[What follows is an excerpt from today's edition of The Sun.]
Defence chiefs last night warned national security will be put "at risk" by a devastating new leak of secret American files.
Controversial website WikiLeaks will this weekend publish more than two million US diplomatic messages. Senior defence official Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Vallance urged the British media not to publish the classified documents.
He said: "Aspects of national security might be put at risk if a major UK news outlet brought such information into obvious public prominence."
The documents were issued by the White House, the CIA and US embassies to allied governments around the world. The messages to British diplomats contain highly sensitive conversations that could reap huge damage.
The most compromising are believed to contain secret intelligence sources, as well as information about Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
[A much longer article appears in the Daily Mail (and The Sun's story is probably taken from this) which indicates that the documents relating to Megrahi concern discussions about his return to Libya, rather than how he came to be accused, tried and convicted.
Scotland on Sunday runs a short piece which contains the following:]
With governments across the world bracing themselves for the release of hundreds of thousands of pages of classified papers and cables last night, there was growing expectation that some of the material will relate to the release of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi last year.
A Scottish Government spokesman said they had received no contact from the US Consul in Edinburgh about any information relating to their own actions. However, it is understood that among the millions of pages to be put up on the web over coming days is more information detailing US views on the bomber's return to Libya last August.
MISSION LOCKERBIE:
ReplyDeleteWhy Libya could NOT have supported the petition and to back new inquiry into Megrahi's conviction ?
Weil die 'Scottish Justiciary' Angst vor der Aufdeckung der offiziellen Beweis-Manipulationen im Lockerbie-Fall hatte, wurde für die Zukunft mit Libya ein Deal abgeschlossen, indem Mr. Al Megrahi sein Erfolg versprechendes Appeal zurückziehen musste (dropping) und dafür sofort in die Freiheit entlassen wurde.
Damit wurde Libya an Great Briten verkauft...
Warm welcome in United Kingdom, eine Entschuldigung von UK an das Libysche Volk für den angerichteten Schaden in $ Milliardenhöhe, wurde in den Wind geblasen !
by Edwin & Mahnaz Bollier, MEBO Ltd. Switzerland, URL: www.lockerbie.ch
Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Vallance need not worry with DA-Notices being issued left, right and centre. But tell me how that protects national security? Which they are already claiming is the reason for issuing them to the press.
ReplyDeleteIt only stops very loyal British subjects reading diplomatic exchanges of a foreign country which are apparently derogatory to our own country. Meantime, foreign agencies, and any real bad guys, read it for free by going straight to the Wikileaks web site - they are not dissuaded by UK government DA-Notices.
This seems like censorship after the fact has bolted. The fact being 60 000 NSA employees cannot keep 250,000 cables and 8,000 diplomatic directives from being stolen from the US "highly secure" SIPRNet system.
(Wonder if any of the cables mentions what they think of Kenny and Alex?)