CAUSING THE LARGE NUMBER OF KIA. NO CF INJ/DAMAGE.
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Civilians drown after vehicle fired on runs off road into canal
Date 2004-09-29 18:11:00
Tracking no. MEF LNO-21328397
Summary
AT 1811D, A L/3/5 RESUPPLY PATROL WAS TRAVELING WESTBOUND ON MSR MOBILE WHEN A VEHICLE APPROACHED THE REAR OF THEIR CONVOY. MARINES IN THE REAR VEHICLE, A HIGH-BACK HMMWV WITH A PAINTED SIGN WARNING VEHICLES TO NOT APPROACH, SUCCESSIVELY USED HAND SIGNALS, A POP-UP WHITE STAR CLUSTER, AND (2) SHOTS TO THE ENGINE BLOCK TO WARN THE VEHICLE TO SLOW DOWN AND NOT APPROACH THE CONVOY. DESPITE THESE WARNINGS, THE VEHICLE CONTINUED TO APPROACH TO WITHIN 20M, AND FINALLY L/3/5 FIRED INTO THE WINDSHIELD. THE VEHICLE SWERVED OFF THE ROAD INTO A CANAL 1.5KM NORTH OF SAQLAWIYAH (38S LB 768 976) AND SANK. (1) ADULT MALE EXITED THE VEHICLE AND WAS RECOVERED FROM THE CANAL; ALL OTHER PASSENGERS SANK WITH THE VEHICLE. THE ADULT MALE WAS TREATED BY THE CORPSMAN ON THE SCENE AND WAS TRANSPORTED TO THE SAQLAWIYAH JCC AND SUBSEQUENTLY TRANSPORTED TO THE JORDANIAN HOSPITAL. SAQLAWIYAH IPS RESPONDED TO THE SCENE AND RECOVERED (2) ADULT FEMALES, (3) CHILDREN AGES 5 TO 8, AND (1) INFANT FROM THE VEHICLE. ALL (6) HAD DROWNED. THE SAQLAWIYAH IPS ARE TAKING ALL RECOVERED BODIES TO RAMADI.
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Marines blowing open a door on a suspicious house wound several children including a two-year-old
Date 2005-09-11 05:16:00
Tracking no. 2005-254-140255-0863
Summary
AT 0516D, K 3/6 PLACED AN EXPLOSIVE CHARGE ON A DOOR OF A SUSPICIOUS HOUSE IVO (37S FS 190 576) 500M N OF AR RUTBAH WHILE CONDUCTING A CORDON AND SEARCH IN AR RUTBAH. UPON ENTERING THE HOUSE, MARINES DISCOVERED (3) NWIA. THE NWIA CONSISTED OF (1) 10 YEAR OLD MALE, (1) 10 YEAR OLD FEMALE, AND (1) 2 YEAR OLD MALE WHO ALL SUSTAINED BLAST INJURIES. THE 10 YEAR OLD FEMALE AND THE 2 YEAR OLD MALE DOW WHILE AWAITING MEDEVAC. THE 10 YEAR OLD BOY WAS SUBSEQUENTLY MEDEVACED TO BALAD FOR FURTHER TREATMENT. THE CHILDREN S PARENTS WERE NOT AT THE PREMISES AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT. CAG HAS BEEN NOTIFIED AND IS ENROUTE TO THE RESIDENCE. NO CF CASUALTIES OR DAMAGES REPORTED
--
Reporters have explained the U.S. military jargon:
ACF Anti-coalition forces
ACR Armored cavalry regiment
AGL Above ground level
AIF Anti-Iraqi forces
AMZ Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
AO Area of operations
AP Anti-personnel
AQI Al-Qaeda in Iraq
ASR Alternate supply route
AWT Air weapons team
BCT Brigade combat team
BDA Battle damage assessment
BITT Border Iraqi training team
Blue-blue "Friendly fire" between coalition forces
CAS Close air support
CAV Cavalry
CCIR Commander's critical information requirements
CF Coalition forces
CIV Civilian
CO Company
Cordon and knock Cordoning off an area and searching it for insurgents or weapons
CP Checkpoint
CWIA Civilian wounded in action
DET Detonation, or detained
DMG Damage
DOW Died of wounds
EFP Explosively formed penetrator
EOD Explosive ordnance disposal
FMC Fully mission capable
FOB Forward operating base
FRAGO Fragmentary order
FWCAS Fixed-wing close air support
GOI Government of Iraq
Green-green "Friendly fire" between Iraqi forces
GSW Gunshot wound
HE High explosives
HHQ Higher headquarters
HMMWV High mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle (Humvee)
IA Iraqi army
IBP Iraqi border patrol
ICW In coordination with
ID Infantry division
IDF Indirect fire
IED Improvised explosive device
IIP Iraqi Islamic Party
IN Infantry
ING Iraqi national guard
INJ Injuries
IO Information operations
IOT In order to
IP Iraqi police
ISI Islamic State of Iraq
ISO In support of
ISP Iraqi special police
ISR Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
IVO In the vicinity of
IZ Iraq/Iraqi
JAI Jaish al-Islami
JAM Jaish al-Mahdi
JSS Joint security station
JTJ Jama'at al-Tawhid w'al-Jihad
KIA Killed in action
KLE Key leader engagement
LN Local national
LOAC Laws of armed combat
MAG Magazine
MAM Military-aged male
MAS Muqtada al-Sadr
MEU Marine Expeditionary Unit
MITT Military intelligence training team
MOI Ministry of Interior
MP Military police
MRAP Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle
MNFI Multi-National Forces (Iraq)
NEU Neutral
NFI No further information
NFTR Nothing further to report
NSTR Nothing significant to report
OBJ Objective
PAX Persons
PB Patrol base
PBIED Person-borne improvised explosive device
PID Positive identification
POC Point of contact
POETT Port of entry training team
POO Point of origin
PPE Personal protective equipment
PTL Patrol
QJBR Tanzim al-Qaid'at al-Jihad fi al-Balad al-Rafidayn
QRF Quick reaction force
RPG Rocket-propelled grenade
RDX Research Department Explosive
RPT Report
RTB Return to base
RTE Route
RWCAS Rotary-wing close air support
S2 Brigade-level intelligence
SAF/SAFIRE Small arms fire
SIGACT Significant action
SITREP Situation report
SOI Sons of Iraq
SVIED Suicide vest improvised explosive device
TF Task force
TTP Tactics, techniques and procedures
VBIED Vehicle-borne improvised explosive device
UI Unidentified
UNK Unknown
USACE US Army Corps of Engineers
UXO Unexploded ordnance
VEH Vehicle
VIC Vicinity
WIA Wounded in action
_______________________________
US Embassy Secrets
-
Wikileaks Releases U.S. Diplomatic Cables
November 2010
Amerian military intelligence analyst gave secret files to Wikileaks. He is under arrest.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said that U.S. military officer Bradley Manning who copied millions of secret document is 'unparalleled hero'.
U.S. Lawmakers want Wikileaks to be placed on terror list for aiding terrorists.
But Iran said WikiLeaks reports are 'worthless'. President Ahmadinejad dismissed the documents released saying its all 'mischief" which would not affect Tehran's relations with its Arab neighbours.
FULL COVERAGE
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/the-us-embassy-cables
--
ITN - 28 Nov 2010 8pm GMT
Wikileaks bombshell sparks diplomatic crisis
Thousands of confidential US State Department documents have been released by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
The explosive revelations contained in 250,000 diplomatic cables are threatening to start a global diplomatic crisis.
The leak of the material has been strongly condemned by the US and British governments.
The Guardian is one of five newspapers to have had access to the cables, along with the New York Times, Der Spiegel in Germany, Le Monde in France and El Pais in Spain.
The Guardian said that the newspapers which had seen the leaks planned to publish extracts from the most significant cables but did not intend to "dump" the entire database into the public domain or to publish names that would endanger innocent individuals.
The White House said that the disclosure of confidential diplomatic communications on the front pages of newspapers around the world would "deeply impact" US foreign interests.
"To be clear - 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," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
He added: "By releasing stolen and classified documents, WikiLeaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and work of these individuals."
The Foreign Office said: "We 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."
--
Wikileaks: the claims
According to newspaper websites, the classified US Government documents released by WikiLeaks include claims of:
- "Inappropriate behaviour" by a member of the Royal Family.
- Requests for "specific intelligence" about British MPs.
- "Devastating" criticisms of British operations in Iraq.
- "Serious political criticisms" of Prime Minister David Cameron.
- US diplomats pressuring countries to resettle former Guantanamo detainees.
- "Grave fears" in London and Washington over the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.
- "Harsh" criticism by US embassy staff of their host governments, including Russia and China.
- Alleged links between the Russian government and organised crime.
- Details of countries involved in financing terrorist groups.
- Reports of a near environmental "disaster" involving a rogue shipment of enriched uranium.
- Technical details of secret US-Russian nuclear missile negotiations in Geneva.
- Secret US efforts to combat al-Qaeda in Yemen.
- A description of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who is said to be accompanied everywhere by a "voluptuous blonde" Ukrainian nurse.
- Reports that the King of Bahrein and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia urged the Americans to take military action to halt Iran's nuclear programme.
- US assessments that Iran has obtained advanced missiles from North Korea that could enable it to strike European capitals.
- Secret - and so far unsuccessful - US efforts to remove highly enriched uranium from a Pakistani research reactor amid fears it could be diverted for use in an illegal nuclear device.
- Conversations between American and South Korean officials over the prospects for a unified Korea, should the North's economic troubles and political transition lead it to "implode".
- A global campaign of computer sabotage by Chinese government agents.
--
WikiLeaks: US 'urged to strike Iran'
Arab rulers secretly lobbied America to launch air strikes to destroy Iran's nuclear programme, according to leaked US diplomatic cables.
Details from 250,000 leaked United States embassy cables obtained by the WikiLeaks whistleblowers website have been published by a number of newspapers given advance sight of the material, including The Guardian.
The newspaper said it would be publishing details later in the week of cables relating to the UK - including allegations of "inappropriate behaviour" by a member of the Royal Family which was said to have "startled" US diplomats.
There was no immediate response from Buckingham Palace to a report that the member of the Royal Family involved in allegations of "inappropriate behaviour" was the Duke of York.
The WikiLeaks documents are also said to include "serious political criticism" of David Cameron and "devastating criticism" of British military operations in Afghanistan.
Potentially most seriously of all for the UK, The Guardian said that the cables included requests for "specific intelligence" about British MPs.
Both the British and US governments have strongly condemned the leaks while insisting that they would not damage relations between the two countries.
The most striking of the initial disclosures is that Arab leaders have been privately urging the US to take military action to halt Iran's nuclear programme before it is too late.
The King of Bahrain was quoted as telling US diplomats that Tehran's nuclear drive "must be stopped". In another cable, he was said to have warned: "The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it".
He was said to have been backed by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who was said to have repeatedly urged Washington to "cut off the head of the snake" while there was still time.
The cables were also said include "harsh" criticism by US embassy staff of their host governments, including Russia and China, and unflattering pen portraits of world leaders.
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin is described as "alpha dog" and the cables are said to detail alleged links between the government in Moscow and organised crime.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai was said to be "driven by paranoia" while German chancellor Angela Merkel "avoids risks and is rarely creative". Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is compared to Hitler.
--
Wikileaks releases US State Department files
Thousands of confidential US State Department documents have been released by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
The documents show that Saudi donors remain chief financiers of militant groups like al-Qaeda and that Chinese government operatives have waged a co-ordinated campaign of computer sabotage targeting the United States and its allies, according to newspaper reports.
The Pentagon has condemned the website's release of classified documents to newspapers as "reckless" and said it was taking steps to bolster security of classified US military networks.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the US Defense Department "has undertaken a series of actions to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future", citing steps to prevent the downloading of classified computer data to removable devices.
The US administration's unflattering assessment of David Cameron is set to be made public by the Guardian.
Journalist Simon Hoggart said: "There is going to be some embarrassment certainly for Gordon Brown but even more so for David Cameron who was not very highly regarded by the Obama administration or by the US ambassador here."
The US administration has warned that the release of the files would put "countless" lives at risk, threaten global counter-terrorism operations and jeopardise America's relations with its allies.
The Foreign Office said in a statement: "We 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."
--
AFP
WikiLeaks unleashes a flood of damaging US cables
Whistleblower website WikiLeaks has unleashed a flood of US cables detailing shocking diplomatic episodes, from a nuclear standoff with Pakistan to Arab leaders urging a strike on Iran.
The leaked memos describe a Chinese government bid to hack into Google; plans to reunite the Korean peninsula after the North's eventual collapse; Saudi Arabia's king's call to the US to bomb Iran to halt its nuclear drive.
The documents also showed that Israel discussed its planned war on Gaza with the Palestinian leadership and Egypt ahead of time, offering to hand them control of the strip if it defeated Hamas.
The confidential cables, most of which date from 2007 to February this year, also reveal how the State Department has ordered diplomats to spy on foreign officials and even to obtain their credit card and frequent flier numbers.
The memos, released on Sunday, recount closed-door remarks such as Yemen's president telling a top US general: "We'll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours" when discussing secretive US strikes on Al-Qaeda.
A description of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi said he required the near-constant assistance of a "voluptuous blond" Ukrainian nurse.
The Guardian newspaper reported that a classified directive sent to US diplomats under US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's name in July 2009 sought technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials.
The directive also sought intelligence on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's "management and decision-making style," said to the report.
UN officials declined to comment.
In another document, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told his French counterpart that Israel could strike Iran without US military support but the operation might not be successful.
The New York Times, Britain's The Guardian, Germany's Der Spiegel, France's Le Monde and Spain's El Pais published the first batch of the documents on Sunday, saying more would follow in the coming days.
WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange described the release as a "diplomatic history of the United States" that would cover "every major issue."
Despite coming under a cyber attack that took down its main website earlier in the day, WikiLeaks started publishing the 251,287 cables -- 15,652 of which are classified "secret" -- from 274 US embassies around the world on a sub-website http://cablegate.wikileaks.org.
In an introduction, it painted the United States as a hypocritical superpower and attacked "the contradictions between the US's public persona and what it says behind closed doors."
The White House hit back, saying the release was a "reckless and dangerous action" that put lives in danger.
"To be clear -- 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," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.
The Pentagon, already infuriated by the website's publication of secret Afghanistan and Iraq war logs earlier this year, unveiled new steps to prevent future leaks.
US officials had raced to contain the diplomatic fallout by warning more than a dozen governments of the impending leaks, but Washington refused to negotiate with WikiLeaks, saying it had obtained the cables illegally.
Assange has denied the release of the documents placed individuals at risk.
"As far as we are aware, and as far as anyone has ever alleged in any credible manner whatsoever, no single individual has ever come to harm as a result of anything that we have ever published," he said Sunday.
The New York Times explained its decision to publish the cables by saying they "serve an important public interest."
The newspaper said it had "taken care to exclude... information that would endanger confidential informants or compromise national security".
It had consulted White House officials on sensitive issues but reserved the final decision to itself, it said.
The Guardian said all five papers had decided "neither to 'dump' the entire dataset into the public domain, nor to publish names that would endanger innocent individuals."
But one Saudi government advisor told AFP: "The whole thing is very negative.
"It's not good for confidence-building," he said on condition of anonymity.
US officials have not confirmed the source of the leaks, but suspicion has fallen on Bradley Manning, a former army intelligence agent arrested after the release of a video showing air strikes that killed reporters in Iraq.
WikiLeaks argues that the first two document dumps -- nearly 500,000 US military incident reports from 2004 to 2009 -- shed light on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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WikiLeaks 'Should Be A Terror Organisation'
An American politician has called for WikiLeaks to be designated a terrorist organisation following the release of the latest batch of leaked documents.
New York Republican Peter King said the organisation was a "clear and present danger" to the US.
"WikiLeaks presents a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States," he said. "I strongly urge you (Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton) to work within the Administration to use every offensive capability of the US government to prevent further damaging releases by WikiLeaks."
The Foreign Office said the actions of WikiLeaks risked British lives and security.
"We condemn any unauthorised release of this classified information, just as we condemn leaks of classified material in the UK," a spokesman said.
"They can damage national security, are not in the national interest and, as the US have said, may put lives at risk."
The White House was also critical of the leak of US cables.
"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," a spokesman said.
"Such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world."
Roger Cressey, a former US cyber and counter-terrorism official, said the leaks would have a "devastating" effect on diplomatic relations and on the fight against al Qaeda.
"The essence of our foreign policy is our ability to talk straight and honest with our foreign counterparts and to keep those conversations out of the public domain," he said.
"This massive leak puts that most basic of diplomatic requirements at risk in the future."
He added: "Think of relations with Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Afghanistan, governments who we need to work with us in defeating al Qaeda.
"This kind of leak will seriously hinder our ability to persuade these governments to support our counterterrorism priorities in the future."
However, Professor Michael Cox, associate fellow of the think-tank Chatham House, said the political fallout had been exaggerated.
"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," he said.
"The really secret information, I would suggest, is still pretty safe and probably won't end up on WikiLeaks."
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WikiLeaks releases list of global sites 'vital' to US
WikiLeaks has divulged a secret list compiled by Washington of key infrastructure sites around the world that could pose a critical danger to US security if they come under terrorist attack.
The newly released diplomatic cable is one of the most explosive yet out of many leaked by the whistle-blowing website that have heaped embarrassment on Washington and caused anger around the world.
Among other revelations, the latest WikiLeaks document dump showed Australia's then leader Kevin Rudd warning US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that force might be needed against China "if everything goes wrong".
A State Department cable from February 2009 asked US missions to update a list of infrastructure and key resources worldwide whose loss "could critically impact" the country's public health, economic life and national security.
It details undersea cables, key communications, ports, mineral resources and firms of strategic importance in countries ranging from Britain to New Zealand, via Africa, the Middle East and China.
A Canadian hydroelectric plant is described as a "critical irreplaceable source of power to portions of Northeast US," while a Siemens factory in Germany does "essentially irreplaceable production of key chemicals".
Also listed are European manufacturers of vaccines for smallpox and rabies, an Italian maker of treatment for snake-bite venom, and a German company making treatment for plutonium poisoning.
According to the diplomatic cable, the request was designed "to strengthen national preparedness, timely response, and rapid recovery in the event of an attack, natural disaster or other emergency".
Compilation of the list would help "prevent, deter, neutralize or mitigate the effects of deliberate efforts by terrorists to destroy, incapacitate or exploit" sites deemed of "vital" importance to the United States.
Malcolm Rifkind, a former British defense and foreign secretary, lashed out at WikiLeaks for releasing the list.
"This is further evidence that they have been generally irresponsible, bordering on criminal. This is the kind of information terrorists are interested in knowing," he said, according to British media.
The release will add to the political storm engulfing WikiLeaks and its 39-year-old founder Julian Assange, who broke cover on Friday to say in an online chat that he had boosted his security after receiving death threats.
The website is already battling to secure its avenues for financial donations online, and has been hop-scotching across servers and legal jurisdictions to evade a total shutdown.
Assange's British lawyer, Mark Stephens, said Sunday that a legal pursuit of Assange in Sweden had "political motivations".
But Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny, who is investigating allegations of rape and sexual assault against Assange, defended her prosecution in comments to AFP.
"This investigation has proceeded perfectly normally without any political pressure of any kind," said Ny, who, via Interpol, has asked police forces around the world to track Assange down.
Leading US lawmakers are calling for Assange's arrest or even execution. Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell slammed him Sunday as a "high-tech terrorist".
Among the latest revelations:
-- One cable said Saudi Arabia was the key source of funding for radical Islamist groups including Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hamas.
-- Gulf states Qatar and Kuwait are lax in pursuing locals who donated to the groups, according to the cable dated December 2009.
-- Qatar is using the Arabic TV news channel Al-Jazeera as a bargaining chip in negotiations with other countries, despite the broadcaster's insistence that it is editorially independent.
-- Clinton views Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as a "behind-the-scenes puppeteer" who chafes at his role working alongside President Dmitry Medvedev.
Another leak with the potential to infuriate China revealed details of a conversation between Rudd, when he was Australia's prime minister, and Clinton over a Washington lunch in March 2009.
Rudd called for "integrating China effectively into the international community and allowing it to demonstrate greater responsibility, all while also preparing to deploy force if everything goes wrong," the cable stated.
Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat who is now foreign minister, said Monday that Australia had a robust relationship with China and that he had no intention of contacting Beijing over the cable.
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Wikileaks reveals 'Most Critical' US Global Assets
WikiLeaks has released a secret list of key infrastructure sites around the world whose loss or attack by terrorists could "critically impact" US security.
Part of the latest release of US embassy cables by the whistleblowing website, the document details hundreds of pipelines, cables and industrial sites around the world that America deems crucial to securing its interests.
The State Department has condemned the leak of the locations - many of which are in Britain - as "irresponsible", claiming it threatens US national security.
A former British foreign and defence secretary has reportedly described the publication as "bordering on criminal".
Sir Malcolm Rifkind told The Times: "This is the kind of information terrorists are interested in knowing.
"This is further evidence that they [WikiLeaks] have been generally irresponsible, bordering on criminal."
According to the secret cable, US embassies were instructed to update a list of key sites in their countries which would "critically impact the public health, economic security and/or national and homeland security of the United States" if they were lost.
Meanwhile, other documents have claimed the US believes donors from Saudi Arabia are "the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide".
A confidential memo sent by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last December referred to the kingdom as a "cash machine" for al Qaeda.
In a series of cables cited by the New York Times, other countries in the region also come under fire.
The United Arab Emirates is described as having a "strategic gap" that terrorists could exploit, Qatar is seen as "the worst in the region" on counter-terrorism and Kuwait is labelled "a key transit point".
The newspaper has detailed a long list of possible methods suspected terrorists are using to fund their activities.
One memo claims militants often used the annual Hajj pilgrimage for laundering money - and cash from pilgrims was used to finance the Mumbai bombings.
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AFP: Iran: WikiLeaks reports are 'worthless'
TEHRAN — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday dismissed documents released by whistleblower WikiLeaks as "worthless" and 'mischief" which would not affect Tehran's relations with its Arab neighbours.
"The documents that they released are a mischief. We do not see any value in them. This act is worthless," he said at a press conference broadcast live on state TV.
"These documents are prepared and released by the US government in a planned manner and in pursuance of an aim. It is part of an intelligence warfare and will not have their desired political impact.
"We are friends with the regional countries and mischievous acts will not affect relations," he said.
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NEW YORK TIMES
November 29, 2010
Iran’s President Calls Leaked Documents U.S. Plot
In Iran’s first official reaction to leaked State Department cables quoting Arab leaders as urging the United States to bomb Tehran’s nuclear facilities, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the documents as American psychological warfare that would not affect his country’s relations with other nations, news reports said.
The documents seemed to show several Arab nations, notably Saudi Arabia, Iran’s rival for influence in the Persian Gulf, displaying such hostility that King Abdullah repeatedly implored Washington to “cut off the head of the snake” while there was still time.
Nonetheless, Mr. Ahmadinejad said at a news conference on Monday that Iran’s relations with its neighbors would not be damaged by the reports.
“Regional countries are all friends with each other. Such mischief will have no impact on the relations of countries,” he said, according to Reuters.
“Some part of the American government produced these documents,” he said. “We don’t think this information was leaked. We think it was organized to be released on a regular basis and they are pursuing political goals.”
News reports quoted Mr. Ahmadinejad as calling the documents “worthless” and without “legal value.”
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THE GUARDIAN
Monday 29 November
WikiLeaks claims are 'psychological warfare' says Ahmadinejad
Iranian president claims that the leaks are part of a campaign of psychological warfare against his country
Iran today hit back at the latest batch of Wikileaks revelations, with its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claiming that the leaks were part of a psychological warfare campaign against his country.
Iranian media also commented that the United States does not trust its "agents" inside the Islamic republic and alleged US links to the mass protests that followed last year's disputed election.
Press TV, the English-language Iranian TV channel, highlighted evidence from state department cables that US diplomats are apparently engaged in espionage — a charge that will have special resonance in a country where the empty US embassy is still routinely referred to as "the nest of spies".
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Iran says Wiki-releases were planned in advance
Iran's President has questioned the recent leaked documents obtained and published by the Wikileaks website, saying the US administration "released" material intentionally.
In response to a question by Press TV on Monday over the whistleblower website's "leaks," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said "let me first correct you. The material was not leaked, but rather released in an organized way."
"The US administration released them and based on them they pass judgment …. [The documents] have no legal value and will not have the political effect they seek," the Iranian chief executive added at the press briefing in Tehran.
Ahmadinejad stressed that the Wikileaks "game" is "not worth commenting upon and that no one would waste their time reviewing them."
"The countries in the region are like friends and brothers and these acts of mischief will not affect their relations," he added.
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THE GUARDIAN
Monday 29 November 2010
Wikileaks embassy cables: the key points at a glance
There are no fewer than 251,287 cables from more than 250 US embassies around the world, obtained by Wikileaks. We present a day-by-day guide to the revelations from the US embassy cables both from the Guardian and its international media partners in the story.
• The US faces a worldwide diplomatic crisis. More than 250,000 classified cables from American embassies are leaked, many sent as recently as February.
• Saudi Arabia put pressure on the US to attack Iran. Other Arab allies also secretly agitated for military action against Tehran.
• Washington is running a secret intelligence campaign targeted at the leadership of the United Nations, including the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, and the permanent security council representatives from China, Russia, France and the UK.
• Details of the round-the-clock offensive by US government officials, politicians, diplomats and military officers to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions and roll back its advance across the Middle East.
• How Israel regarded 2010 as a "critical year" for tackling Iran's alleged quest for nuclear weapons and warned the United States that time is running out to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.
• The secret EU plot to boycott the inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president after the disputed Iranian election in 2009.
• Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were denied blueprints for a secret nuclear reactor near Qom and told by Iran that evidence of bomb-grade uranium enrichment was forged.
• Saudi Arabia complained directly to the Iranian foreign minister of Iranian "meddling" in the Middle East.
• The US accused Iran of abusing the strict neutrality of the Iranian Red Crescent (IRC) society to smuggle intelligence agents and weapons into other countries, including Lebanon.
• Britain's ambassador to Iran gave the US a private masterclass on how to negotiate with Iran.
• How a 75-year-old American of Iranian descent rode a horse over a freezing mountain range into Turkey after officials confiscated his passport.
Plus:
• The story of how the 250,000 US embassy cables were leaked.
• Background on Siprnet: where America stores its secret cables.
• Editor's note: publishing the cables.
• Explore the Guardian's searchable database of the leaked embassy cables
Der Spiegel
A long piece in English primarily about the US view of Germany, including some bracing views of Berlin's leadership and the description of Chancellor Angela Merkel as "risk averse and rarely creative".
New York Times
The New York Times highlights US intelligence assessments that Iran has acquired missiles from North Korea which could for the first time enable Tehran to strike at western European capitals.
El País
A trawl through the 3,620 documents in the haul originating from the US embassy in Madrid, dating from 2004 to this year (in Spanish).
Le Monde
The French paper also leads on the allegations of US spying on UN leaders but also covers Washington's view of France, as gleaned from the cables (in French). President Nicolas Sarkozy is described as "susceptible and authoritarian", and a French diplomatic adviser has described Iran as a fascist state and Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez as a madman transforming his country into another Zimbabwe.
Day 2, Tuesday 30 NovemberGuardian
• China is ready to accept Korean unification and is distancing itself from North Korea which it describes as behaving like a "spoiled child". Cables say Kim Jong-il is a "flabby old chap" losing his grip and drinking.
• Prince Andrew attacked a Serious Fraud Office anti-corruption investigation during a meeting with British businessmen in Kyrgyzstan and criticised a Guardian investigation – and the French – in what the US ambassador there described as "an astonishingly candid" performance verging on the rude. He is also reported to like big game hunting and falconry.
• An official from the Commonwealth secretariat claimed Prince Charles is not respected in the same way as the Queen and questioned whether the heir apparent should necessarily succeed his mother as the head of the Commonwealth.
• Hillary Clinton wanted a briefing on the mental health of Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner and asked whether she was taking medication to calm her down.
Der Spiegel
• The German magazine focuses on the US administration's search for countries willing to take its Guantánamo prisoners, if it closed the base down, and the German government's reluctance to help, with foreign minister Wolfgang Schäuble reportedly very sceptical. The German government would not accept 17 Uighur prisoners, despite the support of the Uighur exiled community in Munich, for fear of upsetting the Chinese government.
There is an extensive network of informants in Berlin, informing the US about Angela Merkel's coalition negotiations. Merkel is described as an enigma, and sceptical about the US.
• The US administration doubts the Turkish government's dependability as an ally, describing it as having little understanding of the outside world and its foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu's "neo-Ottoman visions" as exceptionally dangerous. It describes a Muslim fraternity within the governing party and an "iron ring of sycophantic but contemptuous advisers".
Le Monde
• The French newspaper Le Monde reports US diplomats describing the former president of Haiti, René Préval, as "indispensable but difficult ... a chameleon character" unwilling to accept advice.
• In 2005, US diplomats reported France as being a difficult ally in the fight against international terrorism, because its specialist investigating magistrates were insular, centred on Paris and operating in "another world".
El País
• Spain's El País focuses on repeated attempts by the US to curb court cases in Spain against American soldiers and politicians accused of involvement in Iraq war crimes or torture at Guantánamo. It highlights a series of cables relating to the possibility of Spain accepting former Guantánamo prisoners. Spain's political situation and public opinion made this "almost impossible", an official said.
Day 3, Wednesday 1 DecemberThe Guardian
• The head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, privately criticised David Cameron and George Osborne (now the prime minister and chancellor) before the election for their lack of experience, the lack of depth in their inner circle and their tendency to think about issues only in terms of their electoral impact. Osborne lacked gravitas and was seen as a political lightweight because of his "high-pitched vocal delivery" according to private Conservative polling before the election.
• US and British diplomats fear that Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme could lead to terrorists obtaining fissile material, or a devastating nuclear exchange with India. Also, small teams of US special forces have been operating secretly inside Pakistan's tribal areas, with Pakistani government approval. And the US concluded that Pakistani troops were responsible for a spate of extra-judicial killings in the Swat Valley and tribal belt, but decided not to comment publicly.
• Gordon Brown unsuccessfully lobbied the US for the British computer hacker Gary McKinnon to be allowed to serve any jail sentence in the UK. David Cameron said British people generally believe McKinnon is guilty "but they are sympathetic".
• The US ambassador to Pakistan said the Pakistani army is covertly sponsoring four major militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and the Mumbai attackers, Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT), and "no amount of money" will change the policy. Also, US diplomats discovered hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Pakistan earmarked for fighting Islamist militants was not used for that purpose.
• Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, considered pushing President Asif Ali Zardari from office and forcing him into exile to resolve a political dispute, the US embassy cables reveal. Separately, Zardari once told the US vice-president, Joe Biden, he feared the military "might take me out". He told the Americans his sister would lead if he was assassinated. Another cable revealed that the Pakistani president was described as a "numbskull" by Sir Jock Stirrup, Britain's then chief of defence staff.
• The US praised former British Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg for his campaign to persuade European countries to take in remaining detainees from the prison camp.
• Senior Lib Dem officials, who now work in No 10 and the Cabinet Office, planned a campaign to depict David Cameron as "fake" and "out of touch" during the election campaign, but abandoned the strategy because it was deemed too aggressive after the death of his son, Ivan.
• The Tories told the US before the general election that a Conservative government could be tougher on Pakistan as it was less reliant on votes from people with a Pakistani connections than Labour. Referring to Muslim extremists coming to Britain from Pakistan, Cameron said that under Labour "we let in a lot of crazies and did not wake up early enough".
• Zardari claimed that the brother of Pakistan's opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, "tipped off" LeT about impending UN sanctions after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, allowing the group to empty its bank accounts. British diplomats feared India would respond with force to the attacks but the US thought the UK was "over-reacting".
• The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is portrayed as a self-absorbed, thin-skinned, erratic character who tyrannises his ministers and staff but is also a brilliant political tactician, in US memos. The Saudis were irritated by Sarkozy planning to take Carla Bruni on a state visit to their country before she was married. Sarkozy invited Gordon Brown and the Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, to last year's D-day commemorations because "the survival of their governments was at stake".
• The British government promised to protect US interests during the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war.
• The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has been sheltering the leader of the nationalist insurgency in Pakistan's Balochistan province for years.
Le Monde
• Le Monde focuses on what the cables say about Sarkozy, notably his pro-Americanism, his idea that an international force could replace the US in Iraq, and the US view on his election that he was "a novice" in international affairs with a poor grasp of English.
Der Spiegel
• The paper has significant coverage of Pakistan, with a story that the Pakistani military and secret service are heavily involved in the country's politics and often work against US interests.
• A subsidiary of the US private security firm Xe (then known as Blackwater) flouted German arms export law. It transported German helicopters to Afghanistan via Britain and Turkey without a permit because it was taking too long to get the German export papers.
Day 4, Thursday 2 DecemberThe Guardian
• Russia is a "virtual mafia state" with rampant corruption and scant separation between the activities of the government and organised crime. Vladimir Putin is accused of amassing "illicit proceeds" from his time in office, which various sources allege are hidden overseas. And he was likely to have known about the operation in London to murder the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, Washington's top diplomat in Europe alleged.
• British and US officials colluded to manoeuvre around a proposed ban on cluster bombs, allowing the US to keep the munitions on British territory, regardless of whether a treaty forbidding their use was implemented. Parliament was kept in the dark about the secret agreement, approved by then-foreign secretary David Miliband.
• US diplomats believed that the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, bore responsibility for a massacre last year that is the subject of a UN war crimes inquiry.
• Russia armed Georgian separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and carried out a wave of "covert actions" to undermine Georgia in the runup to the 2008 Russian-Georgian war, according to US diplomats.
• President Dmitry Medvedev was described by US diplomats as a junior figure, who "plays Robin to Putin's Batman".
• Gas supplies to Ukranian and EU states are linked to the Russian mafia, according to the US ambassador in Kiev.
• Moscow's veteran mayor Yuri Luzhkov was accused by the US ambassador of sitting on top of a "pyramid of corruption" involving the Kremlin, Russia's police force, its security service, political parties and crime groups by the US ambassador.
• Miliband's campaign to champion aid and human rights during the Sri Lankan humanitarian crisis last year was largely motivated by a desire to win favour with Tamil voters in the UK, according to a Foreign Office official.
Der Spiegel
• The US is sceptical that Russian President Medvedev has much of a future, believing Putin to be "in the driver's seat".
• Having helped to build up Georgia's military capabilities, the US made last-ditch diplomatic attempts to try to prevent it going to war with Russia in 2008. Washington's envoy to the Caucasus warned Georgia that war would "cost it valuable support in Washington and European capitals", while publicly George W Bush and his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, continued to give their unqualified support to Georgia.
• The US has long been trying to loosen Russia's grip on Ukraine, according to diplomatic cables. On the inauguration of the new Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, they sought to make him a US partner thereby striking a diplomatic blow against the Kremlin.
Le Monde
• The US embassy in Moscow criticised the IMF, the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for offering huge loans to Russia it felt were not justified.
El País
• One of the biggest objectives at the US embassy in Madrid over the past seven years has been trying to get the criminal case dropped against three US soldiers accused of the killing of a Spanish television cameraman in Baghdad. Telecinco cameraman José Couso was killed on 8 April 2003 during a tank shelling of the Hotel Palestine where he and other journalists were staying while they were covering the Iraq war. US diplomats held a host of meetings about the case with high-ranking members of the Spanish government.
New York Times
• The Russian prime minister, Putin, often did not show up at his office, according to rumours cited in a document titled Questioning Putin's Work Ethic.
• US diplomats warned of increasing distrust of the United States in Canada. They described "negative popular stereotyping" of Americans on Canadian TV. They also said Canadians "always carry a chip on their shoulder" in part because of a feeling that their country "is condemned to always play 'Robin' to the US 'Batman'".
Day 5, Friday 3 DecemberGuardian
•The British military was criticised for failing to establish security in Sangin by the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, and the US commander of Nato troops, according to diplomatic cables.
•Rampant government corruption in Afghanistan is revealed by the cables, including an incident last year when the then vice-president, Ahmad Zia Massoud, was stopped and questioned in Dubai when he flew into the emirate with $52m in cash.
•Gordon Brown was written off as prime minister by the US embassy in London a year into his premiership. It concluded that an "abysmal track record" had left him lurching from "political disaster to disaster", according to cables released by WikiLeaks. He briefly earned some praise when he led the recapitalising of banks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers but within months his government was deemed a "sinking ship". Brown's international initiatives, from food summits to global disarmament and a UK national security council, were treated with indifference bordering on disdain by the Americans, according to US embassy cables.
•The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, is erratic, emotional and prone to believing paranoid conspiracy theories, according to frustrated diplomats and foreign statesmen. He has also been accused by his own ministers of complicity in criminal activity, including ordering the physical intimidation of the top official in charge of leading negotiations with the Taliban.
•US diplomats have reported suspicions that Silvio Berlusconi could be "profiting personally and handsomely" from secret deals with the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, according to cables released by WikiLeaks. They centre on allegations that the Italian leader has been promised a cut of huge energy contracts. Another memo quoted a friend of Berlusconi saying the Italian prime minister's fondness for partying had taken a physical and political toll on him.
•American officials dismissed British protests about secret US spy flights taking place from the UK's Cyprus airbase, amid concerns from Labour ministers, upset about rendition flights going on behind their backs, that the UK would be an unwitting accomplice to torture.
•The British Foreign Office misled parliament over the plight of thousands of islanders who were expelled from their Indian Ocean homeland – the British colony of Diego Garcia – to make way for a large US military base, according to secret US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks. It has privately admitted its latest plan to declare the islands the world's largest marine protection zone will end any chance of them being repatriated. Publicly ministers have claimed the proposed park would have no effect on the islanders' right of return.
•The cables reveal Washington's opinion on Gordon Brown's potential successors. David Miliband was deemed "too brainy", Alan Johnson had a "lack of killer instinct" and Harriet Harman was a "policy lightweight but an adept interparty operator".
•A scandal involving foreign contractors employed to train Afghan policemen who took drugs and paid for young "dancing boys" to entertain them in northern Afghanistan caused such panic that the interior minister begged the US embassy to try to "quash" the story, according a US embassy cable. The Afghan government feared the story, if published, would "endanger lives" and was particularly concerned that a video of the incident might be made public.
•The US military has been charging its allies a 15% handling fee on hundreds of millions of dollars being raised internationally to build up the Afghan army. Germany has threatened to cancel contributions, raising concerns that money is going to the US treasury.
•Iran is financing a range of Afghan religious and political leaders, grooming Afghan religious scholars, training Taliban militants and even seeking to influence MPs, according to cables from the US embassy in Kabul.
•The US has lost faith in the Mexican army's ability to win the country's drugs war, branding it slow, clumsy and no match for "sophisticated" narco-traffickers.
•The US is convinced that Ahmed Wali Karzai, the Afghan president's younger half-brother and a senior figure in Kandahar, is corrupt, according to embassy cables. He is described as dominating access to "economic resources, patronage and protection". Two of Hamid Karzai's brothers planned to ask for asylum in the US, while other family members stayed away and kept their money out of Afghanistan – so anxious were they that the Afghan president would lose last year's election.
•The Obama administration and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, are determined to reject talks with Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, and have consistently worked to split his movement, according to US diplomatic cables. Karzai has sometimes publicly floated the idea of dialogue with Omar and other top Taliban, but the cables show his private position is the opposite.
•Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Colombia's Álvaro Uribe "almost came to blows" at a Latin America unity summit, according to a US memo, which described it as "the worst expression of banana republic discourse".
•A Kremlin campaign to airbrush Stalin's role in Russian history by dictating how academics write about the past is only half-hearted, US diplomats believe. They also feel there are enough Russians striving to remember the purge victims to combat any rewrite. The cable concerns the so-called "history wars", a nationalist campaign to defend Russia's honour.
•Turkmenistan's president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, is "vain, suspicious, guarded, strict, very conservative", a "micro-manager" and "a practised liar", US diplomats say.
•Four months before his death the Nobel-prize winning writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn offered qualified praise for Vladimir Putin, arguing that he was doing a better job as Russia's leader than Boris Yeltsin or Mikhail Gorbachev. Solzhenitsyn was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1974 and returned to Russia 20 years later.
•Moldova's president offered a $10m (£6.4m) bribe to a political rival in a desperate bid to keep his defeated communist government in power, according to a secret US diplomatic cable.
New York Times
•Afghanistan emerges as a land where bribery, extortion and embezzlement are the norm. Describing the likely lineup of Afghanistan's new cabinet last January, the US embassy noted that the agriculture minister, Asif Rahimi, "appears to be the only minister that was confirmed about whom no allegations of bribery exist".
Der Spiegel
•Berlin was irritated by a 15% administration fee the US sought to charge Germany on a €50m donation made to a trust fund set up to improve the Afghan army. A top German diplomat complained the fee would be a tough sell to taxpayers.
•Mistrust between the US and the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, is very deep. Karzai is convinced the US has thrown its backing behind his rival Abdullah Abdullah.
•The close relationship between Italy's Silvio Berlusconi and Russia's Vladimir Putin is a source of unease for the US state department. The leaked cables contain allegations of personal business interests that both politicians deny.
•US diplomats are concerned about the growing power of Russian organised crime and believe it has contacts with the highest levels of government in Moscow.
Le Monde
•France is committed to staying the course in Afghanistan even though public opposition to the war and electoral considerations have weighed heavily on Nicolas Sarkozy. Amid concerns that the French president was trying to distance himself from the US to improve his popularity, Barack Obama was advised that a phone call to him could have a decisive impact. The US president was told: "Flattery would lead very far."
•Iran is extending its influence in Afghanistan in the same way it did in Iraq. It has been supporting insurgent groups as well as financially backing politicians.
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Wikileaks Releases U.S. Diplomatic Cables
November 2010
Amerian military intelligence analyst gave secret files to Wikileaks. He is under arrest.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said that U.S. military officer Bradley Manning who copied millions of secret document is 'unparalleled hero'.
U.S. Lawmakers want Wikileaks to be placed on terror list for aiding terrorists.
But Iran said WikiLeaks reports are 'worthless'. President Ahmadinejad dismissed the documents released saying its all 'mischief" which would not affect Tehran's relations with its Arab neighbours.
FULL COVERAGE
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/the-us-embassy-cables
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ITN - 28 Nov 2010 8pm GMT
Wikileaks bombshell sparks diplomatic crisis
Thousands of confidential US State Department documents have been released by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
The explosive revelations contained in 250,000 diplomatic cables are threatening to start a global diplomatic crisis.
The leak of the material has been strongly condemned by the US and British governments.
The Guardian is one of five newspapers to have had access to the cables, along with the New York Times, Der Spiegel in Germany, Le Monde in France and El Pais in Spain.
The Guardian said that the newspapers which had seen the leaks planned to publish extracts from the most significant cables but did not intend to "dump" the entire database into the public domain or to publish names that would endanger innocent individuals.
The White House said that the disclosure of confidential diplomatic communications on the front pages of newspapers around the world would "deeply impact" US foreign interests.
"To be clear - 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," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
He added: "By releasing stolen and classified documents, WikiLeaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and work of these individuals."
The Foreign Office said: "We 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."
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Wikileaks: the claims
According to newspaper websites, the classified US Government documents released by WikiLeaks include claims of:
- "Inappropriate behaviour" by a member of the Royal Family.
- Requests for "specific intelligence" about British MPs.
- "Devastating" criticisms of British operations in Iraq.
- "Serious political criticisms" of Prime Minister David Cameron.
- US diplomats pressuring countries to resettle former Guantanamo detainees.
- "Grave fears" in London and Washington over the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.
- "Harsh" criticism by US embassy staff of their host governments, including Russia and China.
- Alleged links between the Russian government and organised crime.
- Details of countries involved in financing terrorist groups.
- Reports of a near environmental "disaster" involving a rogue shipment of enriched uranium.
- Technical details of secret US-Russian nuclear missile negotiations in Geneva.
- Secret US efforts to combat al-Qaeda in Yemen.
- A description of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who is said to be accompanied everywhere by a "voluptuous blonde" Ukrainian nurse.
- Reports that the King of Bahrein and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia urged the Americans to take military action to halt Iran's nuclear programme.
- US assessments that Iran has obtained advanced missiles from North Korea that could enable it to strike European capitals.
- Secret - and so far unsuccessful - US efforts to remove highly enriched uranium from a Pakistani research reactor amid fears it could be diverted for use in an illegal nuclear device.
- Conversations between American and South Korean officials over the prospects for a unified Korea, should the North's economic troubles and political transition lead it to "implode".
- A global campaign of computer sabotage by Chinese government agents.
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WikiLeaks: US 'urged to strike Iran'
Arab rulers secretly lobbied America to launch air strikes to destroy Iran's nuclear programme, according to leaked US diplomatic cables.
Details from 250,000 leaked United States embassy cables obtained by the WikiLeaks whistleblowers website have been published by a number of newspapers given advance sight of the material, including The Guardian.
The newspaper said it would be publishing details later in the week of cables relating to the UK - including allegations of "inappropriate behaviour" by a member of the Royal Family which was said to have "startled" US diplomats.
There was no immediate response from Buckingham Palace to a report that the member of the Royal Family involved in allegations of "inappropriate behaviour" was the Duke of York.
The WikiLeaks documents are also said to include "serious political criticism" of David Cameron and "devastating criticism" of British military operations in Afghanistan.
Potentially most seriously of all for the UK, The Guardian said that the cables included requests for "specific intelligence" about British MPs.
Both the British and US governments have strongly condemned the leaks while insisting that they would not damage relations between the two countries.
The most striking of the initial disclosures is that Arab leaders have been privately urging the US to take military action to halt Iran's nuclear programme before it is too late.
The King of Bahrain was quoted as telling US diplomats that Tehran's nuclear drive "must be stopped". In another cable, he was said to have warned: "The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it".
He was said to have been backed by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who was said to have repeatedly urged Washington to "cut off the head of the snake" while there was still time.
The cables were also said include "harsh" criticism by US embassy staff of their host governments, including Russia and China, and unflattering pen portraits of world leaders.
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin is described as "alpha dog" and the cables are said to detail alleged links between the government in Moscow and organised crime.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai was said to be "driven by paranoia" while German chancellor Angela Merkel "avoids risks and is rarely creative". Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is compared to Hitler.
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Wikileaks releases US State Department files
Thousands of confidential US State Department documents have been released by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.
The documents show that Saudi donors remain chief financiers of militant groups like al-Qaeda and that Chinese government operatives have waged a co-ordinated campaign of computer sabotage targeting the United States and its allies, according to newspaper reports.
The Pentagon has condemned the website's release of classified documents to newspapers as "reckless" and said it was taking steps to bolster security of classified US military networks.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the US Defense Department "has undertaken a series of actions to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future", citing steps to prevent the downloading of classified computer data to removable devices.
The US administration's unflattering assessment of David Cameron is set to be made public by the Guardian.
Journalist Simon Hoggart said: "There is going to be some embarrassment certainly for Gordon Brown but even more so for David Cameron who was not very highly regarded by the Obama administration or by the US ambassador here."
The US administration has warned that the release of the files would put "countless" lives at risk, threaten global counter-terrorism operations and jeopardise America's relations with its allies.
The Foreign Office said in a statement: "We 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."
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AFP
WikiLeaks unleashes a flood of damaging US cables
Whistleblower website WikiLeaks has unleashed a flood of US cables detailing shocking diplomatic episodes, from a nuclear standoff with Pakistan to Arab leaders urging a strike on Iran.
The leaked memos describe a Chinese government bid to hack into Google; plans to reunite the Korean peninsula after the North's eventual collapse; Saudi Arabia's king's call to the US to bomb Iran to halt its nuclear drive.
The documents also showed that Israel discussed its planned war on Gaza with the Palestinian leadership and Egypt ahead of time, offering to hand them control of the strip if it defeated Hamas.
The confidential cables, most of which date from 2007 to February this year, also reveal how the State Department has ordered diplomats to spy on foreign officials and even to obtain their credit card and frequent flier numbers.
The memos, released on Sunday, recount closed-door remarks such as Yemen's president telling a top US general: "We'll continue saying the bombs are ours, not yours" when discussing secretive US strikes on Al-Qaeda.
A description of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi said he required the near-constant assistance of a "voluptuous blond" Ukrainian nurse.
The Guardian newspaper reported that a classified directive sent to US diplomats under US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's name in July 2009 sought technical details about the communications systems used by top UN officials.
The directive also sought intelligence on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's "management and decision-making style," said to the report.
UN officials declined to comment.
In another document, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told his French counterpart that Israel could strike Iran without US military support but the operation might not be successful.
The New York Times, Britain's The Guardian, Germany's Der Spiegel, France's Le Monde and Spain's El Pais published the first batch of the documents on Sunday, saying more would follow in the coming days.
WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange described the release as a "diplomatic history of the United States" that would cover "every major issue."
Despite coming under a cyber attack that took down its main website earlier in the day, WikiLeaks started publishing the 251,287 cables -- 15,652 of which are classified "secret" -- from 274 US embassies around the world on a sub-website http://cablegate.wikileaks.org.
In an introduction, it painted the United States as a hypocritical superpower and attacked "the contradictions between the US's public persona and what it says behind closed doors."
The White House hit back, saying the release was a "reckless and dangerous action" that put lives in danger.
"To be clear -- 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," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.
The Pentagon, already infuriated by the website's publication of secret Afghanistan and Iraq war logs earlier this year, unveiled new steps to prevent future leaks.
US officials had raced to contain the diplomatic fallout by warning more than a dozen governments of the impending leaks, but Washington refused to negotiate with WikiLeaks, saying it had obtained the cables illegally.
Assange has denied the release of the documents placed individuals at risk.
"As far as we are aware, and as far as anyone has ever alleged in any credible manner whatsoever, no single individual has ever come to harm as a result of anything that we have ever published," he said Sunday.
The New York Times explained its decision to publish the cables by saying they "serve an important public interest."
The newspaper said it had "taken care to exclude... information that would endanger confidential informants or compromise national security".
It had consulted White House officials on sensitive issues but reserved the final decision to itself, it said.
The Guardian said all five papers had decided "neither to 'dump' the entire dataset into the public domain, nor to publish names that would endanger innocent individuals."
But one Saudi government advisor told AFP: "The whole thing is very negative.
"It's not good for confidence-building," he said on condition of anonymity.
US officials have not confirmed the source of the leaks, but suspicion has fallen on Bradley Manning, a former army intelligence agent arrested after the release of a video showing air strikes that killed reporters in Iraq.
WikiLeaks argues that the first two document dumps -- nearly 500,000 US military incident reports from 2004 to 2009 -- shed light on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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WikiLeaks 'Should Be A Terror Organisation'
An American politician has called for WikiLeaks to be designated a terrorist organisation following the release of the latest batch of leaked documents.
New York Republican Peter King said the organisation was a "clear and present danger" to the US.
"WikiLeaks presents a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States," he said. "I strongly urge you (Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton) to work within the Administration to use every offensive capability of the US government to prevent further damaging releases by WikiLeaks."
The Foreign Office said the actions of WikiLeaks risked British lives and security.
"We condemn any unauthorised release of this classified information, just as we condemn leaks of classified material in the UK," a spokesman said.
"They can damage national security, are not in the national interest and, as the US have said, may put lives at risk."
The White House was also critical of the leak of US cables.
"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," a spokesman said.
"Such disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world."
Roger Cressey, a former US cyber and counter-terrorism official, said the leaks would have a "devastating" effect on diplomatic relations and on the fight against al Qaeda.
"The essence of our foreign policy is our ability to talk straight and honest with our foreign counterparts and to keep those conversations out of the public domain," he said.
"This massive leak puts that most basic of diplomatic requirements at risk in the future."
He added: "Think of relations with Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Afghanistan, governments who we need to work with us in defeating al Qaeda.
"This kind of leak will seriously hinder our ability to persuade these governments to support our counterterrorism priorities in the future."
However, Professor Michael Cox, associate fellow of the think-tank Chatham House, said the political fallout had been exaggerated.
"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," he said.
"The really secret information, I would suggest, is still pretty safe and probably won't end up on WikiLeaks."
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WikiLeaks releases list of global sites 'vital' to US
WikiLeaks has divulged a secret list compiled by Washington of key infrastructure sites around the world that could pose a critical danger to US security if they come under terrorist attack.
The newly released diplomatic cable is one of the most explosive yet out of many leaked by the whistle-blowing website that have heaped embarrassment on Washington and caused anger around the world.
Among other revelations, the latest WikiLeaks document dump showed Australia's then leader Kevin Rudd warning US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that force might be needed against China "if everything goes wrong".
A State Department cable from February 2009 asked US missions to update a list of infrastructure and key resources worldwide whose loss "could critically impact" the country's public health, economic life and national security.
It details undersea cables, key communications, ports, mineral resources and firms of strategic importance in countries ranging from Britain to New Zealand, via Africa, the Middle East and China.
A Canadian hydroelectric plant is described as a "critical irreplaceable source of power to portions of Northeast US," while a Siemens factory in Germany does "essentially irreplaceable production of key chemicals".
Also listed are European manufacturers of vaccines for smallpox and rabies, an Italian maker of treatment for snake-bite venom, and a German company making treatment for plutonium poisoning.
According to the diplomatic cable, the request was designed "to strengthen national preparedness, timely response, and rapid recovery in the event of an attack, natural disaster or other emergency".
Compilation of the list would help "prevent, deter, neutralize or mitigate the effects of deliberate efforts by terrorists to destroy, incapacitate or exploit" sites deemed of "vital" importance to the United States.
Malcolm Rifkind, a former British defense and foreign secretary, lashed out at WikiLeaks for releasing the list.
"This is further evidence that they have been generally irresponsible, bordering on criminal. This is the kind of information terrorists are interested in knowing," he said, according to British media.
The release will add to the political storm engulfing WikiLeaks and its 39-year-old founder Julian Assange, who broke cover on Friday to say in an online chat that he had boosted his security after receiving death threats.
The website is already battling to secure its avenues for financial donations online, and has been hop-scotching across servers and legal jurisdictions to evade a total shutdown.
Assange's British lawyer, Mark Stephens, said Sunday that a legal pursuit of Assange in Sweden had "political motivations".
But Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny, who is investigating allegations of rape and sexual assault against Assange, defended her prosecution in comments to AFP.
"This investigation has proceeded perfectly normally without any political pressure of any kind," said Ny, who, via Interpol, has asked police forces around the world to track Assange down.
Leading US lawmakers are calling for Assange's arrest or even execution. Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell slammed him Sunday as a "high-tech terrorist".
Among the latest revelations:
-- One cable said Saudi Arabia was the key source of funding for radical Islamist groups including Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hamas.
-- Gulf states Qatar and Kuwait are lax in pursuing locals who donated to the groups, according to the cable dated December 2009.
-- Qatar is using the Arabic TV news channel Al-Jazeera as a bargaining chip in negotiations with other countries, despite the broadcaster's insistence that it is editorially independent.
-- Clinton views Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as a "behind-the-scenes puppeteer" who chafes at his role working alongside President Dmitry Medvedev.
Another leak with the potential to infuriate China revealed details of a conversation between Rudd, when he was Australia's prime minister, and Clinton over a Washington lunch in March 2009.
Rudd called for "integrating China effectively into the international community and allowing it to demonstrate greater responsibility, all while also preparing to deploy force if everything goes wrong," the cable stated.
Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat who is now foreign minister, said Monday that Australia had a robust relationship with China and that he had no intention of contacting Beijing over the cable.
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Wikileaks reveals 'Most Critical' US Global Assets
WikiLeaks has released a secret list of key infrastructure sites around the world whose loss or attack by terrorists could "critically impact" US security.
Part of the latest release of US embassy cables by the whistleblowing website, the document details hundreds of pipelines, cables and industrial sites around the world that America deems crucial to securing its interests.
The State Department has condemned the leak of the locations - many of which are in Britain - as "irresponsible", claiming it threatens US national security.
A former British foreign and defence secretary has reportedly described the publication as "bordering on criminal".
Sir Malcolm Rifkind told The Times: "This is the kind of information terrorists are interested in knowing.
"This is further evidence that they [WikiLeaks] have been generally irresponsible, bordering on criminal."
According to the secret cable, US embassies were instructed to update a list of key sites in their countries which would "critically impact the public health, economic security and/or national and homeland security of the United States" if they were lost.
Meanwhile, other documents have claimed the US believes donors from Saudi Arabia are "the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide".
A confidential memo sent by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last December referred to the kingdom as a "cash machine" for al Qaeda.
In a series of cables cited by the New York Times, other countries in the region also come under fire.
The United Arab Emirates is described as having a "strategic gap" that terrorists could exploit, Qatar is seen as "the worst in the region" on counter-terrorism and Kuwait is labelled "a key transit point".
The newspaper has detailed a long list of possible methods suspected terrorists are using to fund their activities.
One memo claims militants often used the annual Hajj pilgrimage for laundering money - and cash from pilgrims was used to finance the Mumbai bombings.
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AFP: Iran: WikiLeaks reports are 'worthless'
TEHRAN — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday dismissed documents released by whistleblower WikiLeaks as "worthless" and 'mischief" which would not affect Tehran's relations with its Arab neighbours.
"The documents that they released are a mischief. We do not see any value in them. This act is worthless," he said at a press conference broadcast live on state TV.
"These documents are prepared and released by the US government in a planned manner and in pursuance of an aim. It is part of an intelligence warfare and will not have their desired political impact.
"We are friends with the regional countries and mischievous acts will not affect relations," he said.
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NEW YORK TIMES
November 29, 2010
Iran’s President Calls Leaked Documents U.S. Plot
In Iran’s first official reaction to leaked State Department cables quoting Arab leaders as urging the United States to bomb Tehran’s nuclear facilities, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the documents as American psychological warfare that would not affect his country’s relations with other nations, news reports said.
The documents seemed to show several Arab nations, notably Saudi Arabia, Iran’s rival for influence in the Persian Gulf, displaying such hostility that King Abdullah repeatedly implored Washington to “cut off the head of the snake” while there was still time.
Nonetheless, Mr. Ahmadinejad said at a news conference on Monday that Iran’s relations with its neighbors would not be damaged by the reports.
“Regional countries are all friends with each other. Such mischief will have no impact on the relations of countries,” he said, according to Reuters.
“Some part of the American government produced these documents,” he said. “We don’t think this information was leaked. We think it was organized to be released on a regular basis and they are pursuing political goals.”
News reports quoted Mr. Ahmadinejad as calling the documents “worthless” and without “legal value.”
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THE GUARDIAN
Monday 29 November
WikiLeaks claims are 'psychological warfare' says Ahmadinejad
Iranian president claims that the leaks are part of a campaign of psychological warfare against his country
Iran today hit back at the latest batch of Wikileaks revelations, with its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, claiming that the leaks were part of a psychological warfare campaign against his country.
Iranian media also commented that the United States does not trust its "agents" inside the Islamic republic and alleged US links to the mass protests that followed last year's disputed election.
Press TV, the English-language Iranian TV channel, highlighted evidence from state department cables that US diplomats are apparently engaged in espionage — a charge that will have special resonance in a country where the empty US embassy is still routinely referred to as "the nest of spies".
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Iran says Wiki-releases were planned in advance
Iran's President has questioned the recent leaked documents obtained and published by the Wikileaks website, saying the US administration "released" material intentionally.
In response to a question by Press TV on Monday over the whistleblower website's "leaks," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said "let me first correct you. The material was not leaked, but rather released in an organized way."
"The US administration released them and based on them they pass judgment …. [The documents] have no legal value and will not have the political effect they seek," the Iranian chief executive added at the press briefing in Tehran.
Ahmadinejad stressed that the Wikileaks "game" is "not worth commenting upon and that no one would waste their time reviewing them."
"The countries in the region are like friends and brothers and these acts of mischief will not affect their relations," he added.
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THE GUARDIAN
Monday 29 November 2010
Wikileaks embassy cables: the key points at a glance
There are no fewer than 251,287 cables from more than 250 US embassies around the world, obtained by Wikileaks. We present a day-by-day guide to the revelations from the US embassy cables both from the Guardian and its international media partners in the story.
• The US faces a worldwide diplomatic crisis. More than 250,000 classified cables from American embassies are leaked, many sent as recently as February.
• Saudi Arabia put pressure on the US to attack Iran. Other Arab allies also secretly agitated for military action against Tehran.
• Washington is running a secret intelligence campaign targeted at the leadership of the United Nations, including the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, and the permanent security council representatives from China, Russia, France and the UK.
• Details of the round-the-clock offensive by US government officials, politicians, diplomats and military officers to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions and roll back its advance across the Middle East.
• How Israel regarded 2010 as a "critical year" for tackling Iran's alleged quest for nuclear weapons and warned the United States that time is running out to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.
• The secret EU plot to boycott the inauguration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president after the disputed Iranian election in 2009.
• Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were denied blueprints for a secret nuclear reactor near Qom and told by Iran that evidence of bomb-grade uranium enrichment was forged.
• Saudi Arabia complained directly to the Iranian foreign minister of Iranian "meddling" in the Middle East.
• The US accused Iran of abusing the strict neutrality of the Iranian Red Crescent (IRC) society to smuggle intelligence agents and weapons into other countries, including Lebanon.
• Britain's ambassador to Iran gave the US a private masterclass on how to negotiate with Iran.
• How a 75-year-old American of Iranian descent rode a horse over a freezing mountain range into Turkey after officials confiscated his passport.
Plus:
• The story of how the 250,000 US embassy cables were leaked.
• Background on Siprnet: where America stores its secret cables.
• Editor's note: publishing the cables.
• Explore the Guardian's searchable database of the leaked embassy cables
Der Spiegel
A long piece in English primarily about the US view of Germany, including some bracing views of Berlin's leadership and the description of Chancellor Angela Merkel as "risk averse and rarely creative".
New York Times
The New York Times highlights US intelligence assessments that Iran has acquired missiles from North Korea which could for the first time enable Tehran to strike at western European capitals.
El País
A trawl through the 3,620 documents in the haul originating from the US embassy in Madrid, dating from 2004 to this year (in Spanish).
Le Monde
The French paper also leads on the allegations of US spying on UN leaders but also covers Washington's view of France, as gleaned from the cables (in French). President Nicolas Sarkozy is described as "susceptible and authoritarian", and a French diplomatic adviser has described Iran as a fascist state and Venezuela's president Hugo Chávez as a madman transforming his country into another Zimbabwe.
Day 2, Tuesday 30 NovemberGuardian
• China is ready to accept Korean unification and is distancing itself from North Korea which it describes as behaving like a "spoiled child". Cables say Kim Jong-il is a "flabby old chap" losing his grip and drinking.
• Prince Andrew attacked a Serious Fraud Office anti-corruption investigation during a meeting with British businessmen in Kyrgyzstan and criticised a Guardian investigation – and the French – in what the US ambassador there described as "an astonishingly candid" performance verging on the rude. He is also reported to like big game hunting and falconry.
• An official from the Commonwealth secretariat claimed Prince Charles is not respected in the same way as the Queen and questioned whether the heir apparent should necessarily succeed his mother as the head of the Commonwealth.
• Hillary Clinton wanted a briefing on the mental health of Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner and asked whether she was taking medication to calm her down.
Der Spiegel
• The German magazine focuses on the US administration's search for countries willing to take its Guantánamo prisoners, if it closed the base down, and the German government's reluctance to help, with foreign minister Wolfgang Schäuble reportedly very sceptical. The German government would not accept 17 Uighur prisoners, despite the support of the Uighur exiled community in Munich, for fear of upsetting the Chinese government.
There is an extensive network of informants in Berlin, informing the US about Angela Merkel's coalition negotiations. Merkel is described as an enigma, and sceptical about the US.
• The US administration doubts the Turkish government's dependability as an ally, describing it as having little understanding of the outside world and its foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu's "neo-Ottoman visions" as exceptionally dangerous. It describes a Muslim fraternity within the governing party and an "iron ring of sycophantic but contemptuous advisers".
Le Monde
• The French newspaper Le Monde reports US diplomats describing the former president of Haiti, René Préval, as "indispensable but difficult ... a chameleon character" unwilling to accept advice.
• In 2005, US diplomats reported France as being a difficult ally in the fight against international terrorism, because its specialist investigating magistrates were insular, centred on Paris and operating in "another world".
El País
• Spain's El País focuses on repeated attempts by the US to curb court cases in Spain against American soldiers and politicians accused of involvement in Iraq war crimes or torture at Guantánamo. It highlights a series of cables relating to the possibility of Spain accepting former Guantánamo prisoners. Spain's political situation and public opinion made this "almost impossible", an official said.
Day 3, Wednesday 1 DecemberThe Guardian
• The head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, privately criticised David Cameron and George Osborne (now the prime minister and chancellor) before the election for their lack of experience, the lack of depth in their inner circle and their tendency to think about issues only in terms of their electoral impact. Osborne lacked gravitas and was seen as a political lightweight because of his "high-pitched vocal delivery" according to private Conservative polling before the election.
• US and British diplomats fear that Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme could lead to terrorists obtaining fissile material, or a devastating nuclear exchange with India. Also, small teams of US special forces have been operating secretly inside Pakistan's tribal areas, with Pakistani government approval. And the US concluded that Pakistani troops were responsible for a spate of extra-judicial killings in the Swat Valley and tribal belt, but decided not to comment publicly.
• Gordon Brown unsuccessfully lobbied the US for the British computer hacker Gary McKinnon to be allowed to serve any jail sentence in the UK. David Cameron said British people generally believe McKinnon is guilty "but they are sympathetic".
• The US ambassador to Pakistan said the Pakistani army is covertly sponsoring four major militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and the Mumbai attackers, Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT), and "no amount of money" will change the policy. Also, US diplomats discovered hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Pakistan earmarked for fighting Islamist militants was not used for that purpose.
• Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, considered pushing President Asif Ali Zardari from office and forcing him into exile to resolve a political dispute, the US embassy cables reveal. Separately, Zardari once told the US vice-president, Joe Biden, he feared the military "might take me out". He told the Americans his sister would lead if he was assassinated. Another cable revealed that the Pakistani president was described as a "numbskull" by Sir Jock Stirrup, Britain's then chief of defence staff.
• The US praised former British Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg for his campaign to persuade European countries to take in remaining detainees from the prison camp.
• Senior Lib Dem officials, who now work in No 10 and the Cabinet Office, planned a campaign to depict David Cameron as "fake" and "out of touch" during the election campaign, but abandoned the strategy because it was deemed too aggressive after the death of his son, Ivan.
• The Tories told the US before the general election that a Conservative government could be tougher on Pakistan as it was less reliant on votes from people with a Pakistani connections than Labour. Referring to Muslim extremists coming to Britain from Pakistan, Cameron said that under Labour "we let in a lot of crazies and did not wake up early enough".
• Zardari claimed that the brother of Pakistan's opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, "tipped off" LeT about impending UN sanctions after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, allowing the group to empty its bank accounts. British diplomats feared India would respond with force to the attacks but the US thought the UK was "over-reacting".
• The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is portrayed as a self-absorbed, thin-skinned, erratic character who tyrannises his ministers and staff but is also a brilliant political tactician, in US memos. The Saudis were irritated by Sarkozy planning to take Carla Bruni on a state visit to their country before she was married. Sarkozy invited Gordon Brown and the Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, to last year's D-day commemorations because "the survival of their governments was at stake".
• The British government promised to protect US interests during the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war.
• The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has been sheltering the leader of the nationalist insurgency in Pakistan's Balochistan province for years.
Le Monde
• Le Monde focuses on what the cables say about Sarkozy, notably his pro-Americanism, his idea that an international force could replace the US in Iraq, and the US view on his election that he was "a novice" in international affairs with a poor grasp of English.
Der Spiegel
• The paper has significant coverage of Pakistan, with a story that the Pakistani military and secret service are heavily involved in the country's politics and often work against US interests.
• A subsidiary of the US private security firm Xe (then known as Blackwater) flouted German arms export law. It transported German helicopters to Afghanistan via Britain and Turkey without a permit because it was taking too long to get the German export papers.
Day 4, Thursday 2 DecemberThe Guardian
• Russia is a "virtual mafia state" with rampant corruption and scant separation between the activities of the government and organised crime. Vladimir Putin is accused of amassing "illicit proceeds" from his time in office, which various sources allege are hidden overseas. And he was likely to have known about the operation in London to murder the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, Washington's top diplomat in Europe alleged.
• British and US officials colluded to manoeuvre around a proposed ban on cluster bombs, allowing the US to keep the munitions on British territory, regardless of whether a treaty forbidding their use was implemented. Parliament was kept in the dark about the secret agreement, approved by then-foreign secretary David Miliband.
• US diplomats believed that the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, bore responsibility for a massacre last year that is the subject of a UN war crimes inquiry.
• Russia armed Georgian separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and carried out a wave of "covert actions" to undermine Georgia in the runup to the 2008 Russian-Georgian war, according to US diplomats.
• President Dmitry Medvedev was described by US diplomats as a junior figure, who "plays Robin to Putin's Batman".
• Gas supplies to Ukranian and EU states are linked to the Russian mafia, according to the US ambassador in Kiev.
• Moscow's veteran mayor Yuri Luzhkov was accused by the US ambassador of sitting on top of a "pyramid of corruption" involving the Kremlin, Russia's police force, its security service, political parties and crime groups by the US ambassador.
• Miliband's campaign to champion aid and human rights during the Sri Lankan humanitarian crisis last year was largely motivated by a desire to win favour with Tamil voters in the UK, according to a Foreign Office official.
Der Spiegel
• The US is sceptical that Russian President Medvedev has much of a future, believing Putin to be "in the driver's seat".
• Having helped to build up Georgia's military capabilities, the US made last-ditch diplomatic attempts to try to prevent it going to war with Russia in 2008. Washington's envoy to the Caucasus warned Georgia that war would "cost it valuable support in Washington and European capitals", while publicly George W Bush and his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, continued to give their unqualified support to Georgia.
• The US has long been trying to loosen Russia's grip on Ukraine, according to diplomatic cables. On the inauguration of the new Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, they sought to make him a US partner thereby striking a diplomatic blow against the Kremlin.
Le Monde
• The US embassy in Moscow criticised the IMF, the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for offering huge loans to Russia it felt were not justified.
El País
• One of the biggest objectives at the US embassy in Madrid over the past seven years has been trying to get the criminal case dropped against three US soldiers accused of the killing of a Spanish television cameraman in Baghdad. Telecinco cameraman José Couso was killed on 8 April 2003 during a tank shelling of the Hotel Palestine where he and other journalists were staying while they were covering the Iraq war. US diplomats held a host of meetings about the case with high-ranking members of the Spanish government.
New York Times
• The Russian prime minister, Putin, often did not show up at his office, according to rumours cited in a document titled Questioning Putin's Work Ethic.
• US diplomats warned of increasing distrust of the United States in Canada. They described "negative popular stereotyping" of Americans on Canadian TV. They also said Canadians "always carry a chip on their shoulder" in part because of a feeling that their country "is condemned to always play 'Robin' to the US 'Batman'".
Day 5, Friday 3 DecemberGuardian
•The British military was criticised for failing to establish security in Sangin by the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, and the US commander of Nato troops, according to diplomatic cables.
•Rampant government corruption in Afghanistan is revealed by the cables, including an incident last year when the then vice-president, Ahmad Zia Massoud, was stopped and questioned in Dubai when he flew into the emirate with $52m in cash.
•Gordon Brown was written off as prime minister by the US embassy in London a year into his premiership. It concluded that an "abysmal track record" had left him lurching from "political disaster to disaster", according to cables released by WikiLeaks. He briefly earned some praise when he led the recapitalising of banks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers but within months his government was deemed a "sinking ship". Brown's international initiatives, from food summits to global disarmament and a UK national security council, were treated with indifference bordering on disdain by the Americans, according to US embassy cables.
•The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, is erratic, emotional and prone to believing paranoid conspiracy theories, according to frustrated diplomats and foreign statesmen. He has also been accused by his own ministers of complicity in criminal activity, including ordering the physical intimidation of the top official in charge of leading negotiations with the Taliban.
•US diplomats have reported suspicions that Silvio Berlusconi could be "profiting personally and handsomely" from secret deals with the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, according to cables released by WikiLeaks. They centre on allegations that the Italian leader has been promised a cut of huge energy contracts. Another memo quoted a friend of Berlusconi saying the Italian prime minister's fondness for partying had taken a physical and political toll on him.
•American officials dismissed British protests about secret US spy flights taking place from the UK's Cyprus airbase, amid concerns from Labour ministers, upset about rendition flights going on behind their backs, that the UK would be an unwitting accomplice to torture.
•The British Foreign Office misled parliament over the plight of thousands of islanders who were expelled from their Indian Ocean homeland – the British colony of Diego Garcia – to make way for a large US military base, according to secret US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks. It has privately admitted its latest plan to declare the islands the world's largest marine protection zone will end any chance of them being repatriated. Publicly ministers have claimed the proposed park would have no effect on the islanders' right of return.
•The cables reveal Washington's opinion on Gordon Brown's potential successors. David Miliband was deemed "too brainy", Alan Johnson had a "lack of killer instinct" and Harriet Harman was a "policy lightweight but an adept interparty operator".
•A scandal involving foreign contractors employed to train Afghan policemen who took drugs and paid for young "dancing boys" to entertain them in northern Afghanistan caused such panic that the interior minister begged the US embassy to try to "quash" the story, according a US embassy cable. The Afghan government feared the story, if published, would "endanger lives" and was particularly concerned that a video of the incident might be made public.
•The US military has been charging its allies a 15% handling fee on hundreds of millions of dollars being raised internationally to build up the Afghan army. Germany has threatened to cancel contributions, raising concerns that money is going to the US treasury.
•Iran is financing a range of Afghan religious and political leaders, grooming Afghan religious scholars, training Taliban militants and even seeking to influence MPs, according to cables from the US embassy in Kabul.
•The US has lost faith in the Mexican army's ability to win the country's drugs war, branding it slow, clumsy and no match for "sophisticated" narco-traffickers.
•The US is convinced that Ahmed Wali Karzai, the Afghan president's younger half-brother and a senior figure in Kandahar, is corrupt, according to embassy cables. He is described as dominating access to "economic resources, patronage and protection". Two of Hamid Karzai's brothers planned to ask for asylum in the US, while other family members stayed away and kept their money out of Afghanistan – so anxious were they that the Afghan president would lose last year's election.
•The Obama administration and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, are determined to reject talks with Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, and have consistently worked to split his movement, according to US diplomatic cables. Karzai has sometimes publicly floated the idea of dialogue with Omar and other top Taliban, but the cables show his private position is the opposite.
•Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Colombia's Álvaro Uribe "almost came to blows" at a Latin America unity summit, according to a US memo, which described it as "the worst expression of banana republic discourse".
•A Kremlin campaign to airbrush Stalin's role in Russian history by dictating how academics write about the past is only half-hearted, US diplomats believe. They also feel there are enough Russians striving to remember the purge victims to combat any rewrite. The cable concerns the so-called "history wars", a nationalist campaign to defend Russia's honour.
•Turkmenistan's president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, is "vain, suspicious, guarded, strict, very conservative", a "micro-manager" and "a practised liar", US diplomats say.
•Four months before his death the Nobel-prize winning writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn offered qualified praise for Vladimir Putin, arguing that he was doing a better job as Russia's leader than Boris Yeltsin or Mikhail Gorbachev. Solzhenitsyn was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1974 and returned to Russia 20 years later.
•Moldova's president offered a $10m (£6.4m) bribe to a political rival in a desperate bid to keep his defeated communist government in power, according to a secret US diplomatic cable.
New York Times
•Afghanistan emerges as a land where bribery, extortion and embezzlement are the norm. Describing the likely lineup of Afghanistan's new cabinet last January, the US embassy noted that the agriculture minister, Asif Rahimi, "appears to be the only minister that was confirmed about whom no allegations of bribery exist".
Der Spiegel
•Berlin was irritated by a 15% administration fee the US sought to charge Germany on a €50m donation made to a trust fund set up to improve the Afghan army. A top German diplomat complained the fee would be a tough sell to taxpayers.
•Mistrust between the US and the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, is very deep. Karzai is convinced the US has thrown its backing behind his rival Abdullah Abdullah.
•The close relationship between Italy's Silvio Berlusconi and Russia's Vladimir Putin is a source of unease for the US state department. The leaked cables contain allegations of personal business interests that both politicians deny.
•US diplomats are concerned about the growing power of Russian organised crime and believe it has contacts with the highest levels of government in Moscow.
Le Monde
•France is committed to staying the course in Afghanistan even though public opposition to the war and electoral considerations have weighed heavily on Nicolas Sarkozy. Amid concerns that the French president was trying to distance himself from the US to improve his popularity, Barack Obama was advised that a phone call to him could have a decisive impact. The US president was told: "Flattery would lead very far."
•Iran is extending its influence in Afghanistan in the same way it did in Iraq. It has been supporting insurgent groups as well as financially backing politicians.
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