Barack Obama joins assault on WikiLeaks

[Better Believe It]

Barack Obama joins WikiLeaks assault
December 13, 2010

US President Barack Obama has offered his strongest condemnation yet of WikiLeaks' "deplorable" documents dump.

The US President made his comments in a call to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday, the White House said.

Mr Obama "expressed his regrets for the deplorable action by WikiLeaks, and the two leaders agreed that it would not influence or disrupt the close co-operation between the United States and Turkey", his office said.

The comments, echoed in a call to his Mexican counterpart Felipe Calderon, were Mr Obama's most forceful yet against the website, whose steady leaking of a trove of secret US diplomatic cables has polarised opinion.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/barack-obama-joins-wikileaks-assault/story-e6frg6so-1225969774315


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Obama lashes out amid calls to free Assange
December 13, 2010

WASHINGTON: Barack Obama has made his strongest condemnation yet of WikiLeaks, as supporters of Julian Assange demonstrated for his release.

Mr Assange was described as in ''very good'' spirits but ''frustrated'' that he could not answer the allegations that WikiLeaks was behind cyber attacks against the credit card firms that have refused to do business with the website.

''He told me he is absolutely not involved and this is a deliberate attempt to conflate WikiLeaks, which is a publishing organisation, with hacking organisations, which are not,'' Ms Robinson said.

Mr Assange's mother, Christine, was quoted as saying she was worried for her son because ''massive forces'' were ranged against him.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/obama-lashes-out-amid-calls-to-free-assange-20101212-18u2c.html

[DrDan]

1. wonder if he feels the same way about outing CIA operatives

guess we already know the answser to that one.

[emulatorloo]

2. ?

[Better Believe It]

3. Not if it's done by Republicans during the Bush government

[emulatorloo]

14. How do you blame Obama for the Plame outing?

Noting that "The Australian" is a Rupert Murdoch publication.

[EFerrari]

17. Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BA24B20101211

[emulatorloo]

21. There is no mention of the Plame outing in that link

Dr. Dan and Better Believe It seems to be suggesting that Obama "approved" the Plame outing, or had some complicity in the plame outing, or didn't care about the Plame outing or something along those lines.


(you and I talked about the reuters story yesterday - thanks for the link)

[DrDan]

42. I never suggested he approved or was complicit in it. I do see his willingness to

ignore an investigation ("let's move ahead") while in the same breath show indignation over the wikileaks.

Does that not bother you?

[Better Believe It]

34. The Bush government has been forgiven.

[laughingliberal]

12. Oh, you! Look forward! nt

[GodlessBiker]

4. No condemnation of the NY Times or The Guardian? Hmmmm.

Where does he think most people actually read about the content on the cables? The vast majority did not log on to the Wikileaks website or one of its mirrors.

It's just too easy to attack a foreign website than a big corporation here at home.

[WinterParkDonkey]

5. Okay, this may sound silly,,,,

how were they able to hack into ultra top-secret emails.

[GodlessBiker]

9. Somebody gave them the contents of the cables.

[Better Believe It]

35. That's good, not bad!

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. They got them given to them by a US Army Private

who leaked them. Our modern equivalent of the Pentagon Papers.

Wiki is the equivalent of the NYT in the 70s.

[mrfrapp]

25. Is that an established fact?

I keep reading that a "US Army Private" leaked the cables. I'm assuming you are referring to Bradley Manning but I don't recall any admission from any party that Manning was behind these particular leaks. Are you referring to another US Army Private or to Manning?

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. So far he is the only one facing possible charges

as soon as the Army finishes it's investigation

[pnwmom]

36. Manning supposedly bragged about it in emails to someone else,

who turned them over to the FBI.

[Pavulon]

40. google bradley manning boingboing

he confessed in a chat log.

[emulatorloo]

16. Obama was talking to two diplomats on the telephone

Wikileaks is the source of the leaks of the Turkish and Mexican cables that were supposed to be confidential. NYT printed them sure, but doubt the diplomats care about that.

Context.

I honestly dont know what DU wants from OBAMA on this.

We might be happy that wikileaks leaked confidential documents, but they aren't our secure documents. They are going to be of use to historians reporters and activists.

I don't understand why DU thinks Obama should be Celebrating a Security Breach? That isn't logical.

If a doctor leaked your medical records to the internet would you be happy about it? I might be happy to read them, but would you think it was a good thing and praise the person who did it?

[sabrina 1]

28. There is no comparison to private medical records and

news organizations uses 'unnamed sources' or 'whistle-blowers to report on governments' activities. That is the main reason for the addition of the 1st Amendment to our Constitution by the FFs.

This president is supposedly a Constitutional lawyer, not to mention that he took an oath to defend and protect our Constitution.

He could have spoken privately and assured these leaders that despite the embarrassing and FACTUAL information released in the cables, the U.S. would like the information not to influence their relationships. There was absolutely NO need to mention the news organization responsible for releasing them.

They are trying to silence Wikileaks which apparently plans to release information on corruption in the banking system, and THAT is when this government went after them and tried to charge them with a crime. Assange, two weeks ago, revealed that information.

I want to know what these banks were doing. This president nor any other elected official has a right to gag the news media.

[GodlessBiker]

Wikileaks wasn't the source of them, the person who gave the cables to ....

Wikileaks was the source. If that source had given the cables directly to the NY Times, would the President's tone have been different?

What do you think his thoughts are on the Pentagon Papers leak?

[emulatorloo]

33. true the private gave the materials to WikiLeaks, and they orchestrated the leaks

I wonder if any body has asked him about the Pentagon Papers leaks? (FWIW I have not seen anything like what we got from the Pentagon Papers in this batch of cables. But who knows what's coming next.

[GodlessBiker]

32. .

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Word response has been MEH!

and this should have been the oficial response.

And trut be told more than a few of those cables fall in the category of... you kid me, this is breaking news? REALLY... in one particular case, what the 18th century?

[emulatorloo]

20. Calderon was upset because he expected stuff to be confidential

And a lot of those things were "less than breaking news' but I guess Obama needed to smooth it over with him.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. The lack of coordination between federal agencies

in Mexico is legend... and yes goes all the way back to the 18th century.

I read the Mexican Press and it was pretty much... this affects no relations, we knew this.

We also know of the other big open secret... the corruption.

Here is a story that happened to me as an EMT... and it is symbolic of the whole mess, or lack of cooperation.

We got a call for a pedestrian vs vehicle. Well not only us, also the ERUM, that is the police ambulance service. We arrived at the same time. My driver parked the rig strategically so the other guys could not get their gurney out. I mean we would not want THEM to beat us, now would we? Multiply that by 32 states, who do not get along with each other very well, let alone the Feds, and multiple agencies.

[emulatorloo]

29. That's an awful story.

I've experience similar kinds of TURF problems in a hospital I used to work in.

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. Yep it was, and that was Mexico City

Tijuana we pretty much avoided those... but in Mexico City people at times got to fist to cuffs... not kidding.

On the bright side, that patient was transported to the hospital, and the ahem turf battle didn't get out of hand.

I used it as an example... a very easy to understand example.

[Angry Dragon]

7. Perhaps Mr. President if you

told the American people what was going on in their country
there would be no need to have a document dump.
Close that door, the American people have no need to know!!
If you are embarrassed, too bad.
I have the right to know what this country is doing in my name.

[Scurrilous]

8. K & R

:yourock:

[emulatorloo]

11. Keep in mind that Rupert Murdoch owns The Australian

So expect that they will sensationalize this phone call and/or misrepresent the meaning and significance of it.

[DJ13]

13. Obama was overheard making the comments in a call to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Not how it was described but still.......

:rofl:

[snappyturtle]

15. Embarrassing, isn't it? Where's the old "freedom of speech' and

'land of the free' American approach? To me, and I've really thought about this, the President could have used Wikileaks to his (and our) advantage. He could have said he campaigned on transparency and although the leaks may put America in a bad light, it's past time to air the dirty laundry and get back on track and that he won't hinder the releases. imho

[TeaBagsAreForCups]

18. And this surprises anyone from...

... our "progressive" President ?

[emulatorloo]

24. What President is going to praise a security breach?

Can we inject a little rationality here?

I'm not making any statement about the value of leaks. I just think it is irrational to expect any President to praise a security breach.

[Doctor_J]

19. What happened to the transformative outsider I campaigned for?

:shrug:

[emulatorloo]

22. Did he campaign on leaking Mexico's confidential communications?

I must have missed that speech?

[Cid_B]

27. You can have "transparency" or you can have diplomacy....

They are mutually exclusive.

[Better Believe It]

37. How about ending secret diplomacy? That's another option.

[Cid_B]

38. Instead of just dismissing you...

.. I'll ask what exactly that means.

[Better Believe It]

44. It's called transparency. You know .... President Obama campaigned on that issue. Did you forget

[Bluebear]

46. How grandiose. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. That is as old as the rise of civilization

so no, it ain't gonna happen.

But the over reaction from our government has been ... somewhat comedic.

[The Backlash Cometh]

30. I can understand why he's upset.

There goes his legacy.

[moondust]

39. Good.

Random leaking is like throwing a Molotov cocktail into a fireworks factory just to see what happens.

[EFerrari]

43. Not really. Wikileaks has been responsible for reforms all over

in the short time they have been operating.

[somone]

45. More change and hope