U.S. trying to protect innocents endangered by Wikileaks

[Still a Democrat]

The State Department is warning hundreds of human rights activists, foreign government officials and businesspeople identified in leaked diplomatic cables of potential threats to their safety and has moved a handful of them to safer locations, administration officials said Thursday.

...

The State Department is mainly concerned about the cables that have yet to be published or posted on Web sites — nearly 99 percent of the archive of 251,287 cables obtained by WikiLeaks. With cables continuing to trickle out, they said, protecting those identified will be a complex, delicate and long-term undertaking. The State Department said it had combed through a majority of the quarter-million cables and distributed many to embassies for review by diplomats there.

“We feel responsible for doing everything possible to protect these people,” said Michael H. Posner, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, who is overseeing the effort. “We’re taking it extremely seriously.”

...

There is anecdotal evidence that the disclosure of the cables has chilled daily contacts between human rights activists and diplomats. An American diplomat in Central Asia said recently that one Iranian contact, who met him on periodic trips outside Iran, told him he would no longer speak to him. Sarah Holewinski, executive director of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict, said people in Afghanistan and Pakistan had become more reluctant to speak to human rights investigators for fear that what they said might be made public.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/world/07wiki.html?_r=1&hp

[leveymg]

1. Bullshit. As that same article says, and you deleted, there's no evidence anyone has been harmed or

threatened as a result of a Wikileak.

This is also the third dupe of this same article this morning. Message here much?

[Still a Democrat]

4. "There are definitely people named in the cables who would be very much endangered,”

Tom Malinowski, Washington director for Human Rights Watch

[leveymg]

6. As if they weren't before these cables were published? Most of the "persons of concern" to HRW

are long-time activists who have been repeatedly jailed and harassed for their opposition activities. This isn't a game-changer for those people, who get named and referenced in the international media as well as diplomatic cables.

[Still a Democrat]

7. So you know there were no new people named in the leaks?

And these people get harassed a lot anyway, so who cares?

[leveymg]

8. The burden in First Amendment Prior Restraint cases is to show imminent harm. The burden is on the

US Gov't to show actual threats to life and safety. So far, nothing. Let us know when that changes.

By the way, I care deeply and professionally for global dissidents and asylum seekers, and have for decades, so don't try to guilt-trip or make this personal. Okay?

[keopeli]

2. This is called Propaganda.

Everything in it is unverifiable. All examples hit dramatic buttons. Since so much is about material that has not been released (allegedly), we can't even verify their claims with Wikileaks. Posturing propaganda.

[KansDem]

3. Just like they protected innocents when Bush/Cheney exposed a covert CIA operation?

Hmmm?

[mmonk]

5. US trying to protect its lies.

[whatchamacallit]

10. +1 nt

[msongs]

9. Obama's wars endangers 100's of thousands every day. nt