Wikileaks: For Freedom Of Speech & Information
7 December 2010 | Posted by
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Doaha, 5 years old at the hospital after the attack on her fathers mini-van.
via collateralmurder.com
WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-sight, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.Iraq's Secret War Files
via Channel 4
Julian Assange Petition
The only TV documentary to have advance access to the biggest WikiLeaks release ever. This is what really happened during the Iraq war, not what the US PR machine of the time wanted us to believe. The reality behind the civilian death count; al-Qaeda's fictitious presence; torture, torture and more torture. A wall of truth revealing unprecedented levels of unwarranted aggression.
Dispatches, Channel 4's flagship current affairs strand, exposes the full and unreported horror of the Iraqi conflict and its aftermath, revealing the true scale of civilian casualties; and allegations that after the scandal of Abu Ghraib, American soldiers continued to abuse prisoners; and that US forces did not systematically intervene in the torture and murder of detainees by the Iraqi security services. The programme also features previously unreported material of insurgents being killed while trying to surrender.
Channel 4 is the only UK broadcaster to have been given access to nearly 400,000 secret military significant activities reports (SIGACTS) logged by the US military in Iraq between 2004 and 2009. These reports tell the story of the war and occupation which the US military did not want the world to know.
Initially, the Americans claimed that they were not recording casualty figures and President Bush stated that America would do its utmost to avoid civilian casualties. In the files, Dispatches found details of over 109,000 deaths; 66,000 of these were civilians; 176,000 civilians and others were reported as wounded.
Under rules of engagement, known as escalation of force, anyone approaching the US military was warned to slow down and stop. The analysis reveals more than 800 people were killed in escalation of force incidents: 681 (80%) of these were civilians; a further 2,200 were wounded. Thirteen coalition troops were killed during these incidents. Dispatches found 30 children had been killed when shots were fired near civilians by US troops at checkpoints.
Over a six-year period, the data records the imprisonment of 180,000 Iraqis: one in 50 of the adult male population. Dispatches found more than 300 reports alleging abuse by US forces on Iraqi prisoners after April 2004.
The Americans effectively ignored the torture and murder of many detainees by Iraqi security forces. Dispatches has found evidence of more than 1,300 individual cases of the torture and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by Iraqis in police stations and army bases: witnessed or reported on by American troops. Dispatches reveals that US troops were ordered not to investigate Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence.
The data shows that the Americans were aware of the horrific level of violence inflicted by Iraqi sectarian militias: over 32,500 murders; more than 10,000 shot in the head; nearly 450 decapitated; over 160 were children.
One of the reasons given for the invasion of Iraq was the suggestion of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda. The US told the UN Security Council in 2003 that Iraq 'harboured' the terrorist network. However, in the leaked data there are only seven reports mentioning Al Qaeda in 2004, and none of these refer to Al Qaeda killing anyone. By 2008, there are 8,208 reports mentioning Al Qaeda attributing to it the deaths of 45 coalition soldiers, 486 members of the Iraqi Security Services and 1,291 civilians.
Wikileaks alternative/mirror sites
"WikiLeaks is asking for hosting space on Unix-based servers. The replication is implemented by a rsync+ssh based push that copies static files to a known path, authenticated via the private half of this public key. The complete website is a few GB in size, making it feasible to replicate on a large scale. The mirror list will be published when the number of independent mirrors reaches 50." via Sladshot
Wikileaks Mirrors
SaveWikileaks.net - Wikileaks Mirror Site List
Live Update via Twitter
More Sources/Sites/Media
Secret US Embassy Cables (Mirror)
WarLogs - Iraq & Afghan War Logs Explorer (Mirror)
Wikileaks on Twitter
Wikileaks
OWNI Digital Journalism (Live Updates)
WikiLeaks US embassy cables: live updates
Defend WikiLeaks or lose free speech
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
Iraq War Logs
El País
Le Monde
The Guardian
New York Times
Der Spiegel
The Atleantic
Amnesty International: Iraq
Iraq Body Count
Human Rights Watch: Iraq
Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture
Al Jazeera English
34 comments »
Rather off topic I'm afraid but may be of interest as it deals with the defence of fair comment in UK libel law in Supreme Court
http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2010/53.html
Cultural diplomacy: To sell European culture and values globally and Zeca Afonso: Paz Poeta e Pombas: Liberdade!
Hackers vengeurs et espions en diligence, by Umberto Eco | in Spanish here: Hackers vengadores y espías en diligencia
We can only hope that Julian Assange has the best people around him to clear up this conspiracy. Democracy and free speech seem to be dying and dictatorships are taking over and now we also have the kow-towing of amazon and paypal.
ENTER BAUDRILLARD'S HYPER-REALITY...
Excellent round-up Joana!
The latest from here (UK) at time of commenting (22:58) is that Julian has been refused bail - about £180.000 offered by heiress Jemima Goldsmith-Khan and friends.
The empire counter attacks but I don't think the US would want to make martyrs out of freedom of speech. They will contrue it some other way.
"Conclusion: If there are no more dustbins of history, this is because History itself has become a dustbin. It has become its own dustbin, just as the planet itself is becoming its own dustbin."
Jean Baudrillard
Sorry! forgot the link!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11939442?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=DTN+World+News%253A
Well done Joana, as always.
For me, this is far more important than the McCanns. Much as I care about Madeleine, this is about worldwide freedom of information, truth and justice.
Yet again I am ashamed to be British.
Mand
All countries in the world spy around.
This is not an USA speciality.
I believe spying is one of the ways to keep peace.
By knowing things of other countries, you protect your own.
Spying the UN should not be a surprise for any of us.
It would be naief if we did not realise that.
But those videos above are terrible.I agree with it.But they are no surprise.I've never heard of a kind, polite war.
And I wonder what the Russians are doing right now in little muslim countries, around them.
Probably exactly the same.
And they are probably spying on the UN too.
Of course.
The Mccann's were able to have a fraudulent Fund that run millions of Euros but the wikileaks got is account in Switzerland with 30 thousand Euros, closed and Frozen.
The Mccann's have a Pay-pal on their site where they sell the tragedy of their daughter abusing her memory, and the wikileaks got the Pay-pal banned from their site. What a just world, the fake democracies are promoting.
The Mccann's refused to do the reconstruction and help the police on the investigation regarding their daughter, by not answering many questions. They walk free and rich in UK soil. Julien Assange choose to appear voluntarily to British police and answer all the questions. He was arrested and kept under custody. What a just world showing the double face of justice in the fake democracies.
The Mccann's remain, after more then 3 years, the first suspects in the disappearance of their daughter, a first degree murder. But they still able to publish a book telling their lies to misinform the public and destroy an official police. Julien Assange choose to inform the Public and bring to day light the truth. He was accused with weak accusations by two suspicious ladies( one a disturbed feminist with a strange pass) and that was enough to arrest him and keep him under custody, treated like a serious murder with a huge story of crimes. It is really a shame the way that some democratic countries deal with justice. It is served 'a la carte' according with the political agenda. If the public had some doubts about the way, UK deal with justice. Now there is the prove that Amaral have reason when he said that UK authorities have done everything to disturb and pervert the investigation. Where are the samples sent to UK to be analysed by the FSS lab? Is it acceptable the excuse of the Lab to avoid hand back the samples, saying that they were destroyed? Could a lab destroy samples in an unsolved criminal case? We know the answer. Today, I really feel ashamed to be European.
The Mccann's manage to use the Media and have free 'antenna time' in all TVs and papers without being disturbed by the power of people who had the commitment of regulating the news and the information. The same media, got in troubles while supporting the wikileaks. There is two justices, in countries that sign the Human Rights and the right to Freedom of speech, two basic pillars of the democracy.
Another UK error: Arresting Assenge is an error. That just give more power to the wikileaks who already advise that they will not stop.
The arrest make more damages to UK and US then all the files released by the Wikileaks. This two countries, have always problems to resist a such temptation of "showing their apettizer to control the world". They are the two new "Napoleons" with a really bad Taste. 12 points to Assange and the Wikileaks, ZERO to UK and US. An Occidental man manage to shake the power of the proclamed most powerful democratic countries in the world. He shows how weak is the safe of all the citizens that live in pacific and assumed safe countries. If they manage go access vital information, that means everybody could do it, even the terrorists that many countries want to fight. Then, no surprise for how easy and successful was the September 11.
The problem was not the Wikileaks. The problem is the diplomatic world from most of the countries. The wikileaks show how easy is to grabb information from the diplomatic world. Embassies and foreign ministeries of powerful countries are running their departments with irresponsiblility and lake profissionalism. They are incompetents and are this people who need a deep investigation at the end. Or what we have here is a huge conspiracy inside the US system. Some people forced and pressured to do things that they reprove and disagree? If you are forced to do a bad thing and you disagree, how you react? YOU LET IT LEAK TO SOMEBODY. YOU OPEN THE WAY FOR IT TO BE KNOWN TO THE BIG PUBLIC. I believe many times, people working in the diplomatic world were forced to do things against their human sense.
Thanks Joana for the petition link - signed!
@Anon 4, IMHO Wikileaks is what freedom of speech is about. We've not really had it before, and the reaction to real openness and transparency is very revealing.
Democracy and free speech are not dying - they never really existed in the Western system. It is all a conjurer's trick - and now the conjurer's trick is exposed. The conjurer is a bit miffed.
--Trismegistus
I don't think this has been mentioned on here yet, sorry if it is off topic. As foreshadowed by Blacksmith...
"The husband of a woman murdered on her honeymoon has been arrested in the UK at the request of the South African authorities, police said."
Full article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-11945015
The family is quoted as calling the allegations "ludicrous" and "hurtful." I have not heard that they have said "unhelpful..." wait for it!
--Trismegistus
Thank you Joana for this.
I signed the petition.
They can arrest him but the truth canot be jailed.
"I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.”- Pietro Aretino-
Here is a link giving some light about who has been "raped"
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/assange-rape-accuser-cia-ties/
Wikileaks and the Diplomacy of Secrecy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlKD3KbnBZw
Twitter May be Censoring Wikileaks
http://osdir.com/Article10586.phtml
Wikileaks are born out of the fact the US were neglect.
They should have protect better those documents.
One or two leaks, ok, but thousends?
This is the United States'fault.
Trismegistus 12
I don't think this has been mentioned on here yet, sorry if it is off topic. As foreshadowed by Blacksmith... "The husband of a woman murdered on her honeymoon has been arrested in the UK at the request of the South African authorities, police said."
The family is quoted as calling the allegations "ludicrous" and "hurtful." I have not heard that they have said "unhelpful..." wait for it!"
But their Spokesman, Cli££ord, has said that he is not guilty. So that must be true. Why does anyone need to bother with any further legal proceedings ?
And why do they have such a limited vocabulary , - ludicrous, hurtful, unhelpful - do they learn it at Spokesperson school.
By what right does a spokesman comment personally on the guilt or innocence of the client. The job is to represent the client. Just as is the job of solicitor or barrister. "My instructions are that XYZ. My client pleads not Guilty... My clients wsh it to be known that they find this story ludicrous..."
When I first heard of the Devani case I had the same feeling that I did about the Madeleine McCann case. Why the need for a P.R.. person - and Max Clifford at that????
Sorry for being off-topic but couldn't help noting the similarity.
15 PeterMac
Well said, the job of a spokesman is to represent the client.
An alarming development, spokesman adopting identity.
On the other hand, imo, this kind of spokesmen are representing the weakness of being 'not guilty', it underlines 'guilty'.
NL
Letter from Iberia
Remeber what George Orwell wrote
"In a time of universal deciet telling the truth is a terrorist act"
I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU BOTH DOWN HERE SOON YOU HAVE EXECUTIVE MEMBERSHIP OF KITCHEN WHERE IT'S NICE AND REALLY HOT, JUST TO YOUR LIKING.
YOU HAVE A SPECIAL PLACE RESERVED THAT NOT EVEN I AM ALLOWED TO VISIT.
REGARDS
HAROLD SHIPMAN
Yes, Anon @ 16. I have had that 'something doesn't add up' feeling 3 times regarding stories in the media. Tracie Andrews, Maddie and now the Devani case.
I find it strange that he has been bailed and yet Mr Assange has not.
South Africa's National police commissioner Bheki Cele:
"Speaking in Limpopo province, the South African media reported him as saying: 'One monkey came from London to kill his wife here.
'He thought we South Africans were stupid. Don’t kill people here.'"
A number of "monkeys" came from England to holiday in sunny Allgarve...thinking the Portuguese were stupid...well, the Portuguese are not stupid, but...they are rulled by corrupt spineless politicians...
Cyberattacks follow jailing of WikiLeaks' Assange & something else
WikiLeaks: Stop the crackdown
The massive campaign of intimidation against WikiLeaks is sending a chill through free press advocates everywhere.
Legal experts say WikiLeaks has likely broken no laws. Yet top US politicians have called it a terrorist group and commentators have urged assassination of its staff. The organization has come under massive government and corporate attack, but WikiLeaks is only publishing information provided by a whistleblower. And it has partnered with the world's leading newspapers (NYT, Guardian, Spiegel etc) to carefully vet the information it publishes.
The massive extra-judicial intimidation of WikiLeaks is an attack on democracy. We urgently need a public outcry for freedom of the press and expression. Sign the petition to stop the crackdown and forward this email to everyone -- let's get to 1 million voices and take out full page ads in US newspapers this week!
WikiLeaks: Stop the crackdown Petition
WikiLeaks isn't acting alone -- it's partnered with the top newspapers in the world (New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, etc) to carefully review 250,000 US diplomatic cables and remove any information that it is irresponsible to publish. Only 800 cables have been published so far. Past WikiLeaks publications have exposed government-backed torture, the murder of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, and corporate corruption.
The US government is currently pursuing all legal avenues it has to stop WikiLeaks from publishing more cables, but the laws of democracies protect freedom of the press. The US and other governments may not like the laws that protect our freedom of expression, but that's exactly why it's so important that we have them, and why only a democratic process can change them.
Reasonable people can disagree on whether WikiLeaks and the leading newspapers it's partnered with are releasing more information than the public should see. Whether the releases undermine diplomatic confidentiality and whether that's a good thing. Whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has the personal character of a hero or a villain. But none of this justifies a vicious campaign of intimidation to silence a legal media outlet by governments and corporations. Click below to join the call to stop the crackdown:
WikiLeaks: Stop the crackdown Petition
Ever wonder why the media so rarely gives the full story of what happens behind the scenes? This is why - because when they do, governments can be vicious in their response. And when that happens, it's up to the public to stand up for our democratic rights to a free press and freedom of expression. Never has there been a more vital time for us to do so.
With hope,
Ricken, Emma, Alex, Alice, Maria Paz and the rest of the Avaaz team.
SOURCES:
Law experts say WikiLeaks in the clear (ABC)
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2010/s3086781.htm
WikiLeaks are a bunch of terrorists, says leading U.S. congressman (Mail Online)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1333879/WikiLeaks-terrorists-says-leading-US-congressman-Peter-King.html
Cyber guerrillas can help US (Financial Times)
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d3dd7c40-ff15-11df-956b-00144feab49a.html#axzz17QvQ4Ht5
Amazon drops WikiLeaks under political pressure (Yahoo)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101201/tc_afp/usdiplomacyinternetwikileakscongressamazon
"WikiLeaks avenged by hacktivists" (PC World):
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/212701/operation_payback_wikileaks_avenged_by_hacktivists.html
US Gov shows true control over Internet with WikiLeaks containment (Tippett.org)
http://www.tippett.org/2010/12/us-gov-shows-true-control-over-internet-with-wikileaks-containment/
US embassy cables culprit should be executed, says Mike Huckabee (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/01/us-embassy-cables-executed-mike-huckabee
WikiLeaks ditched by MasterCard, Visa. Who's next? (The Christian Science Monitor)
http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2010/1207/WikiLeaks-ditched-by-MasterCard-Visa.-Who-s-next
Assange's Interpol Warrant Is for Having Sex Without a Condom (The Slatest)
http://slatest.slate.com/id/2276690/
WikiLeaks via http://www.twitlonger.com/show/7canol
On Wednesday 8th December 2010, @wikileaks said:
STATEMENT: "We will not be gagged" #cablegate #censorship
Following the detention of Wikileaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assangem, Wikileaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said:
“Today, Wikileaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange was refused bail by a UK court. While we are troubled by this bizarre decision, we know Julian is grateful for the support of both his legal team and prominent figures such as Ken Loach, Jemima Khan and John Pilger.
“However, this will not stifle Wikileaks. The release of the US Embassy Cables – the biggest leak in history – will still continue. This evening, the latest batch of cables were released, and our media partners released their next batch of stories.
“We will not be gagged, either by judicial action or corporate censorship. Today Visa joined Mastercard, Paypal, Amazon, EveryDNS and others in cutting off their links.
“Wikileaks is still online. The full site is duplicated in more than 500 locations. Every day, the cables are loaded more than 50 million times.
“US Senator Joe Lieberman today attacked the New York Times for its decision to publish the cables, just days after calling for companies to boycott Wikileaks.
“Just minutes later, the State Department announced the US will host next year’s UNESCO Press Freedom day. The irony is not lost on us. We hope in future, UNESCO celebrates press freedom somewhere where it exists.”
Visit the Cablegate site at http://www.wikileaks.ch/cablegate
thank you 14 for the video link
Lula apela a protestos contra a prisão de Julian Assange e pela Liberdade de Expressão - Video
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/wikileaks/dont-shoot-messenger-for-revealing-uncomfortable-truths/story-fn775xjq-1225967241332
By Julian Assange
Don't shoot messenger for revealing uncomfortable truths
Julian Assange From:The Australian December 08, 2010 12:00AM 189 comments
Elizabeth Cook's artist impression of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's appearance at Westminster Magistrates Court in London, where he was denied bail after appearing on an extradition warrant. Source: AP
WIKILEAKS deserves protection, not threats and attacks.
IN 1958 a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide's The News, wrote: "In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win."
His observation perhaps reflected his father Keith Murdoch's expose that Australian troops were being needlessly sacrificed by incompetent British commanders on the shores of Gallipoli. The British tried to shut him up but Keith Murdoch would not be silenced and his efforts led to the termination of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.
Nearly a century later, WikiLeaks is also fearlessly publishing facts that need to be made public.
I grew up in a Queensland country town where people spoke their minds bluntly. They distrusted big government as something that could be corrupted if not watched carefully. The dark days of corruption in the Queensland government before the Fitzgerald inquiry are testimony to what happens when the politicians gag the media from reporting the truth.
These things have stayed with me. WikiLeaks was created around these core values. The idea, conceived in Australia, was to use internet technologies in new ways to report the truth.
Hello everyone,
Wikileaks.
Madeleine Mccann talked about in US Ambassy cables:
Read this article from The guardian at this link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/dec/09/wikileaks-us-embassy-cables-live-updates:
5.09pm:
Live blog: Search
"Around 100 suggestions an hour are coming through from readers suggesting subjects to search for in the cables database. We've set up a small team to go through them and so far the results look promising. Several people suggested searching for information on Madeleine McCann, the British girl who went missing in Portugal in 2007, for example. She is indeed mentioned in at least two cables from the US embassy in Lisbon. No clues to her fate, unfortunately, but some interesting observations on the involvement of British police, which we'll relay once we've checked them out. Similarly, lots of interest in the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed in 2006 and is mentioned in around 70 cables. Other popular requests for more infomation include the private security firm Blackwater (mentioned 159 times in the cables) and several themes that have already been trawled over by Guardian journalists such as Bosnian war crimes, but which may be worth returning to on the basis of more detailed search suggestions. Please keep the ideas coming by sending tweets to @gdncables (preferably with details of dates and locations) and we'll try to respond as quickly as possible and keep you updated on the 'you ask, we search' exercise via this blog."
Open letter to Max Clifford via @JillyCL and still on the matters of Freedom of Speech & on the McCann case: The 'formerly banned by the #McCann couple' books have been delivered to Guerra & Paz » "Maddie - A Verdade da Mentira" Portuguese Edition, So Far :)
joana.
If you think it is appropriate. Could you post this request for translations of the following into portuguese, spanish, french and any other language, for a petition.
In this way I think translations will be overt and most likely to be accurate.
Thank you Barry Stanley
- Non disclosures and hidden agendas are more harmful to the citizens of the world than the disclosure of criminality of governments and the personal views of diplomats-
Co
Hi Barry, noticed your comment was cut, but sure, do you want me to translate the WikiLeaks: Stop the crackdown Petition Avaaz petition to Portuguese? Or do you mean this one: Leave Wikileaks Alone? I'm happy to help :)
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