US EMBASSY CABLES POSTED

[BetsysGhost]

Source: GUARDIAN UK

US embassy cables: browse the databaseUse our interactive guide to discover what has been revealed in the leak of 250,000 US diplomatic cables.

Mouse over the map below to find stories and original documents by country, subject or people


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-wikileaks

[Turborama]

1. US Embassy Cables Released by The Guardian/US embassy cables leak sparks global diplomacy crisis

Source: The Guardian



Secret US embassy cables taken from a cache of 250,000 cables leaked to the Guardian by whistleblowers' website WikiLeaks

Find them at the link below...



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/us-embassy-cables-the-documents

---

US embassy cables leak sparks global diplomacy crisis

• More than 250,000 dispatches reveal US foreign strategies
• Diplomats ordered to spy on allies as well as enemies
• Hillary Clinton leads frantic 'damage limitation'

David Leigh
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 November 2010 18.13 GMT

The United States was catapulted into a worldwide diplomatic crisis today, with the leaking to the Guardian and other international media of more than 250,000 classified cables from its embassies, many sent as recently as February this year.

At the start of a series of daily extracts from the US embassy cables - many of which are designated "secret" – the Guardian can disclose that Arab leaders are privately urging an air strike on Iran and that US officials have been instructed to spy on the UN's leadership.

These two revelations alone would be likely to reverberate around the world. But the secret dispatches which were obtained by WikiLeaks, the whistlebowers' website, also reveal Washington's evaluation of many other highly sensitive international issues.

These include a major shift in relations between China and North Korea, Pakistan's growing instability and details of clandestine US efforts to combat al-Qaida in Yemen.

Much Much More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cable-leak-diplomacy-crisis


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WikiLeaks US embassy cables: live updates
Reaction and updates following the release of more than 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables from WikiLeaks

Here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/nov/28/wikileaks-us-embassy-cables-live-blog

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

US embassy cables: browse the database

Use our interactive guide to discover what has been revealed in the leak of 250,000 US diplomatic cables. Mouse over the map below to find stories and original documents by country, subject or people
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-wikileaks

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[Elmore Furth]

3. Details of the Cables are Embarrassing

What a tangled web we weave when first we practice diplomacy.

By SCOTT SHANE and ANDREW W. LEHREN
Published: November 28, 2010

Among their revelations, to be detailed in The Times in coming days:

¶ A dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel: Since 2007, the United States has mounted a highly secret effort, so far unsuccessful, to remove from a Pakistani research reactor highly enriched uranium that American officials fear could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device. In May 2009, Ambassador Anne W. Patterson reported that Pakistan was refusing to schedule a visit by American technical experts because, as a Pakistani official said, “if the local media got word of the fuel removal, ‘they certainly would portray it as the United States taking Pakistan’s nuclear weapons,’ he argued.”

¶ Gaming out an eventual collapse of North Korea: American and South Korean officials have discussed the prospects for a unified Korea, should the North’s economic troubles and political transition lead the state to implode. The South Koreans even considered commercial inducements to China, according to the American ambassador to Seoul. She told Washington in February that South Korean officials believe that the right business deals would “help salve” China’s “concerns about living with a reunified Korea” that is in a “benign alliance” with the United States.

¶ Bargaining to empty the Guantánamo Bay prison: When American diplomats pressed other countries to resettle detainees, they became reluctant players in a State Department version of “Let’s Make a Deal.” Slovenia was told to take a prisoner if it wanted to meet with President Obama, while the island nation of Kiribati was offered incentives worth millions of dollars to take in a group of detainees, cables from diplomats recounted. The Americans, meanwhile, suggested that accepting more prisoners would be “a low-cost way for Belgium to attain prominence in Europe.”

¶ Suspicions of corruption in the Afghan government: When Afghanistan’s vice president visited the United Arab Emirates last year, local authorities working with the Drug Enforcement Administration discovered that he was carrying $52 million in cash. With wry understatement, a cable from the American Embassy in Kabul called the money “a significant amount” that the official, Ahmed Zia Massoud, “was ultimately allowed to keep without revealing the money’s origin or destination.” (Mr. Massoud denies taking any money out of Afghanistan.)




Cables Shine Light Into Secret Diplomatic Channels

[No Elephants]

29. Geez. If I had known they were offering millions to take one detainee, I would have offered

one my sofa bed. In fact, I might even have given him my home and gone to Kiribati with my millions.

See, this is why we need to know this stuff.

[Pavulon]

31. Holy shit, we are evil trying to scoop up HEU

and reunite the koreas.

[No Elephants]

34. Good thing someone shone a light on our goodness, then.

[Pavulon]

37. Actually no its not. Now the rabble in pakistan

can complain we are attacking their nuclear program. Like the cable said. This shit should be done in private.

[No Elephants]

43. Maybe the rabble in Pakistan were complaining about that anyway.

[Pavulon]

44. Well they sure will be tomorrow. I wonder what Iran will do in response to the Saudi

statements? I wonder if Assange gives a fuck about any of that.

[dixiegrrrrl]

52. The rabble are living in rubble, thanks to our drones.

Nothing private about that to the rabble.

[cachukis]

4. Cables Shine Light Into Secret Diplomatic Channels

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — A cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the past three years, provides an unprecedented look at backroom bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders and frank assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats.

State's Secrets
Day 1 of 9

A cache of diplomatic cables provide a chronicle of the United States' relations with the world.

Previous Articles in the Series »
-->
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Associated Press
Pfc. Bradley Manning is accused of leaking diplomatic cables and other classified documents to WikiLeaks.
Some of the cables, made available to The New York Times and several other news organizations, were written as recently as late February, revealing the Obama administration’s exchanges over crises and conflicts. The material was originally obtained by WikiLeaks, an organization devoted to revealing secret documents. WikiLeaks intends to make the archive public on its Web site in batches, beginning Sunday.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/world/29cables.html?_r=1&hp

---

A start

[xchrom]

5. So it begins. Nt

[gateley]

21. My head is spinning already, and I'm just reading the headlines. nt

[Demeter]

6. If they want brutal and candid, why not listen on the Left?

[No Elephants]

32. I guess wanting to speak about furriners brutally and candidly is different from wanting

to listen to other people speaking brutally and candidly, especially if they sometimes include you in their brutal and candid assessments.


Just a wild guess.

[jtuck004]

7. They should have had Ms. Black for 9th grade English. She would

have told them, as she told me (in one of my many little attempts to fudge my punctuation instead of just learning the damn rules) -

"Never put in writing what you don't want someone else to see".

[No Elephants]

39. I bet you six emoticons that Ms. Black wrote something she would not have wanted on The Internets.

That advice, while impeccable, is easier to recite than to live out, especially if you are in the U.S. State Dept.

[jtuck004]

62. No doubt true. But that was 1969 or thereabouts, b4 the Intertubes...still

if you are going to think bad things about your friends, it would seem best not to put them in writing.

It's a thing called discretion, sometimes tempered with another less seen quality, respect. Far less prevalent today than
they used to be.

[SoapBox]

8. So just how STOOPID are we Americans?

...oh.

I guess all these cables answer that question!

[iamtechus]

9. What did Hillary know and when did she know it? n/t

[mbperrin]

10. Our tax dollars at work. It's just like high school. "I'll be your friend if you'll"

Well, my taxes have paid for it all, so I'm entitled to see it all.

[struggle4progress]

11. Dollars to donuts, it's a game by Bushista dead-enders in the State Department, trying to undermine

the President on foreign policy

[underpants]

12. Yep sleeper cells

just like in Justice and Homeland Security

all three are well known to have been dumping grounds for political operatives and stooges

[ProudDad]

13. Oh, brother

:eyes:

This is a game practiced by BOTH right-wings of the "Corporate Permanent War Party(tm)"

[struggle4progress]

22. Refresh my memory: what are some recent mass-releases of US diplomatic traffic?

The last big one I remember was the release of US embassy material by the Iranian students who took over the embassy more than thirty years ago

So it doesn't seem to me that releasing a large volume of recent diplomatic cables is a game practiced by everybody: it's a very uncommon game, and it seems likely to me to have a political motive

[ProudDad]

23. I'm talking about the "National Security State(tm)"

that's the game that the republicrats and democans, both right-wings of the Corporate War Party practice...

[Pavulon]

30. So because it was not all anti-american were the root of all evil

it is bad now?

[struggle4progress]

40. I have no idea what you're trying to say or what question you're asking.

I neither take the view that US policy is necessarily always a force for good nor the diametric view that such policy is a force for evil. I think "the government" is a large complex organization, which has its own internal politics and that a number of folk with different views are employed there. I expect that US policy is subject to all manner of external forces. I will regard some leaks as beneficial, others as evidence of political struggles, and still others as inexcusable

[No Elephants]

41. Three dimensional Bushista chess?

[struggle4progress]

57. I have no idea what you're trying to say

The Republican strategy for some years has seemed fairly crude and blunt to me: it is to obstruct and discredit and embarrass as much as possible

[ProudDad]

14. K&R

I LOVE it when this stuff comes out... :rofl: :woohoo:

[Turborama]

48. Thanks for yours and everyone else's recs that were given when I 1st broke this with that OP

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4632228

[NYMdaveNYI]

15. WikiLeaks U.S. Embassy Cables: New Documents Released

Source: Huffington Post/AP

WASHINGTON -- The New York Times and The Guardian have published classified State Department documents provided to them by the online website WikiLeaks. The WikiLeaks website appeared to be inaccessible, and WikiLeaks said in its Twitter feed that it was experiencing a denial of service attack. WikiLeaks also provided the documents to Spain's El Pais, France's Le Monde, and Germany's Der Spiegel.

According to The New York Times, the cables reveal how foreign leaders, including Israel's defense minister Ehud Barak and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, urged the U.S. to confront Iran over its nuclear program.

"The cables also contain a fresh American intelligence assessment of Iran's missile program," The Times reports. "They reveal for the first time that the United States believes that Iran has obtained advanced missiles from North Korea that could let it strike at Western European capitals and Moscow and help it develop more formidable long-range ballistic missiles."

Perhaps more embarrassing to U.S. officials is the revelation, according to The Guardian that U.S. diplomats spied on UN officials, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/28/wikileaks-us-embassy-cables-documents_n_788893.html

---

Wow.

[Catherina]

16. Something seems off here

"The cables also contain a fresh American intelligence assessment of Iran's missile program," The Times reports. "They reveal for the first time that the United States believes that Iran has obtained advanced missiles from North Korea that could let it strike at Western European capitals and Moscow and help it develop more formidable long-range ballistic missiles."

Rewind to a few years ago and replace Iran with Iraq. Could this be a clever new way of disseminating lies that lead to war? I'm thinking out loud here.

Interesting stuff. Rec'd

[NYMdaveNYI]

17. It’s called war drumming....

And if it was an olympic sport, the US would win the gold.

[Catherina]

18. Please expand. I'm with you so far and curious about how you see it n/t

[Arrowhead2k1]

19. lol, why would Iran attack Moscow? Aren't they sort of like friends?

nt

[NYMdaveNYI]

20. lol, why would Hillary Clinton order the spying of UN leaders?

The world is a fucked up place.

[SaveAmerica]

53. Doesn't it go back to '06 or '07? My 1st thought was Bush and friends

They hate the UN, Isn't that a republican theme?

[defendandprotect]

56. Yep ... one of first years GOP controlled Senate, they voted UN should get out of NYC!!

[JDPriestly]

27. I should think that, when diplomats serve at the UN, they understand

that they will probably be placed under surveillance. If I were a diplomat assigned to the UN, I would certainly assume that I was under surveillance. Anyone who has ever read any history would expect that. Countries conduct espionage.

Kaiser Franz Josef of Austria was an expert at the espionage and cover-up techniques of his time. It did not insure the survival of his empire, of course.

That's the catch. Knowing what is going on and doing the right thing, the thing are two different things.

We all know, that is we read and do the intelligence work that tells us that we should eat healthy food, exercise and avoid smoking or too much alcohol and a number of other things like contact with certain chemicals (asbestos anyone?), but do we act on our knowledge, on our intelligence? Not often enough.

And so, Bush was warned by virtually every European leader not to go into Iraq. That was the real intelligence he had at his fingertips. But did he do what the intelligence indicated was the wise thing to do? No.

Our country gets advice, some good, some bad, some well intentioned, some malicious from leaders around the world. Do we act on the good, well intentioned advice? Far too often not.

As an side: The revelations about Pakistan should clarify why we are in Afghanistan. I hate that war, but I understand the American dilemma.

Frankly, I looked at a number of the exchanges (not by any means all of them) and I think that their disclosure may actually help to get American foreign relations back on a rational track.

Are there any that are really shocking? At least on the Guardian's website, I haven't found any yet. I thought the exchange with the king of Saudi Arabia was quite interesting. What wasn't said was more interesting to me than what was said. That exchange confirmed my belief that Saudi Arabia determines a lot of our foreign policy.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NYMdaveNYI]

36. “my belief that Saudi Arabia determines a lot of our foreign policy."

Scary but true!

[No Elephants]

47. Diplomats at the UN?

Try emailing someone that you will be attacking Bush or saying that on your phone. Just as an experiment. See what happens.

[Joanne98]

24. US diplomats spied on UN leadership" (Hillary wanted DNA of UN Sec Gen)

• Diplomats ordered to gather intelligence on Ban Ki-moon
• Secret directives sent to more than 30 US embassies
• Call for DNA data, computer passwords and terrorist links

A directive from Hillary Clinton ordered US diplomats to gather biometric information on the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. Photograph: Bernat Armangue/AP

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.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-spying-un

Why in the Hell do they want DNA testing?

[No Elephants]

49. Ah, the UN. Where Hillary meets Maury.

[Turborama]

25. .

:argh:

[high density]

26. Where was all this leaking when we needed it during the Bush admin?

We were going to war based on lies and practically nothing made it to the press, and anything that did was immediately dismissed.

[kickysnana]

54. Wileaks started during Bush...just as important now. n/t

[Joanne98]

28. US embassy cables: Saudi king urges US strike on Iran

The Need to Resist Iran

10. (S) The King, Foreign Minister, Prince Muqrin, and Prince Nayif all agreed that the Kingdom needs to cooperate with the US on resisting and rolling back Iranian influence and subversion in Iraq. The King was particularly adamant on this point, and it was echoed by the senior princes as well. Al-Jubeir recalled the King's frequent exhortations to the US to attack Iran and so put an end to its nuclear weapons program. "He told you to cut off the head of the snake," he recalled to the Charge', adding that working with the US to roll back Iranian influence in Iraq is a strategic priority for the King and his government.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/150519

[Joanne98]

33. Wikileaks: 'Saudis on Iran: Cut off the head of the snake'

US State Dept. documents show Mossad head says US needs to encourage regime change inside Iran; Barak tried to coordinate Operation Cast Lead with PA, Egypt.
Key Arab states, foremost among them Saudi Arabia, which have publicly been sitting on their hands regarding Iran's nuclear march have privately been exhorting the US to military action, US diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks showed Sunday night.

According to a report of the more than 250,000 cables that appeared on the Guardian's web site, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah asked the US repeatedly to attack Iran and destroy its nuclear program, and in 2008 the monarchy's envoy to Washington told US general David Petraeus to "cut off the head of the snake."

The Guardian noted that the Saudi King was recorded as having "frequently exhorted the US to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons program", one cable stated.

Saudi Arabia was not alone. According to the Guardian report, "officials in Jordan and Bahrain have openly called for Iran's nuclear program to be stopped by any means, including military." Likewise, leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt referred to Iran as "evil," and "existential threat" and a power that "is going to take us to war," the paper reported.

http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=197130

[aquart]

38. When do they plan to release Britain's cables? China's? Russia's?

Why are we the only ones getting punked?

[Pavulon]

42. Because Russia has polonium

and would show no hesitation in picking wikileaks apart. Guess they don't have a russian bradley manning either.

[Imajika]

46. Because we have a traitor named Bradley Manning...

...and so far Britain, China, Russia, etc, have not had traitors like Manning release large amounts of confidential/secret information to Julian Assange.

In an ideal world, Manning would be tried for treason and shot, but I gather the government will charge him with lesser espionage counts so he will just spend the rest of his life in prison.

[Historic NY]

51. This certainly a high magnitude of treason...........

people cried about releasing Valerie Plames name this is worse. How many people did it comprimise along with world wide relations with our frenemies. Its almost like its a game of catch me if you can.

[Imajika]

55. Oh, this is vastly worse than Rove outing Valerie Plame...

It is funny that so many here considered Rove a traitor for outing 1 CIA agent, and here we have this little snot Manning exposing FAR more secrets and classified information yet many regard him as some sort of hero.

[joshcryer]

61. I was never outraged about Valerie Plame.

Just FYI.

[joshcryer]

60. Not yet anyway.

It's only a matter of time before these countries find someone who is willing to put their neck out there.

[No Elephants]

50. Patience. Ashton Kutcher can't be everywhere at once.

With any luck, there will be copycst leakers in other countries. Then, we'll all look equally jerky.

[defendandprotect]

58. We're #1 ... in war and crime and terrorism ....

[EFerrari]

45. Thanks and welcome to DU, BetsysGhost. n/t

[joshcryer]

59. It's official (to me anyway): the US is the worlds police, despite claiming otherwise.

Damn us and our damn righteous democracy.

[Zhade]

63. HERO.

NT!