Many Arab officials have close CIA links: Assange (tells us who the hostages are)

[kpete]

Source: The Peninsula

Many Arab officials have close CIA links: Assange Thursday, 30 December 2010 03:10

By MOBIN PANDIT & AHMED EL AMIN

DOHA: Top officials in several Arab countries have close links with the CIA, and many officials keep visiting US embassies in their respective countries voluntarily to establish links with this key US intelligence agency, says Julian Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing website, WikiLeaks.

“These officials are spies for the US in their countries,” Assange told Al Jazeera Arabic channel in an interview yesterday.

..................

Assange or Mansour, however, didn’t disclose the names of these officials. The WikiLeaks founder said he feared he could be killed but added that there were 2,000 websites that were ready to publish the remaining files that are in possession of WikiLeaks after “he has been done away with”.

“If I am killed or detained for a long time, there are 2,000 websites ready to publish the remaining files. We have protected these websites through very safe passwords,” said Assange.

Read more: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/137385-many-arab-officials-have-close-cia-links-assange-.html

---

Assange Alerts His Hostages
By: emptywheel Wednesday December 29, 2010 8:23 pm
Assange’s message–on Al Jazeera, in a message directed to “the Arab Street”? If he is disappeared or killed or put away, the names of America’s stooges in the Middle East will be released on some outlet like Al Jazeera.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/12/29/assange-alerts-his-hostages/

[midnight]

1. K&R Thanks for posting this.

[defendandprotect]

2. K/R -- and best wishes to WikiLeaks and Assange --

[FreakinDJ]

18. Agreed - he needs people to remain focused on the message

[anamandujano]

3. Hopefully he doesn't know the passwords

cause we all know what will happen.

It all should be out of his hands and on automatic pilot if they ever get him in prison and unmonitored.

I'm feeling a stirring of hope for the planet since this brave man and his colleagues hit the scene.

[Downwinder]

4. Pretty much what John Loftus has been saying.

[JDPriestly]

5. This suggests that Assange is reviewing and editing the documents

he receives, but on the other hand, I just don't want to comment on Assange's statements beyond that. It is one thing to review, edit and publish documents. It is quite another to . . . . . . . . .

I wonder what kind of legal advice Assange is getting?

Here is my problem: It is one thing to publish information about the opinions of the employees of the American people in the diplomatic corps and other such details. It is even positive to disclose things that should not be secret including fraudulent business dealings or improper activities by various governments.

But it is quite another to print the names of people who are agents of the CIA and who risk their lives to provide information to the CIA.

Assange may not approve of what these CIA informants are doing, but whether what they are doing is right or wrong is a question of conscience for the individuals cooperating with the CIA.

I don't understand how Assange can claim for himself the right to publish news that a government has rather arbitrarily labeled "secret" but deny to people in countries with governments far more repressive than ours in America or any government in the West, far, far more repressive in some instances, to follow their consciences and reveal secrets to the CIA.

I have not followed the Wikileaks publications very carefully. What I have seen is rather innocuous information that did not reveal secrets that deserve to be closely guarded. But to release names of informants seems to me to be akin to what Judy Miller did to Valerie Plame. That is quite a serious matter. No matter what happens, I don't think Assange should release names of informants. That would be to interfere with actions of conscience, actions that none of us should judge. I understand that Assange is afraid for his life, but so are the people who cooperate with the CIA in difficult circumstances.

[molly77]

16. JDPriestly

Assange's lawyers seemed quite competent when he had to go to jail in England.

Did you know that more journalists are being killed than ever before in our history?

WikiLeaks has exposed that the US interfered in the prosecution of a murdered journalist from Spain?

Over a million Iraqis have been killed and even more displaced because of an illegal war for oil?

Assange has been very careful to protect his informants. Democracy Now yesterday had a great interview. The journalist who was on stated that Julian Assange does nothing more than any other journalist..NYTimes and WashingtonPost even do this kind of thing.(the entire clip is up on DU now) So how can you prosecute one of many? Especially when you might get groped if you want to travel by air in Fascist Land.

One Iraqi's life is no more or less important than a whistle blower.

[EFerrari]

28. Well, all they have to do is not kill him and there should be no problem.

Sounds pretty fair to me.

[sabrina 1]

54. He is playing chess, and playing it very well.

His life has been threatened, and the lives of his family members. The only way he can protect them is to let it be known that if he or they are murdered, kidnapped and incarcerated and/or tortured, there will be consequences.

As for the published leaks, there have been, what should be considered, explosive revelations already. Revelations involving the protection of this government for War Criminals, the interference of this government in the prosecution of War Criminals in other countries.

We have seen, thanks to these leaks, a horrific war crime in action, a crime that killed two Reuters journalists, an innocent good Samaritan who tried to help one of the wounded journalists and then the brutal mowing down of a wounded jounralist.

The fact that here in the U.S. these war crimes have received little or no coverage, and that this government has conducted no investigation into who is responsible, does not diminish the crimes one iota.

Our complete disrespect for Human Rights has been completely exposed in the cables, where representatives of the U.S. attacked some of the world's most respected judges from the European Court of Human Rights, signaling to the world that we do not care about human rights no matter what public words are spoken.

The image of the U.S., already tarnished, ALMOST beyond repair during the Bush administration, was to be, hopefully, rehabilitated under a new administration. However, the revelations from these leaks pretty much remove any hope that the policies have or will change no matter which party is in power here.

Much has been revealed that Americans should be very concerned about, but then our media does not report real news so I guess most Americans will remain ignorant of what is being done in their name.

We were promised accountability in the two campaigns leading to the removal of Republicans from power. Then when that was accomplished we were told we had to 'move on' that there was so much work to be done, we could not look back at, eg, war crimes.

While that was bad enough, we have now discovered that we are in fact taking the time to 'look back' as we learn that this President has directly interfered to protect the Bush criminal orchestrators of his torture policies from prosecution elsewhere. To me that IS explosive information. It removes all hope that there ever will be an accounting of the awful crimes of the Bush administration and makes Democrats complicit in the crimes. So, what do we do now?

[Bragi]

80. Why should CIA collaborators not be outed?

I fail to see the harm that would result from exposure. Sure, people helping the CIA to undermine democracies abroad, to seize and torture people, to serve the corporate interests of the moment, will be exposed. What's wrong with that?

[leveymg]

6. One piece of hard news in this report: Assange says UK will put him before a court on 11 Jan.

"According to Assange, he will be put on a trial for his various expose in a special court in London from January 11, 2011 and this court deals with terror-related cases." Bear in mind that Britain has an Official Secrets Act, and he could be charged, tried and imprisoned there. One has to wonder why he set foot in London and who is advising him.

The rest of this stuff seems to be pretty inflammatory, and calculated to get a lot of dangerous people in spook-world even angrier at him than they already were.

[molly77]

17. England is not as tough as the US now re. trumped up

political charges.Their press has far more latitude than ours. Compare NY Times and The Guardian's WikLeaks coverage.

Assange's own country, Australia, sold him out.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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

[peacebird]

10. good grief - you would actually post that you hope someone murders the man?!?

Really?
:wtf:

[CJvR]

15. Can you read?

Perhaps you should look up "almost" in a dictionary?

[Javaman]

21. Yeah, "almost" is such a great disqualifier.

:eyes:

[CJvR]

22. Yes.

It is the difference between hoping for something to happen or not.

[Javaman]

29. Right, run with that and say that in the presense of an FBI agent

and see how he or she reacts to "almost"

[CJvR]

50. Reactions...

Used in an open discussion like this? I suspect with supreme indifference, although it would depend on the personal level of paranoia of the agent.

[Javaman]

59. LOLOL

Right, go try it out and let me know. LOL

[CJvR]

61. Well...

Since you are the curious one why don't you send a link of this thread to them?
If I end up in Gitmo I will let you know.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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

[nc4bo]

13. Ran into a few like this on the freeper infested wraltv.com website.

I alerted on a statement that was along the same lines but much more graphic than that one.

[xchrom]

8. recommend

[Le Taz Hot]

9. K & R for Truth n/t

[JohnyCanuck]

12. Somewhat perplexing that

with all these apparently high-level, willing informants in the Islamic world, (and according to the article in the OP, torturing suspects for the US) none of them can spill the beans on where exactly Osama bin Laden Goldstein Forgotten Lost Dead? is hiding out.

Some Arab countries even have torture houses where Washington regularly sends ‘suspects’ for ‘interrogation and torture’, he said.

[sabrina 1]

74. Yes, that is amazing, isn't it? How come eg, there are no CIA

memos planning to smear Osama Bin Forgotten as a sexual predator as there were on Julian Assange?

And did the U.S. ever charge Bin Laden with a crime? It's so long ago since he's even been mentioned that I don't remember.

However, Wikileaks did release documents proving that the U.S. knew where Bin Laden was on several occasions but did nothing about it.

I guess someone publishing news is more dangerous than what we were told was the World's #1 Terrorist.

[sendero]

14. I'm a huge supporter of what Wikileaks is doing..

.. but I would have to stop short of naming spies.

[no limit]

25. Mayeb the US government should stop short of smearing the guy

with false rape charges.

[keepCAblue]

55. Makes ya wonder how many of the 9/11 hijackers, who were mostly Saudis, were also CIA contacts n/t

[sabrina 1]

57. He's not threatening to name spies, but to name Arab

leaders who cooperate with the CIA. I think that is news, especially for the people of those countries where their leaders are engaging in torture etc against dissenters.

Wikileaks documents have already revealed much about the influence of the U.S. on many countries around the world, including several European countries. This news is not being very well-received by citizens of those countries who do not want their elected leaders to be puppets of foreign nations. Hopefully many of those named will be thrown out in the next election, the newly elected PM of Australia eg. Australians not happy with her being a puppet of the U.S.

So, no, he doesn't need to reveal the names of CIA agents, nor has he said he would, just puppets who lie to their own people and pretend they are strong, independent leaders when in fact they are anything but that.

[sendero]

64. Well..

... you have a point.

[harun]

67. The Arab people already know this. Won't be news to them.

[Pavulon]

19. If he burns sources he is killing his people and himself.

it is really that simple. He is an intelligence agency and he will get a response from other agencies if he chooses to begin killing folks.

Someone should call his bluff and see if he really wants to play that game.

[no limit]

30. So you think if he releases this they should go and kill him?

[Rex]

70. They won't kill him, they will start killing off 'his people'

it really is a cat and mouse game. What I don't get is why people here think the CIA will lose a battle against a lone gunman with some paperwork they don't want released. He has no chance.

[no limit]

71. Who are his people exactly?

And I always was amazed at people that think the CIA has the power to just kill anyone they wish. How many people would need to be involved in that operation?

[Pavulon]

75. see post munich ops that hamas gentelmen

you can figure out the numbers.

[no limit]

83. Taking out hamas (considered terrorist organaziation by most governments)

is a bit different from taking out an Australian citizen that hasn't committed any crime.

[Rex]

77. What operation? To kill anyone they wish?

2 maybe 3? You act like that is not SOP for the CIA how naive.

[no limit]

84. See my post right above yours.

[Rex]

68. He is trying the Bob Novak maneuver.

Drip out a little bit and see if anyone bites.

[Bragi]

20. So what's so wrong with naming CIA collaborators?

It isn't as though the CIA is a worthwhile organization doing food in the world. They are undermining rights, promoting represson, protecting appalling regimes, etc. all in the sevice of corporate interests.

I don't see why any non-confused progressve person would be hesitatant to reveal what they are doing, and who is supporting their crimes abroad. I consider such revelations to be a public service.

[sofa king]

26. I think it could be very, very wrong.

This is already way past Rove/Cheney/Libby level espionage. Were he an American, it would be clearly astride several of our most serious espionage laws. I don't want to touch that.

[DerBeppo]

58. Like Plame?

This kind of information extortion isn't going to win him any new support and if his actions leads to peoples' deaths, then I think the bottom will fall out from under him. If he was just a conduit through which whistle-blowers could safely pass information to the public, that would be one thing; however, he seems to revel in collecting and parsing the information instead of doing what was intended.

He is subverting truth more than revealing it by acting as an intermediary. Wikileaks is not a portal through which light is shined on darkness, but an ever shrinking iris that only allows what one man wants to be revealed.

[Bragi]

60. At least you're original

Most anti-transparency people here attack Assange and Wikileaks for being indiscriminate and brainless in releasing sensitive information. Y

ou see him, however, as overly-calculating, and malicious in what, when and how he releases information.

I give you points for freshness of approach, but I think your anti-transparency perspective remains evident.

[RaleighNCDUer]

78. Perhaps people are confused about who these 'assets' are - look at history:

Saddam. Bin Laden. Noriega. Trujillo.

Show me a rotten foreign dictatorship, I'll show you a former CIA asset.

Burn em all.

[sofa king]

23. Oh, sh....

Who knew the dial went to eleven?

[Wednesdays]

24. K&R

:kick:

[treestar]

27. News at 11. Everyone knows that.

There is nothing to be accomplished here. Countries spy on each other.

[daleo]

73. If you found out that a U.S. politician was reporting to a foreign spy agency

Would you just shrug and say it happens all the time?

[Joanne98]

31. Assange: Many Arab Officials Work With CIA

Source: CBS

Less than 2,000 of the purported 250,000 diplomatic cables in WikiLeaks possession have been made public. There has been plenty of speculation as to what's left, since the revelations thus far have been a broad mix of both gossipy and inflammatory information.


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told Al Jazeera network Wednesday that some of things he is holding back could be downright explosive, reports the Emptywheel website. Assange said:


"Top officials in several Arab countries have close links with the CIA, and many officials keep visiting US embassies in their respective countries voluntarily to establish links with this key US intelligence agency. These officials are spies for the U.S. in their countries."


The Qatar-based Peninsula newspaper reports that Assange also said the CIA-Arab officials link went deeper than just information-sharing.


Some Arab countries even have torture houses where Washington regularly sends "suspects" for "interrogation and torture," he said.



Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20026811-503543.html

[Joanne98]

32. If imprisoned or killed, Assange reportedly prepared to out CIA-linked Arab leaders

Middle Eastern leaders who've become friendly with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) could face severe retribution from their local populations if WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is killed or jailed for a lengthy amount of time.

That's because, in a recent interview with Arabic news network Al Jazeera, Assange allegedly warned that he had a document which reveals the identities of officials who voluntarily cultivated relationships with the CIA.

"These officials are spies for the US in their countries," he reportedly told the network.

“If I am killed or detained for a long time, there are 2,000 websites ready to publish the remaining files," Assange was quoted as having said. "We have protected these websites through very safe passwords."

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/imprisoned-killed-assange-cialinked-arab-leaders/

[molly77]

43. Joanne98

"If I am killed or detained for a long time.."

Wish he would change that to detained. After the awful experience in British jails..and the political climate here on the home front. Certain political hacks calling for assasination/calling him a cyber terrorist or whatever.

I am having trouble with Raw Story. The print is tiny ..has been for about a month on my computer.

[davidinalameda]

33. yet again no surprise

:shrug:

[lunatica]

40. You don't think the names of those people might be a surprise to their government?

Just because you or I or many of the people on DU aren't surprised doesn't mean much.

[davidinalameda]

44. until he names names

none of this is newsworthy

[azul]

34. Oh boy, kicking the hornet's nest indeed.

Maybe, in this topsy-turvey world of ironies, we persuade the CIA to spend our tax dollars to hire Americans to be the spies and feed them the BS information? They seem to be searching for and recruiting liars to fit the war monger agenda regardless.

And do it out in the open, please. This is the openness revolution, after all.

[The Backlash Cometh]

35. I could have told you that.

[Bragi]

36. CIA collaborators should be exposed

It isn't as though the CIA is dong worthwhle work abroad. It is undermining democracy and the rule of law abroad, it captures and tortures people illegally, it supports the most brutal regimes, ec. etc. all to serve its corporate masters. I hope the collaborators are exposed.

[TatonkaJames]

37. Sometimes I believe the US Government is so stupid

that they don't realize they are being set up and used when they think they are actually getting cooperation.
That can only lead to failure, something these agencies have a track record of.

[TomClash]

38. Is anyone really surprised by this? nt

[dipsydoodle]

39. Duplicate LBN

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4676747

[truth2power]

41. This is no surprise. Also note the present tense...

"...Washington regularly sends 'suspects' for 'interrogation and torture'..."

Obama said, "We don't torture." Yeah, we send them somewhere else. There's always a hook, somewhere, when he makes a statement.

How, I ask you, HOW...can this country be a party to torture, in the 21st century?? Unbelievable!

[kickysnana]

42. CIA Cooperation includes...

Outrageous Bribes, looking the other way when money sent to help the poor is used for something else.

False promises ie help us and we will let you invade Kuwait and take their oil, wait just kidding. Money handed to Ben Laden months before 911.

Protection for wrong doing (until they decide not to).

Information for use against enemies and withholding damaging information while we are cooperating.

Help throwing elections.

Free training and money for their own brown shirts.

Always Arms.

Help wiping out internal opposition anyway necessary.

When they say America is the great Satan, the CIA is their bag man.

And yes they are not backward or fooled by this. They use us too.

But hey we all got (well a lot less than before) new gadgets from China so nothing to see here move along it will be alright. They will reform us out off all our assets very soon then we will start dying.

Got to go take another prozac and play some more solitaire and think nice thoughts.

[grahamhgreen]

52. AND false flag attacks such as 9-11...?

[KansDem]

66. When you consider 17 of the 19 attackers on 9/11...

...were from countries that were either friends of and business partners with the Bush Family or connected to Cheney's Halliburton, then the prospect of CIA operatives within these circles is not all that far-fetched...

[EFerrari]

53. Salvadoran death squads and all their incarnations in other places

like Iraq.

[azul]

76. self delete

[IScreamSundays]

45. If imprisoned or killed, Assange reportedly prepared to out CIA-linked Arab leaders

Source: Raw Story

Middle Eastern leaders who've become friendly with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) could face severe retribution from their local populations if WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is killed or jailed for a lengthy amount of time.

That's because, in a recent interview with Arabic news network Al Jazeera, Assange allegedly warned that he had a document which reveals the identities of officials who voluntarily cultivated relationships with the CIA.

"These officials are spies for the US in their countries," he reportedly told the network.

“If I am killed or detained for a long time, there are 2,000 websites ready to publish the remaining files," Assange was quoted as having said. "We have protected these websites through very safe passwords."

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/imprisoned-killed-assange-cialinked-arab-leaders/

[xultar]

46. Yawn.

[The Doctor.]

49. You care too much.

You should take a break and avoid the topic all together.

[xultar]

56. Rofl

[davidinalameda]

72. sleepy kitty

:bounce:

[TBF]

47. K&R nt

[dana_b]

48. good

k&r

[grahamhgreen]

51. Remember - Saudi Prince Bandar was shown the Iraq war plans before Colin Powell

"But before Bush called Powell to the Oval Office, he gave Cheney and Rumsfeld permission to inform Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan about his decision for war. They even showed him a top-secret map of the war plan, Woodward said.

"They describe in detail the war plan for Bandar," Woodward said in a television interview."

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/04/20/2003137397

[JDPriestly]

63. grahamgreen, If your assertion about Bandar is true, it is another fragment of evidence

supporting my theory that our military is actually used to keep the Saudi royal family in power in Saudi Arabia.

[grahamhgreen]

65. It's Bob Woodward's assertion. Your theory is correct.

[bobthedrummer]

62. K&R#60, & thanks for everything you do kpete n/t

[Shining Jack]

69. K&R n/t

[Manifestor_of_Light]

79. the new president of Brazil

was imprisoned and tortured in the 1970s. With our tax dollars.

[No Elephants]

81. ...

[bobthedrummer]

82. A kick for the truth in 2011 n/t

[bobthedrummer]

85. And another n/t