Historians wait for years for sensitive government documents to be released. Agents are trained to acquire espionage intelligence. Now they have WikiLeaks.
The release of more than 250,000 US Embassy cables has sparked a global diplomatic crisis. It is the biggest intelligence leak in history. Who needs espionage intelligence? Here in a mere memory stick, 1.6 gigabytes of text contained dispatches from more than 250 US embassies and consulates: secret diplomacy in a teacup. The leak is, according to US military, the work of one Bradley Manning who had access to the data and who reportedly said: “Information should be free. It belongs in the public domain.” The Guardian reports on Sunday, 28 November 2010.
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks describes itself in its website as a “not-for-profit media organisation” which aims to “publish original source material alongside our news stories so readers and historians alike can see evidence of the truth.” Bradley Manning, 22, who has been held in solitary confinement for the last seven months, was an intelligence analyst and had access to classified information. He uploaded the information to WikiLeaks shooting the website and its top man, former hacker, Julian Assange, to worldwide prominence.
WikiLeaks Embassy Cables and World Leaders
The Guardian reveals the data contained in Wikileaks and offers it for download: there are 251,287 dispatches, most of which were sent by the State Department and the remainder by Ankara (Turkey), Bagdad (Iraq) and Tokyo (Japan). 97,070 documents are classified as “confidential” and of them more than
28,000 are related to terrorism.
Inevitably US politicians attacked WikiLeaks accusing them for putting lives at risk. The disclosure of information and opinions, meant to be for the eyes-only of senior officials, reverberated around the world. Washington’s views about world leaders are revealed - North Korea’s dictator is described as a “flabby old chap”, Nicholas Sarkozy “thin-skinned and authoritarian”, Silvio Barlusconi “feckless, vain and ineffective”, Afgan president Hamid Karzai “extremely weak and easily swayed.”
WikiLeaks, A Historian’s Dream
Historians have to wait for years for the release of sensitive documents pertaining to foreign policy. Now they have WikiLeaks. Espionage intelligence is made available to the masses. The secret memos from US Embassies are free for all to see. The Guardian and newspapers around the world are buzzing with the revelations. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Bahrain are revealed in the US Embassy cables to having repeatedly urged the US to attack Iran and destroy its nuclear programme while Israel is presented as anxious to preserve its nuclear monopoly in the area.
Historian and political writer, Timothy Garton-Ash, tells The Guardian on Monday 29 November: “It’s a bombshell. It’s a historian’s dream and a diplomat’s nightmare – because you see how the State Department works at the middle level – it doesn’t have the most sensitive staff but it is the most extraordinary window into how American diplomacy works.”