wikileaks website

wikileaks website

WikiLeaks claims its website being hacked

LONDON: Hours ahead of an expected leak of millions of classified US documents, WikiLeaks today claimed it was under a cyber attack but said the documents would be made public through several leading newspapers.

In a Twitter message, the whistleblower website said: "We are currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack."

It added that even if its website goes down a number of newspapers will go ahead and publish the documents released to them.

Ahead of the release of the potentially embarrassing documents, which the US fears could harm its relations with several countries, the American administration asked the website to refrain from making the classified documents public.

It has asked it to return the "illegally obtained" papers, insisting that their leak would "endanger the lives of countless individuals."

The Twitter message from the website said El Pais, Le Monde, Speigel, Guardian and New York Times newspapers will publish many US embassy cables tonight, even if WikiLeaks goes down.

The website has already released thousands of documents on the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In October WikiLeaks released four lakh secret US files on Iraq war detailing abuse of Iraqi prisoners in US custody, rights violations and civilian deaths.

Earlier in July, the website had published tens of thousands of secret documents on the war in Afghanistan.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange today said the soon-to-be released classified US documents will cover "every major issue" in the world.

Assange put the number of documents to be released at more than a quarter of a million.

Late yesterday Washington rejected talks with WikiLeaks, saying the website was holding the cables in violation of US law.

Assange has however rejected the claim that the release would put to harm many lives

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WikiLeaks under attack, it says, as new leak looms

CNN) -- The whistleblower website WikiLeaks is under cyber attack, but even if it goes down, a new cache of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables will still be published Sunday night, it said via Twitter Sunday.The announcements come shortly after the United States warned WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange that publishing the papers would be illegal and endanger peoples' lives. The New York Times, The Guardian newspaper in England, and newspapers and magazines in three other European nations are planning to publish new classified material on Sunday, WikiLeaks said on Twitter.

The site is experiencing a distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack, it said. That's an effort to make a website unavailable to users, normally by flooding it with requests for data. The U.S. State Department's legal adviser said Saturday that if any materials in the posting of documents by the site were provided by government officials without proper authorization, "they were provided in violation of U.S. law and without regard for the grave consequences of this action." WikiLeaks indicated last week that it was preparing to release a new batch of previously classified U.S. military documents.

"Next release is 7x the size of the Iraq War Logs," the group stated via Twitter Monday. "Intense pressure over it for months. Keep us strong." State Department Legal Adviser Harold Hongju Koh told Assange he was responding to a letter about the newest leak. Koh wrote that the department had spoken with representatives from The New York Times and The Guardian newspapers, and the German magazine Der Spiegel about 250,000 documents the whistleblower organization provided to them for publication. WikiLeaks said Sunday it had also given documents to El Pais in Spain and Le Monde in France.

Koh described the distribution as the "illegal dissemination of classified documents" and said it would "place at risk the lives of countless individuals" -- criticisms that have been repeated by U.S. officials after past postings on the site. The information blitz from WikiLeaks is expected to offer a glimpse into the worldwide communications of the State Department and its 297 embassies, consulates and missions through what are commonly referred to as "cables." Koh wrote that releasing such documents could jeopardize relationships with allies, military actions and anti-terrorism operations. CNN has not had advanced access to the documents, unlike some media organizations, because the company declined to sign a confidentiality agreement with WikiLeaks.

In October, WikiLeaks released nearly 400,000 U.S. military reports about operations in Iraq. In July, it released more than 70,000 reports from the war in Afghanistan.

US steps up pressure on WikiLeaks, warns against leak

US steps up pressure on WikiLeaks, warns against leak

The United States has rejected talks with WikiLeaks over its planned release of confidential US documents, saying the whistle-blower website was holding them in violation of US law. The US State Department late Saturday set out its position in a letter to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his attorney that was released to the media.

"We will not engage in a negotiation regarding the further release or dissemination of illegally obtained US government classified materials," State Department legal adviser Harold Koh wrote.

"As you know, if any of the materials you intend to publish were provided by any government officials, or any intermediary without proper authorization, they were provided in violation of US law and without regard for the grave consequences of this action," Koh continued.

"As long as WikiLeaks holds such material, the violation of the law is ongoing."

WikiLeaks was reportedly hours away from releasing millions of confidential US diplomatic cables on Sunday as governments braced for the potential fallout. /P>

Top US officials have raced to contain the damage in recent days by warning foreign ministries in more than a dozen countries, including key allies Australia, Britain, Canada, Israel and Turkey.

An independent French website reported that the leaks would be published simultaneously at 2130 GMT Sunday by several Western newspapers.

Saudi Arabia urges US attack on Iran to stop nuclear programme

Embassy cables reveal the US, Israel and Arab states suspect Iran is close to acquiring nuclear weapons despite Tehran's insistence that its programme is designed to supply energy. Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl/Reuters

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has repeatedly urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear programme, according to leaked US diplomatic cables that describe how other Arab allies have secretly agitated for military action against Tehran.

The revelations, in secret memos from US embassies across the Middle East, expose behind-the-scenes pressures in the scramble to contain the Islamic Republic, which the US, Arab states and Israel suspect is close to acquiring nuclear weapons. Bombing Iranian nuclear facilities has hitherto been viewed as a desperate last resort that could ignite a far wider war.

The Saudi king was recorded as having "frequently exhorted the US to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons programme", one cable stated. "He told you [Americans] to cut off the head of the snake," the Saudi ambassador to Washington, Adel al-Jubeir said, according to a report on Abdullah's meeting with the US general David Petraeus in April 2008.

The cables also highlight Israel's anxiety to preserve its regional nuclear monopoly, its readiness to go it alone against Iran – and its unstinting attempts to influence American policy. The defence minister, Ehud Barak, estimated in June 2009 that there was a window of "between six and 18 months from now in which stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons might still be viable". After that, Barak said, "any military solution would result in unacceptable collateral damage."

The leaked US cables also reveal that:

• Officials in Jordan and Bahrain have openly called for Iran's nuclear programme to be stopped by any means, including military.

• Leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt referred to Iran as "evil", an "existential threat" and a power that "is going to take us to war".

• Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, warned in February that if diplomatic efforts failed, "we risk nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, war prompted by an Israeli strike, or both".

• Major General Amos Yadlin, Israeli's military intelligence chief, warned last year: "Israel is not in a position to underestimate Iran and be surprised like the US was on 11 September 2001."

Asked for a response to the statements, state department spokesman PJ Crowley said today it was US policy not to comment on materials, including classified documents, which may have been leaked.

Iran maintains that its atomic programme is designed to supply power stations, not nuclear warheads. After more than a year of deadlock and stalling, a fresh round of talks with the five permanent members of the UN security council plus Germany is due to begin on 5 December.