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May 13, 2002
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#2
Cables expose US-Israeli war talks

By Bill Van Auken
5 January 2011


US diplomatic cables quoted by the Norwegian daily newspaper Aftenposten expose discussions between US legislators and Israeli officials on preparations for the next Middle East war.

These documents make clear both Israel’s preparations for another major war in the region and the full support of visiting members of the US Congress, Democratic and Republican, who apparently subordinated themselves to the secrecy demands of the Israeli state.

Aftenposten, Norway’s largest newspaper, reported last month that it has all 250,000 secret US diplomatic cables that were obtained by WikiLeaks and has begun publishing articles based on these documents, while not reproducing the cables themselves.

One of the cables from the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to the State Department in Washington recounts a meeting between the visiting American congressional delegation headed by former Democratic Representative Ike Skelton (the head of the House Armed Services Committee, who was defeated for re-election last November) and Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, the Israeli chief of staff, which took place on November 15, 2009. Another details a briefing given by Israeli generals to another delegation led by US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (Democrat, New York) on September 2 and 3 of the same year.

The cables, the Norwegian paper reported, send a “clear message” that “The Israeli military preparations for a new war in the Middle East are in full swing.”

General Ashkenazi is quoted in the November 2009 cable as saying that the Israeli military is preparing to wage the next war “in the same areas where the previous wars took place, namely in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.”

He told the visiting members of the US Congress: “I’m preparing the Israeli army for a major war since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite.”

Ashkenazi gave the US legislators an inflated estimate of the alleged threat to Israel posed by Iran, the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and the Hamas movement, which governs the Gaza Strip. The claims fit Israel’s unwavering practice of portraying every one of its wars of aggression as an unavoidable act of self defense.

He claimed that Iranian ballistic missiles together with rockets stockpiled by Hezbollah and Hamas pose a threat to 1 million Israelis, including the residents of Tel Aviv.

Hezbollah, the general asserted, has a stockpile of 40,000 rockets. Curiously, the briefing given by the Israeli military to Senator Gillibrand little more than two months earlier placed the number at 20,000, including anti-tank rockets and other weapons that would be of use only in defending Lebanese territory from Israeli attack.

The Israeli chief of staff confided to the US delegation that the Israeli military is continuously flying unmanned drone aircraft over Lebanon, in open contempt for the country’s sovereignty, to identify targets for attack. He also expressed his gratitude to the US National Security Agency (NSA) for its aid in spying on Israel’s enemies.

The cable also quotes Ashkenazi as telling the US representatives that in the next war Israel cannot accept any restrictions on conducting warfare in urban areas. He apparently was warning that its conduct would be even more savage than in the waging of Operation Cast Lead, the three-week Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2008-2009. That operation claimed the lives of over 1,400 Palestinians, including more than 900 civilians, more than half of them women and children. Ashkenazi assured the congress members that, while “mistakes” may have been made, the Israeli military never intentionally targeted civilians.

A similar claim was made in the briefing given in September 2009 to the delegation led by Senator Gillibrand. Israeli General Yoav Galant told the American politicians that the Israeli army had acted with “great restraint” and “limited power,” claims that were apparently accepted without question by Gillibrand and her colleagues.

The Israeli officer claimed that despite the massive destruction inflicted by the Israeli offensive, Hamas had managed to obtain as many weapons as it had before the invasion, meaning that the next Israeli war would be “more difficult” than the last.

A separate secret cable posted by WikiLeaks last November recounts the proceedings of a November 2009 meeting of the Joint Political Military Group (JPMG), a US-Israeli body that coordinates military policy between the two governments. The main topic of discussion was Iran’s nuclear program, with Israeli military officials warning that time was running out in the run-up to a military strike against Iranian facilities.

“The GOI [Government of Israel] described 2010 as a critical year―if the Iranians continue to protect and harden their nuclear sites, it will be more difficult to target and damage them,” the document states. “Both sides then discussed the upcoming delivery of GBU-28 bunker-busting bombs to Israel, noting that the transfer should be handled quietly to avoid any allegations that the USG is helping Israel prepare for a strike against Iran.”

The GBU-28 is a 5,000-pound laser-guided bomb developed by the US military in preparation for the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq. It was designed to penetrate below ground and through reinforced concrete to destroy Iraqi command and control centers. Aftenposten reports that Israel has obtained 100 of the powerful bombs from the US for use against Iran. source
 
May 13, 2002
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#3
Police trained Bangladeshi death squads
By Simon Whelan


Cables released by WikiLeaks reveal how the British government provides training to a Bangladeshi government paramilitary force specialising in executing political opponents.

The Rapid Action Battalion’s most recent killing was Anisur Rahman, a member of the Bangladeshi Communist Party in the western region of the country.

The Bangladesh government had promised to end the extra-judicial executions. In a radio discussion organised by the BBC, however, its fishing minister recently stated, “There are incidents of trials that are not possible under the laws of the land. The government will continue with extra-judicial killings commonly called ‘crossfire’, until terrorist activities and extortion are uprooted.”

“Crossfire” killings are a euphemism for an execution. Acting as judge, jury and executioner, a government-appointed Star Chamber decides who should die for their so-called crimes against the interests of the ruling clique and then the order goes out to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

The WikiLeaks cables show that the British government facilitates this execution squad—providing it with training, the exact nature of which, in light of the ongoing brutal behaviour of British forces and inhumane conduct in Iraq and Afghanistan, remains somewhat cloudy.

The training of the Bangladeshi RAB members in the UK has been carried out by the West Mercia and Humberside police forces. The courses are approved by the British Association of Chief Police Officers.

Washington reportedly refused to offer training to the RAB, citing its history of gross human rights violations. However, in one leaked cable, James Moriarty, the American ambassador in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, states, “The RAB enjoys a great deal of respect and admiration from a population scared by decreasing law and order over the last decade.”

Moriarty expresses his opinion that the RAB “enforcement organisation is best positioned to one day become a Bangladeshi version of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation”.

In another cable, Moriarty quotes British officials as stating they have been “training RAB for 18 months in areas such as investigative interviewing techniques and rules of engagement.”

When asked by the Guardian newspaper, which published the WikiLeaks cables in the UK, a spokesperson for the British government claimed that the British state “provides a range of human rights assistance” to the RAB.

When questioned by the Guardian about the nature of the training provided to the squad, Mejbah Uddin, head of training at the RAB, said that he was not aware of any human rights training since he was appointed in summer.

In addition to the hundreds of executions committed by the RAB, the organisation also stands accused of the routine use of torture, kidnapping, extortion and accepting bribes in return for “crossfire” deaths. The RAB openly acknowledges that it is responsible for hundreds of deaths since its formation in 2004. The director general of the RAB admitted to 577 deaths at the hand of his operatives in “crossfire” incidents since the formation of the paramilitary organisation. This figure was updated in March of last year to 622. But human rights groups estimate that the RAB is responsible for at least 1,000 extra-judicial killings.

One of the major issues revealed by WikiLeaks is the ongoing relationship between the former colonial masters in London and Bangladesh. The leaked cables reveal that the British training of RAB began under the Blair Labour government in 1997, when it was promoting its so-called “ethical” foreign policy, and continues under the current Conservative/Liberal-Democrat coalition. The RAB confirmed that as recently as last October, RAB members took part in training in the UK.

For their part, the present administration in Dhaka campaigned during the last elections to end the rule of terror waged by the RAB against the Bangladeshi population. However, once elected into office, they have decided that mass murder has its uses after all.

A year ago, the high court in Dhaka ruled that the extra-judicial killings committed by the RAB be brought to a halt, but they have continued unabated, averaging a slaying every week. Most often young men—frequently leftists, but not always—are executed in the dead of night.

No one has been charged for a single death carried out by the RAB.

Ominously, the WikiLeaks cables also reveal that the US government surveys and analyses the statistics and contours of Muslim immigrant communities in the UK. The cables revealed information about the size and projected growth of the British Bangladeshi community, which is predominately Muslim.
 
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#4
Norwegian paper says it has all WikiLeaks cables

OSLO, Norway – A Norwegian newspaper says it has obtained the entire trove of 250,000 uncensored U.S. diplomatic documents that WikiLeaks has been distributing. The announcement Thursday appears to make Aftenposten the first media organization outside WikiLeaks' five partners to obtain the material — a development sure to heighten U.S. government fears that the public release of some uncensored diplomatic cables could endanger informants' lives.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/wikileaks
 

Miro

Sicc OG
Sep 20, 2006
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#5
was it here that i read that Julian Assange made a deal with Israel? a deal that supposedly involved not releasing any documents on Israel. that was a load of BS.

The other thing people are throwing out there is that the wikileaks can be related to the CIA, since there really isnt any evidence to support this claim...more BS if you ask me.
 
May 9, 2002
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#6
was it here that i read that Julian Assange made a deal with Israel? a deal that supposedly involved not releasing any documents on Israel. that was a load of BS.

The other thing people are throwing out there is that the wikileaks can be related to the CIA, since there really isnt any evidence to support this claim...more BS if you ask me.
As of right now, EVERYTHING is BS because no one knows shit about shit. Its all just speculation.
 

Miro

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Sep 20, 2006
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#7
The Best of Cablegate: Instances Where Public Discourse Benefited from the Leaks
News Roundup by Rainey Reitman
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/01/cablegate-disclosures-have-furthered-investigative

Since late November, the whistleblower website Wikileaks has been in the process of releasing in waves over 250,000 leaked United States diplomatic cables. Known as "Cablegate," this is the largest publication of confidential documents by any organization. (Catch up on Wikileaks developments by reviewing EFF’s page on this issue).

Wikileaks’ disclosures have caused tremendous controversy, with critics of Wikileaks claiming the leaks of classified information could endanger lives and harm international diplomacy. Others have commended Wikileaks, pointing to a long history of over-classification and a lack of transparency by the United States government.

Regardless of the heated debate over the propriety of Wikileaks’ actions, some of the cables have contributed significantly to public and political conversations all around the world. In this article, we highlight a small selection of cables that been critical to understanding and evaluating controversial events.

1. “Dancing Boy” Scandal Alleges Child Prostitution, Possible Drug Use among U.S. Private Contractors
The Guardian reported on a cable describing an incident in which employees of DynCorp, a U.S. military contractor, hired a “dancing boy” for a party. The term “dancing boy,” also known as bacha bazi, is a euphemism for a custom in Afghanistan in which underaged boys are dressed as women, dance for gatherings of men and are then prostituted. Read more. The incident allegedly involved soliciting local Afghan police for a bacha bazi as well as usage of illegal drugs. The cable detailed that Hanif Armar, minister of the Interior of Afghanistan, urged the United States to help contain the scandal by warning journalists that reporting on the incident would endanger lives.

The incident contributed important information to the debate over the use of private military contractors in Afghanistan. The articles published in the wake of Wikileaks’ publication of the cable are far more critical than the original reporting on the issue. For example, back in July of 2009, the Washington Post described the incident as “questionable management oversight,” in which “DynCorp employees in Afghanistan hired a teenage boy to perform a tribal dance.” This cable helped the Post and the public understand there was more to this story than a tribal dance.
2. Pfizer Allegedly Sought to Blackmail Nigerian Regulator to Stop Lawsuit Against Drug Trials on Children
A cable released by Wikileaks says that Pfizer “had hired investigators to uncover corruption links to [Nigerian] Attorney General Michael Aondoakaa to expose him and put pressure on him to drop the federal cases.” The Guardian reported that the drug giant was trying to convince the Nigerian attorney general to settle lawsuits arising from medical testing of the oral antibiotic Trovan that it administered to children living in Kano during a meningitis epidemic in 1996. The cable also noted that Pfizer Nigeria Country Director Enrico Liggeri felt the lawsuits “has had a ‘chilling effect’ on international pharmaceutical companies because companies are no longer willing to conduct clinical testing in Nigeria.” This episode helped the public understand more about the controversies surrounding drug testing in underdeveloped countries, as well as the politics behind Nigeria's settlement of the multi-billion dollar lawsuit for $75 million.
3. U.S. Failed to Bully Spain Into Adopting Untested Anti-P2P bill
A diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks to the Spanish paper El Pais shows that the United States used bullying tactics to attempt to push Spain into adopting copyright laws even more stringent than those in the U.S. As EFF reported, a U.S. official apparently pressured the government of Spain to adopt novel and untested legislative measures that have never been proposed in the United States. The Wikileaks revelations came just in time, providing critical information in a December legislative session, and saving Spain from the kind of misguided copyright laws that could cripple innovation and facilitate online censorship.
4. U.S. to Uganda: Let Us Know If You Want to Use Our Intelligence for War Crimes
The United States has long supported the efforts of the Ugandan government to defeat the Lord's Resistance Army, as part of a conflict known for its brutality and the use of child solders. One cable released by Wikileaks indicated the United States was considering selling arms to Uganda. The Guardian reported that the U.S. ambassador accepted verbal promises from the Ugandan defense minister that they would “consult with the US in advance if the [Ugandan army] intends to use US-supplied intelligence to engage in operations not government [sic] by the law of armed conflict.” That same article noted that the United States has been concerned that the Ugandan government is engaged in actions which might violate the laws of war.

Learning that U.S. intelligence might be used outside the laws of law, and that the U.S. government merely wanted a consultation, helped the public understand more about the American-Ugandan cooperation against the LRA, and informed the debate over the methods used to combat rebellions in Africa. This is not an idle concern- the very next day a cable detailed the use of extrajudicial execution of a Ugandan prisoner.
5. U.S. Haggling over Guantánamo Detainees
President Obama promised to close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp since his campaign for the office, and reiterated the promise once he took office. Yet the controversial detention facility remains open. An article by the New York Times analyzed cables released by Wikileaks which indicated the United States is having difficulties in fulfilling this promise and is now considering some unique solutions. The cables show that U.S. diplomats have been searching for countries that would take detainees, often bargaining with foreign countries over the placement of prisoners. In return for accepting detainees, the receiving country might get a one-on-one meeting with Obama, assistance obtaining International Monetary Fund assistance, or some other helping hand from the United States. In one cable, Saudi Arabian King Abdullah recommended that the U.S. implant an electronic chip in each detainee for location tracking, using technology developed for livestock.

The debate over Wikileaks will continue for some time. But these examples make clear that Wikileaks has brought much-needed light to government operations and private actions which, while veiled in secrecy, profoundly affect the lives of people around the world and can play an important role in a democracy that chooses its leaders. As founding father James Madison explained, "a popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce or tragedy or perhaps both." Regardless of whether you agree with WikiLeaks, Cablegate has served an important role in bettering public understanding on matters of public concern.
 
May 13, 2002
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#8
US government demands Twitter account information of WikiLeaks and followers

January 2011

The US Department of Justice has issued a court order to Twitter, the social networking site, demanding that it hand over information on WikiLeaks and its collaborators. WikiLeaks said that the subpoena, if not blocked, will grant the government access to the names of the more than 600,000 people who “follow” WikiLeaks over the network.


The subpoena, issued December 14, covers all official Twitter accounts of WikiLeaks, as well as the personal accounts of Brigitta Jonsdottir, a member of the Icelandic parliament, and WikiLeaks collaborators Rop Gonggrijp and Jacob Appelbaum. The order also requests all information on Pfc. Bradley Manning―who the US government claims leaked information through WikiLeaks―and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The government is demanding that Twitter hand over mailing addresses and billing information, IP addresses used to access Twitter, as well as bank records and credit card information.

The subpoena provoked an uproar in Iceland, where the foreign minister summoned the US ambassador for an explanation. “[It is] very serious that a foreign state, the United States, demands such personal information of an Icelandic person, an elected official,” said Interior Minister Ogmundur Jonasson in a press interview with the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service.

This concern is heightened, Jonasson said, when “put [in] perspective and concerns freedom of speech and people's freedom in general.”



Ms. Jonsdottir denounced the subpoena in a telephone interview with the WSWS on Sunday. “There is no criminal case against me because I have done nothing in violation of any law,” she stated.

“The US government is trying to criminalize whistleblowing and publication of whistleblowing,” Jonsdottir added. “They want to make it tantamount to spying, and if they succeed in doing that, journalists could be prosecuted just for doing their jobs.”

Jonsdottir and Gonggrijp, together with Julian Assange, are listed as the producers of the Collateral Murder video released in April, which shows the slaughter of unarmed people, including two Reuters journalists, by a US helicopter gunship in 2007.

In addition to the information on WikiLeaks and its collaborators, the subpoena also demands “non-content information associated with the contents of any communications … stored by or for the accounts(s), such as destination email addresses.” If Twitter posts are interpreted as messages, that means that Twitter will be obliged to turn over the names of all of WikiLeaks’ followers.

WikiLeaks issued a warning on its Twitter feed Sunday that “all 637,000 @wikileaks followers are a target of US gov subpoena against Twitter.”

The subpoena ordered Twitter not to disclose that it had been served with the subpoena. Twitter's lawyers asked the district court to remove those secrecy provisions, which it did on January 5. Twitter then advised the subjects that if they did not challenge the subpoenas in court within 10 days, it would turn over the requested material.

Thus far, Twitter is the only social networking site that has reported being subpoenaed in relation to the investigation of WikiLeaks. However, WikiLeaks and Ms. Jonsdottir said they suspect Facebook, Google, and other companies received similar subpoenas, but quietly complied.

“If Twitter had not fought to unseal the subpoena, then we would never have known any of this,” said Jonsdottir. “I'm waiting for similar letters from Facebook, Google, and Skype, because I would like to know if they have also been subpoenaed.”

WikiLeaks issued a statement demanding that Facebook and Google make public any subpoenas they received. “Today, the existence of a secret US government grand jury espionage investigation into WikiLeaks was confirmed for the first time as a subpoena was brought into the public domain,” the organization said in a statement.

Jonsdottir said there would be a worldwide uproar if any country besides the United States demanded this type of information of a foreign MP. “I am in the International Network of Parliamentarians on Tibet. What would the world think if China demanded my computer records based on the idea that I was supporting terrorist monks?” she said.

Julian Assange condemned the court order in a statement Saturday. “If the Iranian government was to attempt to coercively obtain this information from journalists and activists of foreign nations, human rights groups around the world would speak out," he told the Associated Press.

There is reason to suspect that the US government has already collected part of this data through its illegal wiretapping and secret subpoenas. As Jacob Appelbaum, a security specialist listed in the subpoena, posted on his Twitter page, “I wonder if the subpoena is merely a front to legally introduce evidence captured by the confirmed NSA wiretaps two blocks from Twitter HQ.”

Jonsdottir and WikiLeaks have said they intend to wage a legal fight to keep Twitter from handing over the data. source
 
May 13, 2002
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#9
Swiss banker jailed for supplying information to WikiLeaks
By Patrick Martin


Swiss authorities arrested a former banker and whistleblower after he made a public handover of information on wealthy tax evaders to the Internet web site WikiLeaks. Rudolf Elmer was taken into custody Wednesday evening, two days after a press conference in Zürich where he delivered data on offshore bank accounts to WikiLeaks.

Under Swiss law, police and prosecutors may hold Elmer for 48 hours while they decide whether there are grounds for a longer detention. A joint statement from the police and state prosecutor said, “The state prosecutor’s office is checking to see whether Rudolf Elmer has violated Swiss banking law by handing the CD over to Wikileaks.”

Elmer is the former manager of the Cayman Islands branch of the Swiss investment bank Julius Baer, used by multimillionaires and corporations to avoid taxes in the United States and other countries. He gave WikiLeaks details on 2,000 such individuals and companies.

In an extensive interview with the British newspaper the Observer, published January 16, he said, “I am a critic of the system and want to tell society what happens in these murky oases.”

While declining to identify any of the tax evaders, Elmer said they included 40 politicians and other “pillars of society” worldwide, and included people from “the US, Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia—from all over.”

He turned to WikiLeaks because “The man in the street needs to know how this system works,” he said. Wealthy individuals, multinational conglomerates, financial institutions and hedge funds were “using secrecy as a screen to hide behind in order to avoid paying tax.”

Elmer said that Swiss bank secrecy was justifiable for ordinary people, “but in these instances privacy is being abused so that big people can get big banking organizations to service them.”

Top officials of the banks were in on the tax-evasion schemes, he said: “I have worked for major banks other than Julius Baer, and the one thing on which I am absolutely clear is that the banks know, and the big boys know, that money is being secreted away for tax-evasion purposes, and other things such as money-laundering—although these cases involve tax evasion.”

“Once you become part of senior management,” he told the Observer, “and gain international experience, as I did, then you are part of the inner circle—and things become much clearer. You are part of the plot. You know what the real products and service are, and why they are so expensive. It should be no surprise that the main product is secrecy. … Crimes are committed and lies spread in order to protect this secrecy.”

Monday’s press conference came after Elmer returned to Switzerland from Mauritius to face trial for violation of Swiss bank secrecy laws, in a case unrelated to the WikiLeaks disclosure. He was found guilty Wednesday after a brief trial, but received only a nominal punishment.

Judge Sebastian Aeppli rejected prosecution demands to give Elmer an eight-month prison sentence and instead sentenced him to a fine of 7,200 Swiss francs ($7,505), suspended for two years. A few hours later, police arrested Elmer for providing the CD to WikiLeaks.

Elmer’s lawyer Jack Blum said that Elmer gave the material to WikiLeaks because Swiss officials would not take action on his complaints of conspiracy and tax evasion.

The lawyer pointed out that the Swiss charge on which Elmer was convicted represented gross overreach by the prosecution, since Elmer was charged under Swiss law but the disclosure of information came from the Cayman Islands. “This is bold extraterritorial nonsense,” he told the Observer.

Elmer has been linked to WikiLeaks since early 2008, when he handed over confidential data from his former employer, the banking firm Julius Baer. The bank sued WikiLeaks and temporarily blocked dissemination of the information, but the court order ultimately was overturned and the suit dropped.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, in a statement to the press Monday, said the powerful financial interests were working with the US government against the Internet-based organization. He cited the actions of Visa, MasterCard, Citibank, PayPal and other financial intermediaries, which have blocked credit card contributions to the group.
 
May 13, 2002
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#10
WikiLeaks and Tunisia
January 19, 2011

American foreign policy specialists have described the events in Tunisia over the past week as the “first WikiLeaks revolution.” This amounts to a grudging tribute from Washington to the impact of the courageous work of Julian Assange and his co-thinkers, who have made public thousands of documents that reveal the predations and crimes of American imperialism and the venality of its client regimes throughout the world.

WikiLeaks has made public ten cables from the US Embassy in Tunis, all signed by US Ambassador Robert Godec. Their content rebuts the lie, regularly circulated by the US government and the American media, that the documents released by WikiLeaks are inconsequential and reveal “nothing new,” or even put US diplomacy in a favorable light. Far from it: the cables contain significant exposures of the corruption of the Tunisian regime and the US “nod and a wink” approach towards torture in the country’s prisons.

They expose the fraud of Washington’s pretense of support for democracy and human rights around the world.

Seven of the cables make evaluations of the regime, commenting on the health of President Zine El Abadine Ben Ali, the corruption of his family, particularly his in-laws, the Trabelsis, and US options for shaping a post-Ben Ali Tunisia. Some highlights include:

June 23, 2008: The now-notorious dispatch headlined “Corruption in Tunisia: What’s Yours Is Mine.” It gives details of the doings, particularly of the Trabelsis—including at least ten known siblings of the first lady and their children—as well as seven siblings of Ben Ali and the president’s children through his first wife. Nearly every significant business in Tunisia involves a member of this extended family, the dispatch reports, adding, “Whether it’s cash, services, land, property, or yes, even your yacht, President Ben Ali’s family is rumored to covet it and reportedly gets what it wants.”

The yacht was owned by the head of the Paris office of the investment bank Lazard Frères and was seized by two Trabelsis and repainted. One of the two, Imed Trabelsi, a nephew of Ben Ali, was stabbed to death at the airport in Tunis over the weekend as he attempted to flee the country, when a crowd of anti-regime demonstrators recognized him as a member of the hated “first family.”

July 17, 2009: A dispatch headlined “A Troubled Tunisia: What Should We Do?” describes the regime as “sclerotic” and with no clear successor to Ben Ali. “Many Tunisians are frustrated by the lack of political freedom and angered by First Family corruption, high unemployment and regional inequities,” the US ambassador reports. With 2009 an election year, “Ben Ali is certain to be reelected by a wide margin in a process that will be neither free nor fair.”

July 27, 2009: The cable gives an account of the private dinner for Ambassador Godec and his wife at the home of Mohammed Saker El Materi, Ben Ali’s son-in-law, and his wife Nesrine, the president’s daughter. Godec describes the luxurious conditions in which the family lives, including fountains (in a desert country) and a caged tiger. He calls El Materi “demanding, vain and difficult,” his wife “naïve and clueless,” concluding: “The opulence with which El Materi and Nesrine live and their behavior make clear why they and other members of Ben Ali’s family are disliked and even hated by some Tunisians.”

The American media has reported the corruption cables, but has kept silent on three other cables released by WikiLeaks which document the direct collaboration of the US government, under both Bush and Obama, with torture in Tunisian prisons.

March 3, 2008: The cable reports the results of a three-day visit to Tunis by assistant secretary of state David Welch for talks with Ben Ali on terrorism and other regional issues. Ben Ali promised “to cooperate with the United States without inhibitions.” This language has grisly implications, given the widespread use of torture by both Tunisian and American interrogators.

June 18, 2009: The dispatch gives an account of a discussion by the ambassador with an official of the International Committee of the Red Cross who, while bound by a confidentiality agreement after visiting Tunisian prisons, said he “would not like to be in the ambassador’s place” when it came to making a recommendation on the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners to Tunisian custody.

June 23, 2009: A cable five days later reports that the government of Tunisia is pressuring European countries not to take Tunisian detainees from Guantanamo—in order to insure they are delivered to Tunisian custody—and cites comments by the British and Canadian ambassadors that Tunisia routinely tortures prisoners.

The content of the cables demonstrates why the US government was so furious about the leaks and why it is seeking to prosecute Assange and halt WikiLeaks’ exposures. The revelations have had a definite political impact in undermining the Ben Ali regime and contributing to the mass demonstrations that ousted the dictator.

The Internet played a major role not only in creating the political climate, but also in the organization and mobilization of the mass movement in Tunisia. Thousands of home-made videos of police repression and popular resistance have been posted on the web. The Tunisian people have used Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites to organize and direct the mobilizations against the regime.

It can be certain that the US government will react to the role of the Internet in the events in Tunisia by stepping up its efforts to censor and control the web’s political content.
 
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#11
WikiLeaks cable shows close US ties with new Egyptian vice president
By Joseph Kishore
31 January 2011


On Saturday, the US-backed president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, announced that he was appointing Omar Suleiman, director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate, as his new vice president. Suleiman’s appointment to the long vacant position places him at the top of the line of succession for president if Mubarak leaves.

The news was greeted with contempt by the masses of Egyptian protesters who are demanding an end to Mubarak’s rule. In addition to having close ties with the military, Suleiman, as head of Egypt’s intelligence agency since 1993, has worked closely with the United States and Israel in suppressing the population of Egypt and the entire region.

A document released by WikiLeaks on Friday, reporting an April 21, 2009 meeting between Suleiman and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, further exposes the close ties between the US, Suleiman and the Egyptian government as a whole. The Obama administration continues to back the Mubarak regime because of the central role that he has played in maintaining US interests in the region.

According to the memo, Suleiman emphasized at the meeting that “his overarching regional goal was combating radicalism, especially in Gaza, Iran, and Sudan.” He stressed his support for undermining Hamas control of Gaza and the restoration of the Palestinian Authority, which has worked closely with both the US and Israel. “A Gaza in the hands of radicals will never be calm,” he said.

On Iran, the report states, “Suleiman said Egypt was ‘succeeding’ in preventing Iran from funneling financial support to Hamas through Egypt. Suleiman hoped that the US could encourage Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions and stop interfering in regional affairs, but cautioned that Iran ‘must pay a price’ for its actions.”

Domestically, the document reports on the government’s attempts to stamp out opposition. “Suleiman noted that only the Muslim Brotherhood remained and the Egyptian government continued to ‘make it difficult’ for them to operate.” Other documents released by WikiLeaks expose US complicity in Egypt’s use of torture against opponents of the regime. (See WikiLeaks exposes US complicity in murder, torture by Egyptian government)

In an article in the New Yorker, Jane Mayer notes that Suleiman, “suave, sophisticated and fluent in English … has served for years as the main conduit between the United States and Egypt.”

As the head of Egypt’s intelligence agency, Suleiman “was the CIA’s point man in Egypt for renditions—the covert program in which the CIA snatched suspects from around the world and returned them to Egypt and elsewhere for interrogation, often under brutal circumstances,” Mayer writes.

Mayer cites material in Stephen Grey’s book, Ghost Plane, which documents the direct discussions between Suleiman and the CIA. Mayer writes, “Edward S. Walker, Jr., a former US ambassador to Egypt, described Suleiman as ‘very bright, very realistic,’ adding that he was cognizant that there was a downside to ‘some of the negative things that the Egyptians engaged in, of torture and so on. But he was not squeamish, by the way.’”

Another cable, prepared in May 2007, discusses the possibility of Suleiman succeeding Mubarak as president, placing him second after Mubarak’s son, Gamal, in the list of candidates. It refers to Suleiman as Mubarak’s “consigliere,” who “was often cited as likely to be named to the long-vacant vice-presidential post.”

“Many of our contacts believe that Suleiman, because of his military background, would at least have to figure in any succession scenario for Gamal, possibly as a transitional figure,” the document states.
 
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#12
US may have got Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad clue in 2008 – WikiLeaks





The US may have obtained a clue three years ago that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Abbottabad, according to information gathered by interrogators at Guantánamo.

Buried in a document from 2008 released by WikiLeaks last week are notes from the interrogation of a Libyan, Abu al-Libi, who had apparently been with Bin Laden in Afghanistan.

According to the document, Libi fled to Peshawar in Pakistan and was living there in 2003 when he was asked to become one of Bin Laden's messengers. The document says: "In July 2003, detainee received a letter from [Bin Laden's] designated courier, Maulawi Abd al-Khaliq Jan, requesting detainee take on the responsibility of collecting donations, organising travel and distributing funds for families in Pakistan. [Bin Laden] stated detainee would be the official messenger between [Bin Laden] and others in Pakistan. In mid-2003, detainee moved his family to Abbottabad (Pakistan) and worked between Abbottabad and Peshawar."

Libi was captured in Pakistan in 2005. The CIA says it tracked Bin Laden by tracing the network of couriers, in particular one especially trusted by the al-Qaida leader and who died with himin the US raid on Sunday. The US has not yet named the courier.

Senior members of the Bush administration claim evidence gained in Guantánamo has provided important information, in this case supposedly leading to Bin Laden.

WikiLeaks released the report last week, prompting speculation that the US, afraid that its planned raid might be pre-empted, brought forward its attack.
 
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#20
WikiLeaks Cables Deal Fresh Blow to Yudhoyono, Indonesian Government
Jakarta Globe | August 25, 2011

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been heavily criticized in a new batch of US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday.

The cables, which originate from the US Embassy in Jakarta, also criticize a number of senior or former state officials and lay bare concerns and shortcomings regarding the nation’s justice system, particularly in regards to corruption.

Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Andi Mallarangeng, a key figure in Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party, has already dismissed the significance of the leaked cables, saying that as the government did not know the source of the information contained in the documents, they did not need to respond.

In one cable sent in November of 2009, Yudhoyono was criticized as failing to quell the growing and soon to be major crisis involving alleged attempts to bring down the nation’s respected Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the infamous cicak (gecko) versus buaya (alligator) scandal.

The cable said Yudhoyono, in response to the scandal and another involving the Bank Century case, had only provided authorities with “vague guidance” for the police and Attorney General’s Office.

“Yudhoyono’s remarks left the public critical of his leadership and provided no clear end to these continuing issues.”

The cable also noted that the “controversies have sidetracked Yudhoyono’s plans to use his first 100 days to develop an action orientated program for the next years.”

Yudhoyono has previously been forced to deny allegations contained in US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks of improper conduct, including that his family had received money from banking and construction tycoon Tomy Winata. It was also alleged that the president used Indonesian intelligence to spy on his political rivals.

Another batch of released cables savages Indonesia’s corruption-fighting efforts, including “an overly rigid and dysfunctional relationship between prosecutors and police” that hinders many investigations.

“The two groups rarely work together on investigations; when police hand over a dossier, prosecutors find themselves often dissatisfied with the results.”

“Interagency law enforcement task forces seen routinely in the US remain rare in Indonesia; police and prosecutors seldom develop joint, long-term strategies and often miss opportunities to shake up corrupt networks.”

The cables note, however, that the KPK and Interagency Team to Eradicate Corruption had made recent progress in this area.

Additionally, many investigations are hampered at the outset by police, another cable asserted.

Media announcements and leaks made by police alert criminal suspects “giving them time to destroy evidence, develop alibis, flee the country, or transfer assets abroad.”


http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news...low-to-yudhoyono-indonesian-government/461686