Cablegate: The US Embassy Cables
1. Introduction
2. Revelations
3. Chronology
4. Data resources
5. Major coverage from release partners
The momentous release by WikiLeaks of 251,287 US diplomatic cables starting on November 28, 2010 in conjunction with The Guardian, Le Monde, El País, Der Spiegel and The New York Times has been regarded by many commentators as "a worldwide diplomatic crisis" (The Guardian) and "political meltdown for American foreign policy" (Der Spiegel).
"The cables show the extent of US spying on its allies and the UN; turning a blind eye to corruption and human rights abuse in "client states"; backroom deals with supposedly neutral countries; lobbying for US corporations; and the measures US diplomats take to advance those who have access to them," said WikiLeaks on the introduction page for the release.
The documents point not only to questionable practices on behalf of the US, but also on behalf of the partner states concerned. As the release will this time be done in stages, the full extent of the revelations in the cables is not yet apparent. The five major release media partners will continue to analyze the content and provide further in-depth reporting.
A few key disclosures made so far include the following:
- The US State Department has asked its diplomats to spy on the UN
- Arab states asked the US to bomb Iran
- US pressured Spain over CIA rendition and Guantánamo torture investigations
- US special forces working inside Pakistan
- US memo accuses Sri Lanka President of war crimes
- US airstrikes in Yemen, covered up by the Yemen government
- UK government's secret pledge to protect US at Iraq inquiry
- Qatar okays use of airbase for U.S. attack on Iran
- Blackwater flouted German arms export laws
- US haggled to find takers for detainees from Guantánamo
- The Russian "mafia state"
- 2010-11-22: History in the making
WikiLeaks announces the upcoming release on Twitter. - 2010-11-23: WikiLeaks in today's media
Global media reactions to the WikiLeaks announcement. Speculation starts on the nature and subject of the release. - 2010-11-24: WikiLeaks in today's media
Bloomberg, Reuters, BBC and The Guardian on State Department briefings with regards to the WikiLeaks release, International Zeitschrift on 'Casualties of War,' the adjunct director of El Pais on WikiLeaks and more. - 2010-11-25: WikiLeaks in today's media
Sydney Morning Herald, The Globe and Mail, Sky News, NRK, Politiken Ha'aretz, CBC and more on local governments being contacted by the US in advance of the expected embassy cable release. - 2010-11-26: WikiLeaks in today's media
Jturn on the 'war on journalism,' plus Radio Free Europe, Bloomberg, The Age, AFP, Aftonbladet, Telegraph, Reuters, AP, Die Zeit and more on the US government's diplomatic damage control campaign. - 2010-11-26: Defence Advisory Notices issued to UK press on WikiLeaks
The Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee issues two DA-Notices to the UK press requesting voluntary briefings on the planned media coverage of the WikiLeaks release. The Guardian's editor in chief declares himself "puzzled" by the request, given that the majority of the material does not concern the DA-Notice subject. The international press reports that the UK government wants the press to self-censor. - 2010-11-27: WikiLeaks in today's media
The unprecedented US government effort to minimize fallout from an expected WikiLeaks release of diplomatic cables continues unabated. Countries to be warned now include India, Belgium and Colombia, in addition to the UK, France, Norway, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, The Netherlands, Turkey, Afghanistan, Iceland, Russia, Sweden, Iraq, Israel and China. The global media reports. - 2010-11-27: "The Embassy Files" ready for launch
Der Spiegel inadvertently posts a Q&A page about the release one day early, then withdraws it; OWNI readies its own live-blog and data portal; The Guardian gets ready; and the State Department issues an ominous letter to Julian Assange. - 2010-11-28: WikiLeaks v. United States: The Pentagon Papers redux?
The language used in the State Department letter to Julian Assange recalls in detail that used when the US government attempted to prosecute Daniel Ellsberg for releasing the Pentagon Papers. We take a look at the State Department claims and revisit the Supreme Court's decision on the Pentagon Papers case. - 2010-11-28: WikiLeaks under DDoS attack
Just hours before the release, WikiLeaks comes under a DDoS attack. The Guardian and El País promise to go ahead with the release even if the site is down. Mexican newspaper Excélsior offers the use of its servers. WikiLeaks.org recovers in time for the scheduled release. - 2010-11-28: WikiLeaks in today's media: "Cablegate" release imminent
Der Spiegel and El País post lead-ins to the Cablegate release. The Guardian wonders why some editors, supposedly committed to the freedom of the press, are instead following the UK government's lead and attacking WikiLeaks. - 2010-11-28: WikiLeaks in today's media: "Cablegate" goes live
The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El País and The New York Times go live with the first in-depth coverage of Cablegate within minutes of each other. Unlike previous WikiLeaks releases, this time the rollout will be done in stages, with further topics being covered in the following days. - 2010-11-28: WikiLeaks Cablegate database now online
WikiLeaks launches its cable viewer. OWNI goes live with its own application. - 2001-11-28: Domestic Cablegate coverage: Ireland
What the Irish press did and did not cover in the wake of the embassy cables release. - 2010-11-29: Who is the German citizen abducted by the CIA?
One of our editors finds evidence in the Al-Masri case among the cables just released by WikiLeaks. - 2010-11-29: WikiLeaks in today's media: Cablegate coverage
Further coverage from The Nation, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy, McClatchy, CNET, Crikey, The National Times and more. - 2010-11-29: Cablegate: Official reactions: Truth is terrorism
Official reactions from the chairs of the US Senate and House Homeland Security Committees call for WikiLeaks to be prosecuted and considered a "foreign terrorist organization." The Australian government starts an investigation into Julian Assange, at the apparent request of the US government, which "has the lead," as per Attorney General McClelland's statement. - 2010-11-29: Journalists in defence of WikiLeaks
John Kampfner of Index on Censorship, Simon Jenkins and Nick Davies of The Guardian, The Nation's Marc Cooper, Javier Moreno of El País and independent journalist Brad Friedman write in support of WikiLeaks. - 2010-11-29: Democracy Now!: Daniel Ellsberg, Greg Mitchell on WikiLeaks and Cablegate
Ellsberg responds to Adm. Mike Mullen's accusations that "WikiLeaks has blood on its hands" and asks officials with higher level access to make public information on "the high level dealing and stupid formulations, theories, 'mad man' theories and others that are informing our policy." Greg Mitchell responds to King and Lieberman's "WikiLeaks is a terrorist organization" statements. - 2010-11-29: Craig Murray: "Raise a glass to WikiLeaks"
Former British ambassador and human rights activist Craig Murray writes in support of WikiLeaks. - 2010-11-29: WikiLeaks in today's media, part 2: Cablegate coverage, continued
CNN interviews Kristinn Hrafnsson, The New York Times and El País explain why they decided to publish the embassy cables, Salon, Der Spiegel, The Nation and New Statesman look at various Cablegate revelations, and CNET and BBC report on the US administration's latest threats to WikiLeaks. The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde and El País cover new topics from the embassy cable release, including Guantanamo, North Korea, the French judiciary's cooperation with the US, the US assessment of the new Argentine president and collaboration against Evo Morales. - 2020-11-29: Ecuador offers WikiLeaks founder residency
In the wake of threats from the US and Australian government, the deputy foreign minister of Ecuador says the country is ready to offer Julian Assange residency "with no conditions." - 2010-11-29: ABC: Julian Assange Says Document Dump Targets 'Lying, Corrupt and Murderous Leadership'
In an email interview with ABC News, Julian Assange spoke about upcoming embassy cable releases and responded to accusations from the US administration. - 2010-11-30: Journalists in defence of WikiLeaks, part 2
More WikiLeaks support from The Economist, The Nation's John Nichols, The Guardian's Heather Brooke, Normal Solomon for Common Dreams, Israel Shamir for Counterpunch and Jeff Sparrow for ABC (Australia). - 2010-11-30: Cablegate: Official reactions: Truth is terrorism, part 2
US Attorney General Holder on DoJ/Pentagon investigation into WikiLeaks; further reactions from Gibbs and Crowley; Huckabee, Palin, Santorum say WikiLeaks should be pursued as a terrorist organization; Australian government investigation starts. - 2010-11-30: Cablegate: Journalists in defence of WikiLeaks, part 3
Jack Shafer at Slate, Glenn Greenwald at Salon, Arianna Huffington, Digby, Matthew Rothschild at The Progressive in support of WikiLeaks. - 2010-11-30: Cablegate: Noam Chomsky and David Leigh on Democracy Now!; Daniel Ellsberg on BBC
Chomsky and Ellsberg speak up in support of WikiLeaks disclosures; Leigh on upcoming coverage by The Guardian. - 2010-11-30: TIME interviews Julian Assange
Julian Assange on US espionage, WikiLeaks' document review, law and legality. - 2010-11-30: ACLU issues statement on WikiLeaks, Cablegate
"Democracy, after all, depends on transparency. The American public has a right to know what the government is doing in its name." - 2010-11-30: Cablegate: Glenn Greenwald on CBC
Greenwald on WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, the US government and media reactions to Cablegate, and calls to prosecute Assange. - 2010-11-30: WikiLeaks in today's media: Cablegate coverage, continued
Coverage of new embassy cable issues from The Independent, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El Pais, Ha'aretz and The New York Times. Among the topics: UK government promises to defend "US interests" at Iraq inquiry, Pakistan and nuclear proliferation, Blackwater, Cuba, Venezuela, Qatar. - 2010-12-01: Greg Barns: Australian complicity in stifling Assange
The director of the Australian Lawyers Alliance says Australian government is "posturing" and Assange did nothing wrong. - 2010-12-01: Mark Stephens on BBC
Mark Stephens on the latest "WikiLeaks has blood on its hands" accusations, and why those allegations are repeated despite evidence to the contrary. - 2010-12-01: Opinions on Cablegate: Carne Ross, Max Frankel, Robert Scheer, Amy Goodman
On the Cablegate impact on governments and diplomacy, public interest versus secrecy, where the real outrage lies, and why WikiLeaks provides a public service. - 2010-12-01: Steven Aftergood: Assange prosecution would be "extremely dangerous"
DoJ legal theory used to prosecute Assange would set a "horrible precedent," Aftergood explains. - 2010-12-01: WikiLeaks in today's media: Further Cablegate revelations
The Guardian, El Pais, Channel 4 and Amnesty International on the US attempt to shut down the Spanish investigation into Guantanamo, US activities in Pakistan, drone attacks in Yemen, war crimes in Sri Lanka, the Russian "mafia state" and the US getting around the UK cluster bomb ban. - 2010-12-01: Censorship in the US
Amazon bows to political pressure from Sen.Lieberman and pulls WikiLeaks off its hosting infrastructure. - 2010-12-01: Cablegate: Journalists in defence of WikiLeaks, part 4
The New Yorker's Amy Davidson, Roy Greenslade for The London Evening Standard, Seumas Milne for The Guardian, Charlie Stross and The Economist's "Democracy in America" blog in support of WikiLeaks.
Browse, search and download the embassy cables released so far:
- WikiLeaks: http://cablegate.wikileaks.org
- OWNI: http://statelogs.owni.fr
- Full-text search: http://rpgp.org/cable/
5. Major coverage from release partners
Please see the links below for coverage details from The Guardian, Le Monde, El País, Der Spiegel and The New York Times. Each of these media organizations has full sections dedicated to the WikiLeaks embassy cable revelations, with new articles being posted daily.
Cablegate coverage - Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel - English coverage
"Such surprises from the annals of US diplomacy will dominate the headlines in the coming days when the New York Times, London's Guardian, Paris' Le Monde, Madrid's El Pais and SPIEGEL begin shedding light on the treasure trove of secret documents from the State Department. Included are 243,270 diplomatic cables filed by US embassies to the State Department and 8,017 directives that the State Department sent to its diplomatic outposts around the world. In the coming days, the participating media will show in a series of investigative stories how America seeks to steer the world. The development is no less than a political meltdown for American foreign policy.
Never before in history has a superpower lost control of such vast amounts of such sensitive information -- data that can help paint a picture of the foundation upon which US foreign policy is built. Never before has the trust America's partners have in the country been as badly shaken. Now, their own personal views and policy recommendations have been made public -- as have America's true views of them."
Further English coverage from Der Spiegel:
Section front: WikiLeaks Diplomatic Cables
What Do the Diplomatic Cables Really Tell Us?
'Tribune of Anatolia': Diplomatic Cables Reveal US Doubts about Turkey's Government
The Germany Dispatches: Internal Source Kept US Informed of Merkel Coalition Negotiations
Foreign Policy Meltdown: Leaked Cables Reveal True US Worldview
Orders from Clinton: US Diplomats Told to Spy on Other Countries at United Nations
The US Diplomatic Leaks: A Superpower's View of the World
Der Spiegel: Diplomats or spooks? How US Diplomats Were Told to Spy on UN and Ban Ki-Moon
"The US State Department gave its diplomats instructions to spy on other countries' representatives at the United Nations, according to a directive signed by Hillary Clinton. Diplomats were told to collect information about e-mail accounts, passwords and encryption keys, credit cards, biometric information and a whole lot more.
Such methods violate all the rules laid down within the UN. In the "Convention on the Privileges and Immunity within the United Nations" as in the "Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," it is stated that no methods of espionage should be used. In addition, the US and the UN signed an agreement in 1947 ruling out undercover activities."
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Der Spiegel: Laughter in Rome, Denials in Berlin: The World Reacts to Massive Diplomatic Leak
"Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, depicted as a vain party animal in the US State Department cables disclosed by WikiLeaks on Sunday, "had a good laugh" upon learning of the revelations. Others aren't as sanguine. A US Representative wants to designate the Internet platform as a terrorist organization."
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Der Spiegel: Blackwater Subsidiary Flouted German Arms Export Laws
"A subsidiary of the US private security firm Blackwater flouted German arms export law, the US diplomatic cables have revealed. The company, Presidential Airways, didn't want to wait to get the proper export permit, so it simply transported the aircraft to Afghanistan via third countries."
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Der Spiegel: Unstable Pakistan Has US on Edge
"The US diplomatic cables provide deep insights into the true extent of Pakistan's true volatility. American Embassy dispatches show that the military and the Pakistani secret service are heavily involved in the atomic power's politics -- and often work against US interests."
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Der Spiegel: The 'Tribune of Anatolia': America's Dark View of Turkish Premier Erdogan
"The US is concerned about its NATO ally Turkey. Embassy dispatches portray Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a power-hungry Islamist surrounded by corrupt and incompetent ministers. Washington no longer believes that the country will ever join the European Union."
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Der Spiegel: Geheimdepeschen enthüllen Weltsicht der USA
"Es ist ein Desaster für die US-Diplomatie. WikiLeaks hat mehr als 250.000 Dokumente aus dem Washingtoner Außenministerium zugespielt bekommen, interne Botschaftsberichte aus aller Welt. Sie enthüllen, wie die Supermacht die Welt wirklich sieht - und ihren globalen Einfluss wahren will.[...]
Solche Überraschungen aus den Annalen der US-Diplomatie werden in den nächsten Tagen die Schlagzeilen beherrschen, denn von diesem Montag an beginnen die "New York Times", der Londoner "Guardian", der Pariser "Monde", das Madrider "País" und DER SPIEGEL damit, den geheimen Datenschatz des Außenministeriums ans Licht zu holen. Aus einem Fundus von 243.270 diplomatischen Depeschen, die Amerikas Botschaften an die Zentrale sendeten, und 8017 Direktiven, welche das State Departement an seine Botschaften in aller Welt verschickte, versuchen die beteiligten Medien in einer Serie von Enthüllungsgeschichten nachzuzeichnen, wie Amerika die Welt lenken möchte."
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Further coverage from Der Spiegel:
US-Depeschen über Deutschland: Skepsis gegenüber Schwarz-Gelb
US-Depeschen über die Türkei: Furcht vor islamistischen Tendenzen unter Erdogan
US-Depeschen über Iran: USA paktieren mit Arabern
US-Depeschen über die Uno: Außenministerium lässt Diplomaten ausspähen
Themenseite: Alles zu den Botschaftsdepeschen
Cablegate coverage - El País
El País: Los secretos de la diplomacia de Estados Unidos, al descubierto
"EL PAÍS, en colaboración con otros diarios de Europa y Estados Unidos, revela a partir de hoy el contenido de la mayor filtración de documentos secretos a la que jamás se haya tenido acceso en toda la historia. Se trata de una colección de más de 250.000 mensajes del Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos, obtenidos por la página digital Wikileaks, en los que se descubren episodios inéditos ocurridos en los puntos más conflictivos del mundo, así como otros muchos sucesos y datos de gran relevancia que desnudan por completo la política exterior norteamericana, sacan a la luz sus mecanismos y sus fuentes, dejan en evidencia sus debilidades y obsesiones, y en conjunto facilitan la comprensión por parte de los ciudadanos de las circunstancias en las que se desarrolla el lado oscuro de las relaciones internacionales."
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Further coverage from El País:
Washington ordena espiar en la ONU
Los árabes piden a EE UU frenar a Irán por cualquier medio
EE UU vigila de cerca la agenda islamista de Erdogan
Wikileaks, información transparente contra el secretismo
"La seguridad de las fuentes, fundamental"
Directo: Las repercusiones de la filtración de papeles
2010-11-29: El Pais: Los internautas preguntan a Javier Moreno
Javier Moreno, director of El Pais, answers questions from readers about the WikiLeaks embassy cable release and the decision of his newspaper to publish it: "Let us say, as modestly as we can, that Wikileaks has allowed us to do great journalism. Journalism that changes history is needed by the citizens more than ever in a world where states and politicians are increasingly trying to hide information from their societies."
2010-11-29: El Pais: Clinton indagó en la salud física y mental de la presidenta argentina
"Clinton doubted the physical and mental health of the Argentine president. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was just an instrument of her husband, Néstor Kirchner, according to telegrams from the US embassy in Buenos Aires. The cables also reveal that the South American government offered to collaborate with Washington against Evo Morales of Bolivia."
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2010-11-30: El País: "Los ministros españoles trabajan para que no prosperen las órdenes de detención"
"EE UU contaba con el Gobierno y los fiscales para cerrar el 'caso Couso'.- Un cable de la Embajada de Estados Unidos afirma que Conde-Pumpido dijo a Aguirre que hacía lo que podía para el archivo de la causa por la muerte en Bagdad del cámara de Telecinco.- "Moratinos asegura que la vicepresidenta De la Vega se ha implicado en el asunto" "
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2010-11-30: El País: Los espías cubanos actúan por libre en Venezuela y despachan con Chávez
"El despliegue de los servicios de inteligencia cubanos en Venezuela es tan profundo que disfrutan de "acceso directo" al presidente Hugo Chávez y, frecuentemente, le hacen llegar información no compartida con los servicios de inteligencia locales, según indican cables enviados al Departamento de Estado por su embajada en Caracas. "Delicados informes indican que los lazos de inteligencia entre Cuba y Venezuela son tan estrechos que sus agencias parecen rivalizar para conseguir la atención del gobierno bolivariano", indica el cable 51158, fechado el 30 de enero de 2006."
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2010-11-30: El País: Pakistán presta apoyo encubierto a grupos terroristas
"Los papeles secretos de la diplomacia norteamericana sobre Pakistán descubren un escenario escalofriante. Los documentos revelan los temores de Washington con todo lo relacionado con la seguridad de las instalaciones atómicas paquistaníes, donde trabajan más 120.000 personas, su "frustración" por la creciente falta de cooperación de Islamabad en temas de no proliferación y su alarma por la utilización por parte de los militares y los servicios secretos paquistaníes de "los grupos terroristas como herramientas de la política exterior". Para colmo, debido a la rivalidad histórica con India, Pakistán sigue incrementado su arsenal nuclear."
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2010-11-30: El País: "Zaragoza tiene una estrategia para torcer el brazo a Garzón en el 'caso Guantánamo"
"La Embajada de Estados Unidos trabajó a fondo en la primavera de 2009 para frenar una querella presentada en la Audiencia Nacional por crímenes de guerra y torturas en la prisión de Guantánamo (Cuba). El escrito, elaborado por un grupo de abogados afincados en España, iba dirigido contra los seis asesores jurídicos del Gobierno de George W. Bush que habían diseñado la arquitectura legal que sustentaba Guantánamo, entre ellos el ex fiscal general Alberto Gonzales o David Addington, ex jefe de gabinete del vicepresidente Dick Cheney."
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2010-12-01: El País: "Tendremos que ser conscientes de lo que está en juego cuando uno se sienta delante de un funcionario de EE UU"
"Ex diplomáticos españoles celebran que salgan a la luz 250.000 documentos secretos de la mayor potencia del mundo.[...]
Máximo Cajal, diplomático retirado que ejerció durante 35 años su oficio, cree que la Casa Blanca, sólo trata de "eludir las muchas responsabilidades que en este tema tiene la Administración Obama, aunque algunas de ellas sean sobrevenidas". "Además, con esas críticas sólo se pretende matar al mensajero". En cuanto a lo que concierne a España, Cajal opina que se deberían extraer algunas lecciones. "Estos documentos ponen al desnudo las presiones confesables y algunas inconfesables a los que están sometidos los llamados países aliados. Los llamados países aliados tendremos que ser más cautos. El jefe de Estado, los ministros, la Magistratura, los fiscales... En el futuro tendremos que ser conscientes de lo que está en juego cuando uno se sienta delante de un funcionario de EE UU. No se trata sólo de que puedan aparecer sus manifestaciones publicadas, como ha ocurrido, sino que uno puede verse sometido a presiones. Hay que ser cauteloso con lo que se dice y con lo que se escucha, porque muchas veces compromete más lo que se escucha que lo que se dice"."
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Cablegate coverage - Le Monde
Section front page: http://www.lemonde.fr/documents-wikileaks/
Le Monde: Les révélations de WikiLeaks sur les coulisses de la diplomatie américaine
"Les cinq journaux vont publier, à partir du 28 novembre, des dizaines d'articles sur les coulisses de la diplomatie américaine, ainsi que des pays avec lesquels les Etats-Unis sont en contact. Les thèmes sont avant tout diplomatiques et politiques. Les relations des Etats-Unis avec l'Europe, la Russie, la Chine et les pays du Moyen-Orient sont longuement évoquées. L'Afghanistan et l'Irak, les deux pays où l'Amérique est en guerre, sont très présents. Le terrorisme et la prolifération nucléaire sont des sujets permanents. Le Monde publiera des dossiers spéciaux sur la France.
De même que l'on ne découvrira pas le nom de l'assassin du président Kennedy dans les archives du département d'Etat, ce n'est pas en lisant ces télégrammes qu'on connaîtra les plus protégés des secrets d'Etat. Mais aucun sujet d'intérêt politique, du plus sérieux au plus futile, n'est absent de ces câbles qui, selon le degré d'information et le talent du diplomate, dresse un passionnant état des lieux de la planète, scrutée par des regards américains."
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Further coverage from Le Monde:
2010-11-28:
2010-11-28: Pourquoi "Le Monde" publie les documents WikiLeaks
2010-11-28: Observer le régime iranien et ses méthodes d'intimidation
2010-11-28: Iran : comment les Israéliens ont poussé Washington à la fermeté
2010-11-28: La peur des pays arabes face à l'Iran
2010-11-28: Espionnage : les ordres de Washington aux diplomates américains
2010-11-28: Manning, un militaire à l'origine des plus grandes " fuites " de l'histoire
2010-11-29:
2010-11-29: Les révélations de WikiLeaks en quelques phrases-clés
2010-11-29: Wikileaks : l'embarras de Washington au sujet des anciens détenus de Guantanamo
2010-11-29: Wikileaks : quand la France négociait avec les Etats-Unis le sort de détenus de Guantanamo
2010-11-29: Wikileaks : comment Washington voit la lutte contre le terrorisme en France
2010-11-29: Pour Washington, les révélations de WikiLeaks sont "un crime grave"
2010-11-30:
2010-11-30: Espionnage : les ordres de Washington à ses diplomates
2010-11-29: Le Monde: Les révélations de WikiLeaks en quelques phrases-clés
Le Monde summarizes some of the key revelations disclosed so far in the WikiLeaks embassy cables, from the Arab leaders' concerns about Iran to the Putin-Berlusconi relationship, the Russian "mafia state," views on Sarkozy, Karzai, Erdogan, Kadhafi, diplomatic espionage and Chinese attack on Google.
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2010-11-29: Le Monde: Wikileaks : comment Washington voit la lutte contre le terrorisme en France
"La guerre en Irak a provoqué un fort refroidissement des relations diplomatiques entre la France, qui y était opposée, et les Etats-Unis. Mais on sait moins que, pendant ce temps, la coopération policière et judicaire n'a fait que se renforcer. Une coopération "mature et étendue (…) largement hermétique aux bisbilles politiques et diplomatiques quotidiennes qui peuvent faire de la France un allié souvent difficile", souligne un télégramme envoyé de Paris le 7 avril 2005, obtenu par WikiLeaks et étudié par Le Monde."
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2010-11-30: Le Monde: WikiLeaks : le Pakistan, un allié inconfortable dans la "guerre contre la terreur"
""Méfiance", "Suspicion". Ces termes reviennent souvent sous la plume d'Anne Patterson, ambassadrice américaine à Islamabad entre 2007 et 2010, pour qualifier l'ambiguïté des relations entre les Etats-Unis et le Pakistan, alliés inconfortables de la "guerre contre la terreur". Les Américains n'en finissent pas de se plaindre de l'attitude sélective de l'armée pakistanaise à l'endroit des divers groupes talibans, selon qu'ils frappent au Pakistan ou en Afghanistan.
De leur côté, les Pakistanais – analysent les câbles américains – vivent toujours dans la crainte d'être abandonnés par les Etats-Unis une fois leurs objectifs stratégiques atteints, à l'instar du scénario qui avait suivi le départ des troupes soviétiques d'Afghanistan en 1989. En dépit de cette relation crispée, les Américains engrangent quelque acquis, en obtenant notamment d'Islamabad la présence de leurs forces spéciales dans les zones tribales où l'armée pakistanaise combat les foyers insurrectionnels talibans."
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2010-11-30: Le Monde: Irak : les "ex" de Blackwater sont désormais employés par DynCorp
"Blackwater change de nom et devient "Xe" en 2009. Sa licence ne sera finalement pas renouvelée en Irak et elle prendra le chemin de l'Afghanistan. En revanche, l'ordre du premier ministre Maliki d'expulser "tous les agents et ex-agents" de la firme ne sera pas entièrement respecté. Un télégramme diplomatique du 5 janvier 2010 l'établit clairement : "Bonne nouvelle pour nos opérations aériennes", se félicite le diplomate qui le rédige : "Le ministère de l'intérieur irakien a approuvé la licence de la société DynCorp, bien qu'il sache qu'elle emploie beaucoup d'anciens de Blackwater."
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2010-11-30: Le Monde: Cuba-Venezuela, "l'axe de la Malice", dit l'ambassade américaine à Caracas
"Après "l'axe du Mal" cher à George Bush (Irak-Iran-Corée du Nord), voici "l'axe de la Malice". C'est ainsi que l'ambassade américaine à Caracas qualifie l'alliance entre Cuba et le Venezuela dans un rapport secret de janvier 2006 obtenu par WikiLeaks et révélé par Le Monde. Les diplomates des Etats-Unis considèrent que les opposants au président vénézuélien, Hugo Chavez, ont fait fausse route en dénonçant "les ingérences et le communisme cubains". Cet argument ne porte pas auprès des "Vénézuéliens pauvres", car les programmes sociaux inspirés et soutenus par La Havane sont appréciés. Cependant, l'ambassade prend très au sérieux "la large coopération des Cubains avec les services de renseignement vénézuéliens"."
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Cablegate coverage - The Guardian
The Guardian: US embassy cables leak sparks global diplomacy crisis
"The United States was catapulted into a worldwide diplomatic crisis today, with the leaking to the Guardian and other international media of more than 250,000 classified cables from its embassies, many sent as recently as February this year.
At the start of a series of daily extracts from the US embassy cables - many of which are designated "secret" – the Guardian can disclose that Arab leaders are privately urging an air strike on Iran and that US officials have been instructed to spy on the UN's leadership.
These two revelations alone would be likely to reverberate around the world. But the secret dispatches which were obtained by WikiLeaks, the whistlebowers' website, also reveal Washington's evaluation of many other highly sensitive international issues."
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Further coverage from The Guardian:
Diplomats ordered to spy on UN leaders
Saudis repeatedly urge attack on Iran
How 250,000 US embassy cables were leaked
Siprnet: America's secret information database
Explore the US embassy cables database
2010-11-28: The Guardian: The job of the media is not to protect power from embarrassment
The Guardian's Simon Jenkins writes: "Perhaps we can now see how catastrophe unfolds when there is time to avert it, rather than having to await a Chilcot report after the event. If that is not in the public's interest, I fail to see what is.
Clearly, it is for governments, not journalists, to protect public secrets. Were there some overriding national jeopardy in revealing them, greater restraint might be in order. There is no such overriding jeopardy, except from the policies themselves as revealed. Where it is doing the right thing, a great power should be robust against embarrassment."
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2010-11-28: The Guardian: Editorial: Open secrets
"The next question: what is a secret? It is worth remembering the words Max Frankel, a former editor of the New York Times, wrote to his paper's own lawyers as they were fighting off the litigation around the 1971 publication of the Pentagon Papers, a comparable leak to the present one. He wrote: 'Practically everything that our government does, plans, thinks, hears and contemplates in the realm of foreign policy is stamped and treated as secret – and then unravelled by that same government, by the Congress and by the press in one continuing round of professional and social contacts and co-operative exchanges of information.'[...]
Once the material fell into the hands of WikiLeaks, an organisation dedicated to publishing information of all kinds, there was no realistic chance of it being suppressed. While opposing publication, the US administration has acknowledged that the involvement of news organisations has not only given protection to many sources, but has also given a context to information which, had it been simply dumped, would have been both overwhelming and free of any such context. As Timothy Garton Ash puts it: it is both a historian's dream and a diplomat's nightmare."
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2010-11-28: The Guardian: US embassy cables: A banquet of secrets
"A diplomat's nightmare is a historian's dream – a feast of data that deepens our understanding," writes Timothy Garton Ash. "The historian usually has to wait 20 or 30 years to find such treasures. Here, the most recent dispatches are little more than 30 weeks old. And what a trove this is. It contains more than 250,000 documents. Most of those I have seen, on my dives into a vast ocean, are well over 1,000 words long. If my sample is at all representative, there must be a total at least 250m words – and perhaps up to half a billion. As all archival researchers know, there is a special quality of understanding that comes from exposure to a large body of sources, be it a novelist's letters, a ministry's papers or diplomatic traffic – even though much of the material is routine. With prolonged immersion, you get a deep sense of priorities, character, thought patterns. [...]
There is a public interest in understanding how the world works and what is done in our name. There is a public interest in the confidential conduct of foreign policy. The two public interests conflict."
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2010-11-29: The Guardian: UN seeks answers from Washington
"[US ambassador to US Susan] Rice was questioned about a leaked US cable showing diplomats were asked to find personal financial details about the UN leadership, including credit card information, passwords for their communications systems and frequent-flier membership. Ban's office hit back at the US with a warning that any violation of UN "immunity" may breach international law.
Rice, speaking after a meeting of the security council today, three times declined to deal directly with questions about the spying."
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2010-11-29: The Guardian: Wikileaks cables reveal China 'ready to abandon North Korea'
"China has signalled its readiness to accept Korean reunification and is privately distancing itself from the North Korean regime, according to leaked US embassy cables that reveal senior Beijing figures regard their official ally as a 'spoiled child'," writes Simon Tisdall.
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2010-11-30: The Guardian: WikiLeaks cable reveals secret pledge to protect US at Iraq inquiry
"The British government promised to protect America's interests during the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war, according to a secret cable sent from the US embassy in London.
Jon Day, the Ministry of Defence's director general for security policy, told US under-secretary of state Ellen Tauscher that the UK had "put measures in place to protect your interests during the UK inquiry into the causes of the Iraq war".
The admission came in the cable sent on 22 September 2009, which recorded a series of high-level meetings between Tauscher and UK defence officials and diplomats, which involved the then foreign secretary, David Miliband."
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2010-11-30: The Guardian: Cables expose Pakistan nuclear fears
David Leigh writes: "American and British diplomats fear Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme could lead to fissile material falling into the hands of terrorists or a devastating nuclear exchange with India.
The latest cache of US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks contains warnings that Pakistan is rapidly building its nuclear stockpile despite the country's growing instability and "pending economic catastrophe".[...]
The leak of classified US diplomatic correspondence exposes in detail the deep tensions between Washington and Islamabad over a broad range of issues, including counter-terrorism, Afghanistan and finance, as well as the nuclear question. "
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2010-11-30: The Guardian: Wikileaks: US pressured Spain over CIA rendition and Guantánamo torture
"US officials tried to influence Spanish prosecutors and government officials to head off court investigations into Guantánamo Bay torture allegations, secret CIA "extraordinary rendition" flights and the killing of a Spanish journalist by US troops in Iraq, according to secret US diplomatic cables.
Among their biggest worries were investigations pursued by the magistrate Baltasar Garzón, who US officials described as having "an anti-American streak".
"We are certainly under no illusions about the individual with whom we are dealing," they said after he opened an investigation into torture at Guantánamo Bay prison camp. "Judge Garzon has been a storied and controversial figure in recent Spanish history, whose ambition and pursuit of the spotlight may be without rival."
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2010-11-30: The Guardian: WikiLeaks cables: US special forces working inside Pakistan
"Small teams of US special forces soldiers have been secretly embedded with Pakistani military forces in the tribal belt, helping to hunt down Taliban and al-Qaida fighters and co-ordinate drone strikes, the embassy cables reveal.
The numbers involved are small – just 16 soldiers in October 2009 – but the deployment is of immense political significance, described in a cable that provides an unprecedented glimpse into covert American operations in the world's most violent al-Qaida hotbed."
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2010-11-30: The Guardian: WikiLeaks cables: Pakistani army chief considered plan to oust president
"Pakistan's army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, considered pushing President Asif Ali Zardari from office and forcing him into exile to resolve a political dispute, the US embassy cables reveal.
Kayani aired the idea during a frantic round of meetings with the US ambassador Anne Patterson in March 2009 as opposition leader Nawaz Sharif rallied thousands of supporters in a street movement that threatened to topple the government."
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2010-12-01: The Guardian: WikiLeaks cables: Pakistan opposition 'tipped off' Mumbai terror group
"Pakistan's president alleged that the brother of Pakistan's opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, "tipped off" the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) about impending UN sanctions following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, allowing the outfit to empty its bank accounts before they could be raided."
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2010-12-01: The Guardian: WikiLeaks cables: Secret deal let Americans sidestep cluster bomb ban
"British and American officials colluded in a plan to hoodwink parliament over a proposed ban on cluster bombs, the Guardian can disclose.
According to leaked US embassy dispatches, David Miliband, who was Britain's foreign secretary under Labour, approved the use of a loophole to manoeuvre around the ban and allow the US to keep the munitions on British territory."
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2010-12-01: The Guardian: WikiLeaks cables condemn Russia as 'mafia state'
"Russia is a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a "virtual mafia state", according to leaked secret diplomatic cables that provide a damning American assessment of its erstwhile rival superpower.
Arms trafficking, money laundering, personal enrichment, protection for gangsters, extortion and kickbacks, suitcases full of money and secret offshore bank accounts in Cyprus: the cables paint a bleak picture of a political system in which bribery alone totals an estimated $300bn a year, and in which it is often hard to distinguish between the activities of the government and organised crime."
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2010-12-01: The Guardian: WikiLeaks cables allege Russia bribed Viktor Bout witnesses
"Russia tried to block the extradition of the suspected international arms trafficker Viktor Bout from Thailand to America by bribing key witnesses, the US claims.
Diplomats in Bangkok alleged in cables released by WikiLeaks that Bout's "Russian supporters" had paid witnesses to give false testimony during his extradition hearing."
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2010-12-01: The Guardian: WikiLeaks cables: Moscow mayor presided over 'pyramid of corruption'
"The US ambassador to Russia claimed that Moscow's veteran mayor Yuri Luzhkov sat on top of a "pyramid of corruption" involving the Kremlin, Russia's police force, its security service, political parties and crime groups."
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2010-12-01: The Guardian: WikiLeaks cables: Alexander Litvinenko murder 'probably had Putin's OK'
"Vladimir Putin was likely to have known about the operation in London to murder the Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, Washington's top diplomat in Europe alleged in secret conversations in Paris.
Daniel Fried, the assistant secretary of state, questioned whether "rogue elements" in Russia's security services could have carried out the hit without Putin's direct approval."
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2010-12-01: The Guardian: WikiLeaks cables claim Russia armed Georgian separatists
"Russia provided Grad missiles and other arms to separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and carried out a wave of "covert actions" to undermine Georgia in the runup to the 2008 Russian-Georgian war, US diplomatic cables say.
The Kremlin's hostile measures against Georgia included missile attacks, murder plots and "a host of smaller-scale actions", the leaked cables said. Russian secret services also ran a disinformation campaign against Georgia's pro-American, pro-Nato president, Mikheil Saakashvili, claiming he suffered from "paranoid dysfunction"."
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Cablegate coverage - The New York Times
The New York Times: State's Secrets: Cables Shine Light Into Secret Diplomatic Channels
"A cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the past three years, provides an unprecedented look at backroom bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders and frank assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats.
Some of the cables, made available to The New York Times and several other news organizations, were written as recently as late February, revealing the Obama administration’s exchanges over crises and conflicts. The material was originally obtained by WikiLeaks, an organization devoted to revealing secret documents. WikiLeaks intends to make the archive public on its Web site in batches, beginning Sunday.
The anticipated disclosure of the cables is already sending shudders through the diplomatic establishment, and could conceivably strain relations with some countries, influencing international affairs in ways that are impossible to predict."
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Further coverage from the New York Times:
Documents: selected dispatches
Around the world, distress over Iran
Mixing diplomacy with spying
Iran is fortified with North Korean aid
A note to readers: the decision to publish diplomatic documents
2010-11-29: The New York Times: Answers to Readers’ Questions About State’s Secrets
NY Times ediror Bill Keller: "So, two basic questions. Why do we get to decide? And why did we decide to publish these articles and selected cables?
We get to decide because America is cursed with a free press. I’m the first to admit that news organizations, including this one, sometimes get things wrong. We can be overly credulous (as in some of the reporting about Iraq’s purported Weapons of Mass Destruction) or overly cynical about official claims and motives. We may err on the side of keeping secrets (President Kennedy wished, after the fact, that The Times had published what it knew about the planned Bay of Pigs invasion) or on the side of exposing them. We make the best judgments we can. When we get things wrong, we try to correct the record. A free press in a democracy can be messy.
But the alternative is to give the government a veto over what its citizens are allowed to know. Anyone who has worked in countries where the news diet is controlled by the government can sympathize with Thomas Jefferson’s oft-quoted remark that he would rather have newspapers without government than government without newspapers. And Jefferson had plenty of quarrels with the press of his day."
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2010-11-30: The New York Times: U.S. Haggled to Find Takers for Detainees From Guantánamo
"American diplomats went looking for countries that were not only willing to take in former prisoners but could be trusted to keep them under close watch. In a global bazaar of sorts, the officials sweet-talked and haggled with foreign counterparts in efforts to resettle detainees who were cleared for release but could not be repatriated for fear of mistreatment, the cables show."
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2010-12-01: The New York Times: Ahoy Washington, Need Advice: Blackwater Plans Pirate Hunt
"In late 2008, Blackwater Worldwide, already under fire because of accusations of abuses by its security guards in Iraq and Afghanistan, reconfigured a 183-foot oceanographic research vessel into a pirate-hunting ship for hire and then began looking for business from shipping companies seeking protection from Somali pirates. The company’s chief executive officer, Erik Prince, was planning a trip to Djibouti for a promotional event in March 2009, and Blackwater was hoping that the American Embassy there would help out, according to a secret State Department cable."
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2010-12-01: The New York Times: Nuclear Fuel Memos Expose Wary Dance With Pakistan
"It may be the most unnerving evidence of the complex relationship — sometimes cooperative, often confrontational, always wary — between America and Pakistan nearly 10 years into the American-led war in Afghanistan. The cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and made available to a number of news organizations, make it clear that underneath public reassurances lie deep clashes over strategic goals on issues like Pakistan’s support for the Afghan Taliban and tolerance of Al Qaeda, and Washington’s warmer relations with India, Pakistan’s archenemy."
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